A Blueberry Miracle

Check out this bad boy!

Yeah, buddy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don’t know why - for all these years - I’ve been so intimidated by making a pie.  It just seemed so, I don’t know, daunting.

But, I’m here to tell you.

It’s totally NOT DAUNTING!!

I had plenty of coaching from my Mom, though.  And, she willingly handed over her killer crust recipe that came from, get this, a pie CLASS.  That’s right, a pie class.  So, it’s probably all secretive and stuff.  Well, not anymore.  I’m here to spread it all over the interwebs.  I give you…Blueberry Pie.

“Never Fail” Pie Crust

4 cups flour
2 tsp. salt
2 cups Crisco
1/2 cup cold water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. white or cider vinegar (all I had was white wine vingar, and it worked fine)
1 egg
 
Combine flour and salt; cut in Crisco with pastry blender until it is very well mixed almost to a dough.  Beat the egg with a fork; add egg, sugar, and vinegar to the cold water and stir with the fork.  Pour liquid all over the top of the flour mix–mix with hands until the liquid is mixed in and make a ball of the dough (do this as efficiently as possible so that you don’t have to handle it too long–the heat from your hands can affect the process).  Cut the ball of dough into four equal pieces.  Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least an hour–can refrigerate for a long time or freeze it.  This makes enough for two double-crust pies.  
 
Blueberry Pie
 
pastry for double-crust pie
4 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
1 cup sugar
3 T. flour (or cornstarch)
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
dash salt
butter
egg white for bottom crust
2 tsp. lemon juice
 
Mix the blueberries, sugar, flour, lemon zest, salt.  Put mixture in a saucepan and cook over medium heat until it’s thickened, watching carefully so it doesn’t burn.  Cool.
 
Roll out the bottom crust (between two pieces of floured plastic wrap) and place in 10″ pie dish.  Beat the egg white with a fork until a bit foamy–brush some egg white over the crust.  Add the cooled filling, sprinkle with lemon juice, dot with butter (I used about 2 tablespoons), add rolled-out top crust, seal, crimp edges, and vent top. Sprinkle the top crust with sugar to make it look all sparkly.  Wrap aluminum foil (shiny side in) over the edges of the crust so they don’t brown faster than the rest of the pie (you can take foil off about 10 minutes before it’s done baking to brown the edges more).
 
Bake at 400 for 35 to 40 minutes.  Enjoy! 

Posted on 26 November '08 by colorcodedc, under Sweet.