Single-Crust Crumbly Top Blueberry Pie.
Recipe Idea: Crumbly Top Blueberry Pie
Hi. It’s Lois in the kitchen at Recipe Idea Shop, telling you about my favorite Crumbly Top Blueberry Pie.
“Pie, pie. I love pie!” I think that’s how the song goes that Andie McDowell sings in the movie, Michael. That’s the way I feel about Crumbly Top Blueberry Pie. I love it.
My Great Grandma Martin made a delicious blueberry pie. Sometimes she made it with a lattice top and sometimes she topped it with a full pie crust. It was my favorite pie when I was a kid. I don’t have her recipe, but Joy of Cooking—a cookbook I think everyone should own—has a very good blueberry pie recipe. I like it with a crumbly top instead of a pie crust.
Don and I are entering a pie contest tomorrow. I made blueberry pie and he is making an elaborate apple pie. He’s not baking his until tomorrow, so I’ll put the recipe up then for the apple pie.
I usually cheat and use a pre-made crust. I prefer the Pillsbury ones you find in the dairy case, but today Don made the crust using a Joy of Cooking recipe. Joy of Cooking is one of the best basic cookbooks available, especially if you are new to cooking. You can find just about anything you want to make in it. His Flaky Pie Crust recipe is below. Make it before you make the filling. Or, here’s the link to his Traditional Pie Crust.
For a shortcut: You can also use a can of prepared blueberry pie filling in this recipe and add lemon and lemon zest to it. You will need to eliminate the sugar and the tapioca. It will still be delicious. But then, it would be a different pie.
You will need a good pie plate to bake a pie. I prefer the deep-dish pie plate because it’s a bit bigger and it’s less likely the pie will overflow.
No matter what pie plate you use, you’re gonna wanna eat this.
BUT FIRST, DID YOU GRAB YOUR FREE COOKBOOK?
Recipe follows…
Flaky Pie Crust
Makes one pie crust (two layers).
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Powdered Sugar (confectioner's)
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Crisco (solid vegetable shortening)
- 1/2 cup Ice Water
- 3 to 4 Tablespoons Ice Water (if needed, add slowly and incorporate as you go)
Instructions
Using a rubber spatula, thoroughly mix the following in a large bowl: flour, powdered sugar, salt.
Break the Crisco into large chunks.
Add the Crisco (shortening) to the flour mixture. Cut the shortening into the dry ingredients by chopping vigorously with a pastry blender or by cutting in opposite directions with two knives, one in each hand.
As you work, periodically stir the dry flour up from the bottom of the bowl and scrape clinging fat off the pastry blender or knives.
You are finished when some of the shortening is still pea-sized; the rest should be reduced to the consistency of coarse crumbs or cornmeal.
The mixture should seem dry and powdery and not pasty or greasy.
Then slowly drizzle the water a little at a time over the flour and fat mixture.
Using the rubber spatula, cut the dough with the blade side until the mixture looks evenly moistened and begins to form small balls.
Press down on the dough with the flat side of the spatula.
If the balls of dough stick together, you have added enough water. If they do not, drizzle over the top: 1 to 2 Tablespoons Ice Water
Cut in the water, again using the blade of the spatula, then press your hands until the dough coheres.
The dough should look rough, not smooth.
Divide the dough in half, pressing each half into a round, flat disk, and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and preferably for several hours (or for up to 2 days) before rolling.
The dough can also be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 6 months: thaw completely before rolling.
Roll the dough into a circle and put it in the pie pan.
Recipe Notes
Pie dough must be refrigerated before rolling out at least 50 minutes, and preferably 2 hours. This recipe is for an uncooked pie crust. You will either precook it (about 20 minutes) for a custard-type pie or fill it with fruit and cook it at the same time as the fruit filling. Therefore, no time for cooking has been added to the recipe.
Crumbly Top Blueberry Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 prepared pie crust
Filling
- 4 1/2 cups Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
- 3/4 cup organic Turbinado Sugar
- 4 Tablespoons quick-cooking Tapioca
- 2 Tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 teaspoon grated Lemon Zest (optional)
- 1/8 teaspoon Salt
Crumbly Top Topping
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar or natural sugar
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup butter
Instructions
- Move the lower rack to the bottom 1/3 of the oven.
- Preheat oven to 425F degrees.
- Combine all filling ingredients and let stand for 15 minutes.
- Place the pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan and press into place.
- Pour the filling into the pie pan.
- Cover pie with the crumbly top topping.
- Place the pie on a cookie sheet that has been covered with aluminum foil. (The pie tends to boil over the sides.)
- Mix all the ingredients for the topping and sprinkle it over the pie.
- Bake the pie on the lower rack for 30 minutes.
Reduce the oven temperature to 350F degrees and bake until thick juices bubble up, about 25-35 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cool on a rack.
Serving Now or Later
The pie is best served on the same day it is made, but it can be stored at room temperature for up to one day or in the refrigerator for several days.
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Crumbly Top Blueberry Pie Nutrition Label. Each serving is 1/12 the pie, including crust.