The Best Ever Blueberry Pie Recipes

CONTEST-WINNING FRESH BLUEBERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°. On a floured surface, roll dough to fit a 9-in. pie plate. Trim and flute edge. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Line crust with a double thickness of foil. Fill with pie weights. Bake on a lower oven rack until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Remove foil and weights; bake until bottom is golden brown, 3-6 minutes. Cool on a wire rack., In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt and water until smooth. Add 3 cups blueberries. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly., Remove from the heat. Add butter, lemon juice and remaining berries; stir until butter is melted. Cool. Pour into crust. Refrigerate until serving.

HOMEMADE BLUEBERRY PIE

Steps:

• Prepare either pie crust recipe through step 5.
• Stir the blueberries, sugar, flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, lemon juice, and lemon zest together in a large bowl. Mix together until it's no longer dry and powdery; burst a few blueberries if necessary to moisten. Set filling aside as the oven preheats. Filling can be covered and refrigerated for up to 24 hours if needed.
• Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat to 425°F (218°C). Place baking sheet on the bottom oven rack to catch any blueberry juices.
• On a floured work surface, roll out one of the discs of chilled dough (keep the other one in the refrigerator). Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle 12 inches in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9×2-inch round pie dish. Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth. Pour and spread filling evenly into pie dish. Dot the pieces of butter on top of the filling. Set aside at room temperature or in the refrigerator as you assemble the top pie crust.
• Remove the other disc of chilled pie dough from the refrigerator. Roll the dough into a circle that is 12 inches diameter. Using a pastry wheel, sharp knife, or pizza cutter, cut strips of dough; in the pictured pie, I cut 10 1.5-inch-wide strips. Carefully thread the strips over and under one another, pulling back strips as necessary to weave. (Here's a lattice pie crust tutorial if you need visuals.) Press the edges of the strips into the bottom pie crust edges to seal. Use a small paring knife to trim off excess dough. Flute or crimp the edges with a fork.
• Lightly brush the top of the pie crust with the egg wash. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar, if using.
• Bake the pie at 425°F for 25 minutes; then, keeping the pie in the oven, reduce the oven temperature down to 375° (190°C). Place a pie crust shield (see Note for homemade shield) on the edges to prevent them from over-browning. Continue baking the pie until the filling's juices are bubbling everywhere, including in the center, 40-50 more minutes. This sounds like a long time, but under-baking the pie means a soupy filling with paste-like flour and cornstarch chunks. If you want to be precise, the internal temperature of the filling taken with an instant read thermometer should be around 200°F (93°C) when done. Tip: If needed towards the end of bake time, remove the pie crust shield and tent an entire piece of foil on top of the pie if the top looks like it's getting too brown.
• Remove pie from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and cool for at least 4 hours before slicing and serving. Filling will be too juicy if the pie is warm when you slice it.
• Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

THE BEST EVER BLUEBERRY PIE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400°F Combine 2 cups flour and salt in large bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water with fork just until flour is moistened.
• Divide dough in half; shape each half into ball. Flatten slightly. Wrap 1 ball of dough in plastic food wrap; refrigerate. Roll out remaining ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Fold into quarters. Place dough into 9-inch pie pan; unfold, pressing firmly against bottom and sides. Trim crust to 1/2 inch from edge of pan.
• Combine sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, nutmeg and cinnamon; mix well. Stir in blueberries. Spoon blueberry mixture into prepared pie crust.
• Roll out remaining ball of dough on lightly floured surface into 12-inch circle. Cut out decorative shapes in dough using a small cookie cutter. Place dough over filling. Seal, trim and crimp or flute edge. Cover edge of crust with 2-inch strip of aluminum foil so it don't burn.
• Bake for 35 minutes; remove aluminum foil. Continue baking for 10 to 20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned and juice begins to bubble through cut-outs in crust.
• Cool pie 30 minutes; serve warm. Store refrigerated.
• TIP::: If fresh blueberries are unavailable, substitute frozen blueberries and increase baking time by 15 minutes.

THE BEST BLUEBERRY PIE

Steps:

• For The Pie Dough:
• Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about two 1-second pulses.
• Add butter and shortening and process until homogenous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds; dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour.
• Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade; Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses.
• Empty mixture into medium bowl.
• Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture.
• With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.
• Divide dough into 2 even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk; wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
• Remove 1 disk of dough from refrigerator and roll out on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 12-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick.
• Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll into pie plate, leaving at least 1-inch overhang on each side.
• Working around circumference, ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with one hand while pressing into plate bottom with other hand.
• Leave dough that overhangs plate in place; refrigerate while preparing filling until dough is firm, about 30 minutes.
• For The Filling:
• Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack, and heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Place 3 cups berries in medium saucepan and set over medium heat.
• Using potato masher, mash berries several times to release juices. (Note: If using frozen berries, see note in recipe description above).
• Continue to cook, stirring frequently and mashing occasionally, until about half of berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly.
• Place grated apple in clean kitchen towel and wring dry; transfer apple to large bowl.
• Add cooked berries, remaining 3 cups uncooked berries, lemon zest, juice, sugar, tapioca, and salt; toss to combine.
• Transfer mixture to dough-lined pie plate and scatter butter pieces over filling.
• Roll out second disk of dough on generously floured (up to 1/4 cup) work surface to 11-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick.
• Using 1 1/4-inch round biscuit cutter, cut round from center of dough; cut another 6 rounds from dough, 1 1/2 inches from edge of center hole and equally spaced around center hole.
• Roll dough loosely around rolling pin and unroll over pie, leaving at least 1/2-inch overhang on each side.
• Using kitchen shears, trim bottom layer of overhanging dough, leaving 1/2-inch overhang.
• Fold dough under itself so that edge of fold is flush with outer rim of pie plate.
• Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with tines of fork to seal.
• Brush top and edges of pie with egg mixture. If dough is very soft, chill in freezer for 10 minutes.
• Place pie on heated baking sheet and bake 30 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until juices bubble and crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes longer.
• Transfer pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours.
• Cut into wedges and serve.