Cluegirl's Triumphant Blueberry Pie.
I love pie. Mainly, this is because I'm damned GOOD at making pies, and I'm proud of that fact.
Today I love pie because I have made up a new recipe.
It's blueberry season here in upstate New York, and since my local greengrocer has lovely wild-picked blues in stock, I decided it was a chance not to be missed. I also decided that I didn't want to just adapt someone else's recipe as my own -- nono, I'm kind of beyond that now where pies are concerned. This -- this would be all me.
And it was, and godDAMN, but it was delicious!
Here's how you to do it.
Crust: This is a standard two crust pastry recipe, divided by four, and lining four Emile Henry mini pie dishes. You could use foil or silicon, but I'd recommend doing this with small pies instead of a large one, just for servability's sake.
* 1 stick of chilled butter. (That should be 1/4 lb, and I use salted butter for pie crusts, so I don't have to add as much granulated salt to it.)
* 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. (This is one of the few times I advise against substituting wheat flour -- it's just too heavy for pastry.)
* 1/4 to 1/2 t salt, depending on how salty you like your crust.
2 - 3 T icewater.
With your pastry cutter, combind the flour, butter, and salt, until the mixture becomes crumbs, and you can't see any large chunks, or dry flour left.
With a fork, toss the crumbs in with the water, one tablespoon at a time. Stop when most of the crumbs have adhered into the central wad of dough, but before the dough looks slimy.
Use your hands (wash them in cooooooold water first,) to gather up the last of the crumbs, and form it all into a ball.
Split that ball in quarters, wrap each in waxed paper, and chuck them in the fridge for at least an hour.
(Note; the key to pie pastry is that it should all stay cold until you cook it. So don't over-handle it if you can manage. And don't leave it lying around on the countertop while you clean up.)
While it's chilling, start the filling:
* 2 1/2 c Greek Yoghurt. I used Fage, 0% fat variety, and it turned out amMAZingly good. But Fage is expensive, so substitute plain American Yogurt if you must.
* 2 - 3 t honey
* 1/4 t each ground ginger/ cinnamon / ground allspice
* 1/2 of a vanilla pod, minced fine.
* 2 t cornstarch (optional. This is to firm the mixture up, and make up for the stabilizing effect of the missing fat from the yogurt I used. You might not need or want it, and it doesn't affect the taste to remove it, or to add more as needed.)
Mix all the ingredients, cover them, and refridgerate until just before serving the pies -- this will be the topping, replacing whipped cream in the presentation.
Now take out the dough rolls one at a time, and roll them out till each is about two inches bigger than the lip of your mini pie dish. (Hint, I use the waxed paper as a surface for this, because it's easier than washing the counter after every one. Also, once it's big enough, it's a Pfuck of a lot easier to just flip the paper over into the dish, than to try and peel the crust up off whatever surface you rolled it on, and transfer it without tearing the thing.)
Trim the edges if they're longer than an inch once you've tucked the crust into the dish, and then roll all the edges under to form a ridge all around the lip of the pie dish.
Prick the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork now, because you're likely to forget to do it later if you don't.
Cover each dish with its waxed paper sheet, and put it back in the fridge while you work on the next one down the line.
Once the dishes are all filled, preheat the oven to 450 F, and put all your crusts in (you should have four if you managed your dough correctly.) for about ten or fifteen minutes -- watch them closely, and take them out as soon as the upper ridge of crust begins to darken from pale yellow to tan. Remember that you'll have to bake them again once you put the fruit filling in, so you don't want to wind up with burnt bits on top.
While those are pre-baking, make the fruit filling:
* 4 - 5 cups fresh blueberries, washed and picked over for stems and mooshies.
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 3 T butter
* 1/4 c American Honey bourbon.
* the other half of the vanilla bean, minced fine.
Melt the butter in a skillet, and throw the minced vanilla in for a few moments.
Add the blueberries, and the brown sugar, stirring carefully to avoid mushing the fruit. Once the sugar has blended in, and a syrup coats all the fruit, add the liquor.
Flame the liquor off immediately -- you can do this with a lighter, or if you've got a gas range and a steady hand, you can use the cooker flame, but this is the fun part, and you don't want to wait till there's no more fumes left to burn.
As soon as the flames burn out, remove the filling from the cooker, and let it stand until the pie crusts come out of the oven. It should thicken as it cools.
When you take out your pie crusts, divide the fruit filling between them -- here you want to be careful, because blueberry pies are prone to bubble over and make a mess of things, so fill the crusts to just barely shy of the upper edge of the dishes fluting. Don't overfill them, and don't worry if you wind up with extra filling -- put that in a dish and call it cook's perogative to nosh on it before anyone else gets to eat.
Turn the oven to 475 F, and bake the pies for 20 - 25 minutes. But watch them for the last ten or so, and if the crusts start to look too dark, take them out.
Cool these on the countertop (NOT in the fridge!) and once they're room temperature, or a little bit warmer, spoon the yoghurt topping equally between all four pies.
Serve with strong tea, or dark roast coffee.
And be prepared for people to be astonished at how yummeh it is.
And lastlly, let me know how this recipe works out for you in your own kitchens please!
