Blueberry Pie (freezable and delicious)

I have never cared for blueberry pie. In my experience it has always been rather boring and tasteless.

That was until I made this recipe (you knew I was going to say that didn’t you?)!

Honestly, this is the best blueberry pie I have ever tasted.

The great part is that the filling can be made ahead and frozen. So, if you happen to like the recipe, and you are blessed with an abundance of blueberries this season, double or quadruple the recipe and stock the freezer (I’ll include instructions for freezing below).

Fresh Blueberry Pie (with freezable filling)

I adapted this recipe from Alton Brown’s Frozen Blueberry Pie by changing a few of the ingredients to make it fit my real food style!

Ingredients:

4 cups blueberries
½ cup sucanat (or regular sugar is you don’t have sucanat).
1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
5 tablespoons arrowroot
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
Egg wash – 1 egg and 1/4 cup of milk, whisked together

Pie dough – enough for 2 pies (or one double  crust pie) Smitten Kitchen has a good recipe for flaky pie crust.

If you want to make the pie right away, don’t forget to make the pie crust ahead of time, since pie dough usually needs to sit for an hour or so before use (so it will be good and flaky!).

Method

Wash blueberries and pat gentle with a towel to dry. In a small bowl mash half of the berries.

Measure the sugar, sucanat, salt, and arrowroot into a medium bowl and stir to combine. Add the orange juice, orange zest and mashed blueberries. Stir to combine. Leave the mixture to sit for about 15 minutes.

Add the rest of the blueberries, folding them in gently.

If making immediately, pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Lightly dust a board or the counter top with flour, then roll out half the pie crust and line a 9-inch pie plate with it. Prick the sides and bottom of the crust with a fork. Set aside.

Roll the second half of the dough into a rectangle (as best you can. Mine was quite warped looking, but it still works). Cut strips about 1 1/8 inch wide (if you want to be particular), or just eye-ball it and cut them roughly 1-inch wide (that's what I did).

Pour the pie filling into the pie pan (or place frozen filling inside if using.) Brush edges of crust with egg wash.

Lay 4 strips of pie dough horizontally on top of the filling, leaving an equal amount of space between them.

Make a lattice top by folding up two alternating strips, then laying another strip across the pie perpendicular to the first strips. Lay the folded strips back down. Fold up the ends of the other two and lay another strip perpendicular to them. Lay the folded end back down. Repeat on the other side of the pie.

Honestly, you don't really have to weave the top. It looks fine without it. Just lay the perpendicular strips across the top, If that makes no sense, I found this video explaining how to do it (she explains the easy way at the end of the video).

Brush the all of the strips and the edges of the pie crust with egg wash.

Trim any excess dough and crimp the edges to seal.

Place pie on the bottom rack of the oven. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown.

Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 90 minutes. This gives the filling time to set. Resist the urge to cut into it early! You will have a runny mess if you do.

Eat and enjoy!

To freeze the pie filling:

Line a pie plate with foil (I had to use two pieces) and pour the pie filling inside. Set in the freezer and allow to freeze solid. This takes about 6 hours. Remove foil and wrap in plastic wrap, then store in a freezer bag.

When ready to use, you can unwrap and place the frozen filling directly into the pie crust, the bake as directed above.

You could also freeze the filling in freezer bags, but it would need to thaw before baking since it won't be the right shape.

After typing all this up, I think I might have to go to the freezer and get one out! Yum.

Do you like Blueberry Pie?

I'm linking up to the Homemaking Link-Up at Raising Homemakers.