Pie #52: Beard Pie (Blueberry Pie)

More details will come another day.  For now, know that the last pie of this project is sitting in my fridge, waiting to be eaten!

The recipe was taken from the me HUNGRY! blog. I have copied the recipe here in case this link doesn't work sometime in the future.

FRESH AND EASY BLUEBERRY PIE

Crust:1 prepared 9” deep dish pie shell, baked and ready to fill
(or use your favorite homemade pie crust recipe)

Filling:
5 cups fresh blueberries, divided
1 cup cold water
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
Squeeze of fresh lemon juice (1 – 2 teaspoons)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter

In a medium saucepan combine water, cornstarch, sugar, salt, lemon juice and 1 cup of blueberries. Stir until cornstarch dissolves. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture starts to come to a boil. Lower heat and continue to stir, mashing blueberries with a wooden spoon. Cook until mixture has thickened and turned a dark glossy purple. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes. When mixture is cool enough to the touch, carefully stir in remaining 4 cups of blueberries. Pour filling into prepared pie crust. Chill for several hours or overnight until filling has set. Dollop or pipe swirls of sweetened whipped cream (recipe follows) on top to serve.

Sweetened Fresh Whipped Cream:
1 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Combine heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. With a handheld electric mixer, beat at medium-low speed for 2 minutes, adding 1/2 of the powdered sugar in gradually. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for another 2 to 3 minutes, adding the remaining powdered sugar gradually, until soft peaks start to form. Increase mixer speed to medium-high and beat for 30 seconds until firm peaks form. Spoon whipped cream on top of blueberry pie slices, or if you want to get fancy, use a pastry bag fitted with a large tip to pipe swirls (or use a heavy duty gallon-sized freezer bag with a corner snipped off).

Pie #51: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Pie (Bumbleberry Pie)

Wow, I love this pie!  Let me list three reasons why:

1. I felt resourceful making it - it used up all the extra fruits in my fridge.  (Indeed, bumbleberries do not exist in the wild!)
2. The mixture of fruit flavors felt like a circus on my tongue.
3. The crunch topping was just delightful.

We took the pie to our friends' house for dinner, and it was a hit!  There was even arm wrestling discussed to determine the lucky winner of the last piece! (In the end a fair splitting occurred.)

The initial bumbleberry idea came from this website: http://andreadekker.com/bumbleberry-pie/.  However, the recipe I used actually came from a mixture of my earlier blueberry pie and strawberry rhubarb pie.  I think the clove and berry flavors are delightful, and when combined with the tangy rhubarb....Wow!  Just Wow!

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Bumbleberry Pie

Ingredients:
1 pie crust

filling:
4 c. (heaping) mixed fruit - apples, rhubarb, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, etc.
2/3 c. sugar
7 T. cornstarch
1/2 t. cinnamon
3 shakes ground cloves
3 T. water
2 T. lemon juice
1 t. vanilla

topping:
1/2 c. flour
3/8 c. oatmeal
1/2 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 c. butter
1/2 t. cinnamon

Pie Algorithm:
1. Wash fruit, chop larger fruits to the size of blueberries.  Put in bottom of unbaked crust.
2. Mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and cloves in bowl. Add water, lemon juice, and vanilla.  Stir until mixed well.  Pour mixture over fruit.
3. Mix flour, oatmeal, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon until crumbly.  Sprinkle on top of fruit.
4. Bake at 375F for 1 hour, or until filling is bubbling and has thickened a bit.

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I suggest chopping the larger fruits into fairly small pieces so the flavors are able to mix better.  However, if you'd rather more distinct fruit flavors, larger pieces would work just fine.

I was excited to be able to use my friend Johanna's homemade vanilla extract in the pie.  I think it added a special, warm, complete flavor!  Perhaps tackling vanilla-making will have to be my next project!

