Blueberry Pie

Making blueberry pie on Wednesday night was just the start of a crazy weekend. I suppose I'll put some of the details of that in another post. Maybe.
This whole blueberry pie thing started a couple of weeks ago when my mom invited Ross over for cherry pie (never mind that she's 600+ miles away). He didn't seem interested. Then she said she was also making blueberry pie. Both of us perked up, but alas, the 600 miles kept us from going over for pie. I decided to make some blueberry pie for us, but the cost of fresh blueberries (I wouldn't dare use canned pie filling...duh) was prohibitive. 5.99 for a pint of blueberries? Since when? Target had them last week for 2 bucks a pint, so I bought 3 and made a blueberry pie. I don't think I'd ever made blueberry pie before. Tim gave me the recipe from the latest Cook's Illustrated and I used that as a guide. Due to circumstances beyond my control I didn't try the pie until Friday!!! When I finally did it was good, not great, but good, and I definitely liked it better warmed up in the micro a little bit. So I'm going to lay out here basically how I made the pie. I had some trouble with the dough. I think that was because I didn't let it chill enough initially, plus I might have miscounted when measuring out the flour. I'll have to try it again....

Pie Crust

--this is my mother's recipe...but I substituted vodka for half the water as suggested by part of the Cook's Illustrated recipe. Oh, and I increased the sugar. I wanted it a little sweeter than usual because blueberries can be so tart.

2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbl. sugar (mom uses one Tbl.)
1 c. butter (cut into small pieces)
1/4 c. vodka (ice cold)
1/4 c. ice water

1. Mix flour salt and sugar together in large mixing bowl.
2. Cut in butter using two knives or a pastry cutter.
3. When mixture is crumbly add vodka and most of ice water.
4. Mix dough thoroughly until it forms a ball. If it is too dry add rest of water.
5. Divide dough into two balls and flatten into discs.
6. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes.--It is important to keep the dough as cold as possible throughout the entire process. Roll out the dough with a roller, don't press it out with your hands. This will warm and soften the dough.
7. When dough is chilled roll out one disk and place at bottom of pie pan. Return to refrigerator.
8. Make pie filling.

Pie Filling
--this is basically the recipe from Cook's Illustrated, but I added some spices cause I thought it was too boring.

3 pints fresh blueberries
1 granny smith apple, peeled and shredded
zest of one lime
lime juice
2 Tbl. one minute tapioca--ground in coffee (spice) grinder
3/4 c. sugar
vanilla
nutmeg
cardamom
pinch of salt

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position.
2. Place cookie sheet on rack (this helped cook the bottom crust very well).
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Place 1 1/2 pints blueberries in small saucepan. Mash with potato masher and cook over medium-high heat at least 8 minutes. This is to boil of some of the juices so the pie isn't watery (apparently watery blueberry pie is bad).
5. Cool cooked berries.
6. Wring shredded apple dry using a kitchen towel.
7. In a large bowl toss together all filling ingredients.

This is what the pie filing looked like before it went into the pie.

8. Transfer filling to pie plate. Put pie back in refrigerator.
9. Roll out second dough disc.
10. Cut holes into dough using small biscuit cutter or lid from spice jar.
11. Place dough over pie and seal the edges, making it all pretty.
12. If top dough has gotten soft place the pie in the freezer for 10 minutes.
13. Glaze pie dough with one egg beaten with one tablespoon water.
14. Bake pie on cookie sheet and bake 30 minutes.
15. Reduce heat to 350 degrees.
16. Bake pie another 30 minutes.
17. Cool pie at least 4 hours before cutting.

Here's my pie. Ross really liked the crust. Tim and Margot approved of the pie. They both enjoyed it--Otto only got one bite!