Fresh Picked Blueberry Pie

When you go to Maine between the months of July and October (i.e., the first frost), blueberry picking is a must-do. When we were up in Maine recently, the weather was topping out at 75 degrees - not exactly swimming weather. When we set out blueberry picking at Crabtree Blueberry Picking, we each grabbed a large pail and set off into their blueberry patch that had about 10 different types of blueberries!  

Blueberry Farm

I have never given blueberry varieties much thought, but it totally makes sense that there are many varieties. After about 10 minutes, with hardly the bottoms of our pails covered, Nick asked if we intended to fill them. My response was "of course! I want to make a blueberry pie!" With that incentive, we set ourselves to picking for the next hour.

Blueberry Pie

After an hour of picking, we ended up collecting over 9 pounds of blueberries! Even better, with the berries, a jam and a maple syrup, our grand total at check out was $32 - best price ever.

9 pounds of blueberries

Blueberry Pie Recipe (Adapted from Martha Stewart)

• 8 cups of blueberries
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• Juice of 1 lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon of heavy cream

The Ingredients

I scooped out the 8 cups of blueberries and placed them in a big bowl.

Lots of Blueberries!

I then added the sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice to the bowl of blueberries and gave it a big stir.

Yummy Filling

I made this pie for a dinner party we were having the day we returned from Maine, so I cheated and used prepared pie crusts, figuring I wouldn't have enough time to make my own. Now knowing how easy this pie was, I would make the crust from scratch next time. I piled the blueberries in the pie crust and actually struggled to get all of them to fit!  I had to add the last cup a few at a time to plug some holes to get them all in there.  Finally I cut the butter into pieces and placed them on top of the blueberry mound.

So many blueberries!

Since I was using readymade pie crusts, I was going to do a lattice top to add a little intrigue and homemade touch.  However, with the tower of blueberries, I did not want to fiddle around too much and bagged it.  I rolled out my pie crust a bit to ensure it fit over the top of the filling.  I draped it over and secured it to the bottom crust by pinching it with fork tines.

I then mixed together the egg yolk and cream and brushed it over the top generously and attempted to prevent pooling. Finally, I sliced between seven and eight slits in the top of the crust to allow any steam to escape.

Ready for the oven

Prior to putting the pie in the oven, I let it sit in the fridge for about 30 minutes. I would suggest putting the pie on a lined baking sheet for baking (this gets juicy!).  While in the fridge, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees and placed the oven rack on the bottom third of the oven. I took the pie directly from the fridge into the oven and let it cook for 20 minutes. Then, I dropped the temperature to 350 degrees and let the pie cook for another 40-50 minutes, until the pie was a golden brown.

PIE!

I could not believe how much the pie dropped in height; it was definitely a few inches.  I let the pie cool for a couple of hours while we cooked and served the rest of dinner!

Blueberry Pie!

More Pie!

We served this pie with one of my home area favorites - Richardson's Ice Cream. The dessert turned out really well.  I could not believe how easy this pie was, especially when I had some crusts in the freezer. If blueberries are on sale right now, definitely pick up 8 cups worths and make a pie - you won't be sorry :)