Blueberry Pie

I think it?s been years since I?ve made a Blueberry Pie, but I don?t know why. When I was a kid, it was my very favorite pie! Mom used the recipe from a Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book, and it was always fabulously runny juicy!

I really did like it juicy, but I don?t think she was so thrilled about it. I remember she always used to prop her leftover blueberry pies up in an attempt to get the juices to flow back into the pie.

Over the years when I have made Blueberry Pie, I always used the recipe from my copy of Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, so that?s the recipe I used this time.

I have used honey in the past, but I decided to try maple sugar this time. It?s good either way. Of course, you can also use 1 cup of regular sugar.

(If you want to try it with honey, use 2/3 cup honey instead of the sugar; stir the 1/3 cup flour (or tapioca flour), the lemon peel, and the dash of salt into the honey until it’s all well-blended. Then stir the mixture into the blueberries.)

For a thickener, I always used flour, but last summer when I made Marionberry Pie I got great results with tapioca flour. I thought about using it with the Blueberry Pie, but decided to make it the way I had in the past. Next time I?ll try it with tapioca flour. I think it will still be juicy enough for me, but it might hold together a little better.

I could have bought fresh blueberries from South America, but I used local frozen ones from  Remlinger Farms. I let the blueberries defrost first (as Better Homes and Gardens had suggested), but an online search brought up several bakers who said they successfully used blueberries frozen. That may be something else that I will try next time.

It really is a treat to have a Blueberry Pie in January! I have enough blueberries to make another pie sometime soon. This pie was quite good, but I think it may be a recipe in progress, so stay tuned!

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(Adapted from a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book)

If you are using fresh blueberries, the recipe says to use ¼ cup of flour instead of 1/3 cup.

(print the recipe)

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Recipe for 2 Crust Easy Pie Crust, or your favorite pie crust

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour (or tapioca flour)

Zest of one small lemon

Dash salt

1½ pounds frozen blueberries (about 6 cups)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter

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1. Put a large baking sheet in the oven and preheat to 375?.

2. Make the pie crust, and line a 9-inch pie plate with half of the crust.

3. Combine the sugar, flour, lemon zest, and the dash of salt in a large bowl. Add the blueberries and stir gently until they are well-coated.

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4. Put the blueberries into the pie crust, and drizzle the lemon juice over them.

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5. Dot with butter.

6. Add the top crust and finish the edge as you wish. (I crimp it with a fork.) Cut vents in the top for steam.

7. Bake for 45 minutes and cool on a wire rack.

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Here’s how it looked today, after sharing it with friends last night. You can see how runny juicy it is…..pretty much just the way I like it!