Unlimited dessert
The first term I was at college, once I realized that at college you could just take unlimited desserts and nothing else at dinner, I pretty much lived on blueberry pie and lemon meringue pie. The cafeteria blueberry pie was nasty, gluey stuff though, and once I gained fifteen pounds eating it, I pretty much went back to eating like a normal person. This homemade blueberry pie is much better, but still not something to eat every day!
Melted butter in the crust??
I know, all the recipes say it’s vital to use cold butter and cut it in with a knife. This is supposed to make the crust flakier. Well, maybe it does, but it makes it a lot harder to make a pie. In my experience, nobody will complain about a blueberry pie (or an apple pie) made with a melted butter crust, and you’ll be much more likely to actually make one.
Update: I recently also noticed that it’s not that hard to use cold butter. Slice it into pats, and mix them with the flour. Use your fingers to squish the floury pats of butter until they are all in little bits. It really only takes a few minutes. Then use white vinegar or white wine in place of the spoonful of water. It will make a better crust, if you have the extra time.
How to make blueberry pie:
First, make a pie crust. In a medium size mixing bowl, melt half a stick of butter. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and mix with a wooden spoon until the dough holds together in a ball. If it won’t hold together, add water a spoonful at a time until it does. Take about 2/3 of this dough and put it in a piepan and spread it with your fingers until it covers the bottom and sides. Put the piepan in the refrigerator to chill.
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Now make the top crust. Put the other 1/3 dough on top of a piece of floured waxed paper, and use a rolling pin to roll it out until it is big enough to be a top crust.
Now make the filling. In the same bowl, mix 3 pints of blueberries, half a cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest, and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Take the pie shell out of the refrigerator and pour the filling into it. Lift up the waxed paper to fold the top crust in half. Lift the folded dough and flip it on top of the pie, then unfold it and remove the waxed paper. Use your fingers or a fork to press the top and bottom crusts together. Or, if this seems too hard or isn’t working, just crumble the dough in a layer on top of the filling.
Vegetarian or vegan?
Vegetarian. To make blueberry pie vegan, just use coconut fat in the crust instead of butter.
And will blueberry pie keep?
Yes, you can keep it on the counter or in the refrigerator, covered, for several days.