Cheers, and happy Blueberry season!
Today I love pie because I have made up a new recipe.
It's blueberry season here in upstate New York, and since my local greengrocer has lovely wild-picked blues in stock, I decided it was a chance not to be missed. I also decided that I didn't want to just adapt someone else's recipe as my own -- nono, I'm kind of beyond that now where pies are concerned. This -- this would be all me.
And it was, and godDAMN, but it was delicious!
Here's how you to do it.
Crust: This is a standard two crust pastry recipe, divided by four, and lining four Emile Henry mini pie dishes. You could use foil or silicon, but I'd recommend doing this with small pies instead of a large one, just for servability's sake.
* 1 stick of chilled butter. (That should be 1/4 lb, and I use salted butter for pie crusts, so I don't have to add as much granulated salt to it.)
* 1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. (This is one of the few times I advise against substituting wheat flour -- it's just too heavy for pastry.)
* 1/4 to 1/2 t salt, depending on how salty you like your crust.
2 - 3 T icewater.
With your pastry cutter, combind the flour, butter, and salt, until the mixture becomes crumbs, and you can't see any large chunks, or dry flour left.
With a fork, toss the crumbs in with the water, one tablespoon at a time. Stop when most of the crumbs have adhered into the central wad of dough, but before the dough looks slimy.
Use your hands (wash them in cooooooold water first,) to gather up the last of the crumbs, and form it all into a ball.
Split that ball in quarters, wrap each in waxed paper, and chuck them in the fridge for at least an hour.
(Note; the key to pie pastry is that it should all stay cold until you cook it. So don't over-handle it if you can manage. And don't leave it lying around on the countertop while you clean up.)
While it's chilling, start the filling:
* 2 1/2 c Greek Yoghurt. I used Fage, 0% fat variety, and it turned out amMAZingly good. But Fage is expensive, so substitute plain American Yogurt if you must.
* 2 - 3 t honey
* 1/4 t each ground ginger/ cinnamon / ground allspice
* 1/2 of a vanilla pod, minced fine.
* 2 t cornstarch (optional. This is to firm the mixture up, and make up for the stabilizing effect of the missing fat from the yogurt I used. You might not need or want it, and it doesn't affect the taste to remove it, or to add more as needed.)
Mix all the ingredients, cover them, and refridgerate until just before serving the pies -- this will be the topping, replacing whipped cream in the presentation.
Now take out the dough rolls one at a time, and roll them out till each is about two inches bigger than the lip of your mini pie dish. (Hint, I use the waxed paper as a surface for this, because it's easier than washing the counter after every one. Also, once it's big enough, it's a Pfuck of a lot easier to just flip the paper over into the dish, than to try and peel the crust up off whatever surface you rolled it on, and transfer it without tearing the thing.)
Trim the edges if they're longer than an inch once you've tucked the crust into the dish, and then roll all the edges under to form a ridge all around the lip of the pie dish.
Prick the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork now, because you're likely to forget to do it later if you don't.
Cover each dish with its waxed paper sheet, and put it back in the fridge while you work on the next one down the line.
Once the dishes are all filled, preheat the oven to 450 F, and put all your crusts in (you should have four if you managed your dough correctly.) for about ten or fifteen minutes -- watch them closely, and take them out as soon as the upper ridge of crust begins to darken from pale yellow to tan. Remember that you'll have to bake them again once you put the fruit filling in, so you don't want to wind up with burnt bits on top.
While those are pre-baking, make the fruit filling:
* 4 - 5 cups fresh blueberries, washed and picked over for stems and mooshies.
* 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
* 3 T butter
* 1/4 c American Honey bourbon.
* the other half of the vanilla bean, minced fine.
Melt the butter in a skillet, and throw the minced vanilla in for a few moments.
Add the blueberries, and the brown sugar, stirring carefully to avoid mushing the fruit. Once the sugar has blended in, and a syrup coats all the fruit, add the liquor.
Flame the liquor off immediately -- you can do this with a lighter, or if you've got a gas range and a steady hand, you can use the cooker flame, but this is the fun part, and you don't want to wait till there's no more fumes left to burn.
As soon as the flames burn out, remove the filling from the cooker, and let it stand until the pie crusts come out of the oven. It should thicken as it cools.
When you take out your pie crusts, divide the fruit filling between them -- here you want to be careful, because blueberry pies are prone to bubble over and make a mess of things, so fill the crusts to just barely shy of the upper edge of the dishes fluting. Don't overfill them, and don't worry if you wind up with extra filling -- put that in a dish and call it cook's perogative to nosh on it before anyone else gets to eat.
Turn the oven to 475 F, and bake the pies for 20 - 25 minutes. But watch them for the last ten or so, and if the crusts start to look too dark, take them out.
Cool these on the countertop (NOT in the fridge!) and once they're room temperature, or a little bit warmer, spoon the yoghurt topping equally between all four pies.
Serve with strong tea, or dark roast coffee.
And be prepared for people to be astonished at how yummeh it is.
And lastlly, let me know how this recipe works out for you in your own kitchens please!
Cheers, and happy Blueberry season!