Pie #4: Chair Pie (Blueberry Lattice Pie)

Bret (my dad) has recently become what one might call an amateur-expert in caning chairs.  Having retired from teaching high school a year ago he has filled his time with running the furniture end of his local thrift store.  Part of this task requires refurbishing donated furniture, and hence a new hobby was born!  After Perry and I purchased an antique table several months ago, Bret decided that perhaps we needed some caned chairs to go with it.  We thought that sounded like a great idea and therefore found ourselves each parked in front of an unfinished chair - Bret's days of teaching far from over!

Having the most experience, Bret was the only one to finish his chair that weekend.  Wanda (Mom) and Per came close, and I was dead last.  I'm not convinced that I'll ever become an amateur-expert; maybe Perry will finish the remaining three chairs!?!?



This story brings me to the pie of the week.  I can count on one hand the number of times I've made a double-crust pie; all have occurred since I've been married.  When I was growing up, the Stopher household loved pies that didn't require double crusts.  The Leatherman house had a much larger pie repertoire however, and did have double crusts.  With so many hours of experience weaving, I figured it was time to pull off a lattice pie.  Blueberries are still in season, so the recipe was settled!















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Blueberry Lattice Pie

Ingredients:
2 unbaked pie crusts (9.5 inch)

Filling:
4 c. blueberries
2/3 c. sugar
7 T. cornstarch
1/2 t. cinnamon
3 shakes ground cloves
3 T. water
2 T. lemon juice
1 t. vanilla


Wash for top crust:
1 egg yolk
1 T. milk
extra sugar (optional)


Pie Algorithm:
1. Wash berries.  Put in bottom of unbaked crust.
2. Mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and cloves in bowl. Add water, lemon juice, and vanilla.  Stir until mixed well.  Pour mixture over berries.
3. Weave top crust into lattice over berries.
4. Beat egg and milk together.  Brush over lattice and sprinkle with extra sugar if desired.
5. Bake at 375F for 1 hour, or until filling is bubbling and has thickened a bit.

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Pie #2: No Power Pie (Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Pie)

Looking ahead to a possible full week without power due to storm damage, I started to get a bit nervous about keeping on schedule with my pie challenge.  While I don't ALWAYS meet my goals, completing just 1.92% of my goal before faltering didn't thrill me.  Thus, I scoured my recipe books for a tasty idea that would not require electricity.  Thankfully our power was only out for around 77 hours, rather than the 7 days as projected.  Thus, I did cheat with my hand mixer for the cheesecake layer...however I could have created this week's masterpiece with my whisk, gas stove, and matches alone.

The concept for this week's pie came from Perry's aunt Suz and a family friend Susan Roth.

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Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Pie

Ingredients:
1 graham cracker pie crust (10-inches)

cheesecake filling:
2 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1 (8 oz) Cool Whip
3/8 cup fresh lemon juice
2 t. lemon zest (from the lemons mentioned above)
1/4 powdered sugar

blueberry topping:
3 c blueberries, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup sugar
2 T. butter
2 T. fresh lemon juice
1 t. lemon zest (from the lemons mentioned above)
1 T. cornstarch

Pie Algorithm:
1. Cheesecake filling: Cream together all cheesecake filling items.  Pour into crust.  Chill for several hours.

2. Blueberry topping: Combine all ingredients in saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to simmer and cook berries down, about 4 minutes.  Let cool; refrigerate until cold.  Pour over pie when ready to serve.

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This week I have two special pie guests:

Peer Reviewer, Wanda Stopher

Pie Displayer, Kirsten Stopher

Wanda enjoys writing concise reviews (50 words or less); you may find some of her previous work here: http://myportraits-stopher.blogspot.com/  She had the following to say about No Power Pie:

In fifty words or less, this No Power Pie packs a really mighty, powerful punch.  The tangy lemon cream and blueberry glaze combo is cool and creamy and light and oh so refreshing!  The initial hint of blueberry is followed by a just slightly stronger lemony zest.  I love it!