When I think of Summer in Maine I think of sun, the ocean, friends, family, picturesque shorelines, and blueberries. When I think of blueberries, I think of pies and muffins. While I do have wild blueberries in my yard, they never yield enough for a pie. I can usually pick enough for muffins, which I also made this week, but for the pie I needed to purchase some at a local farm stand.
It is about this time in the Summer when my husband starts making little comments about pie and wondering where that annual delicious blueberry treat might be. I was a little later than usual this year with my pie and I was starting to get a little nervous that the local blueberries may not be available anymore.
The only thing I dread about making this pie is cleaning all of those little blueberries. If you aren’t familiar with Maine blueberries, they are the low bush small berries. It is very time consuming and not very fun. Some people might just give them a rinse but I like to go through them and make sure there aren’t any stems or rotten berries in the mix. My son would walk by every now and again and say “Still cleaning those blueberries huh?”.
This pie is well worth the effort, and your family seeing you at the sink sorting through berries makes them appreciate the pie (and you) even more.
You can use any pie crust recipe or a store bought crust if you prefer. If you don’t have a recipe for crust I have included the recipe I use at the bottom of the blog.
Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp. corn starch
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4 cups blueberries
Mix together sugar, corn starch, salt, and cinnamon.
Fold the blueberries gently into the sugar mixture.
Pour the blueberry mixture into the pie crust.
Top with another layer of crust or you can make a lattice top like I did. To make the lattice top roll out the dough into a circle and cut the dough into strips.
Interweave the strips and pinch the edges. My daughter did this lattice work, great job Sara!
Bake for about 50 minutes at 375 degrees or until bubbly and the crust is slightly brown.
Pie, pie, me oh my, I love pie!
Pie Crust Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter, cold and cut into small cubes
1/2 cup chilled shortening, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup chilled vodka
1/4 cup cold water
Whisk together the flour and salt.
Cut the butter and shortening into the flour mixture with a fork and knife, or a pastry blender until the mixture looks like course crumbs.
Sprinkle in the water and vodka and mix well until the dough is formed, it will be sticky.
Divide the dough into two and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.