Blueberry Pie

Usually my posts highlight a dish that I made, but not today.  The chef behind this wonderful blueberry pie is my nine year old daughter, Gigi.  Okay, yes it is my perfected recipe, but I cannot take credit for making the pie in these pictures.  What I love about blueberry pie, besides the luscious baked berry taste is the ease of this fresh fruit dessert.  There is no blanching, no peeling, no coring or seed removal, just look over your berries and rinse them and you are ready to go.

Now this being a cooking blog you would think we would make our own crust, but I have to confess, I find it much more trouble than it is worth.  I don't like the fact that store bought crust, and most homemade recipes for that matter, contain shortening which translates to trans fat, so maybe one day I'll work on a crust using coconut oil. But not today, the purpose of this post is talk about how fast and easy it is to get a semi-homemade fresh fruit pie into the oven, so using a store bought crust is perfect. 

The one thing we don't do is use frozen pie crust,the kind that comes in the aluminum pan, we like the type in the refrigerated section that you roll out into your own pan.  One, I don't think the frozen kind tastes as good and two, my glass pie plate is bigger, meaning more pie! This pie can go together in a matter of minutes, so get your ingredients together and put your nine year old to work!

Blueberry Pie
(adapted from Betty Crocker's Fresh Blueberry Pie)

1 package refrigerated ready made pie crusts
3/4 cup sugar (or a little less)
1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

7 cups blueberries

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 1/4 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon milk

1/2 teaspoon sugar

Preheat oven to 425°F. Unroll one pie crust and lay it into pie pan.  Press into the pan to fill the pan completely.

In large bowl, mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Stir in the blueberries and lemon juice. Pour into pie crust. Cut butter into small pieces and sprinkle over the blueberries. 

Unroll the second pie crust over the top.  Press top and bottom edges together and crimp with a fork to seal.  Using a knife make small slits all over the top crust.  Brush top with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
 

Cover edges with foil strips to prevent excessive browning. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking. Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours.