Blueberries were on sale at my grocery store for $0.99 a pint!  I bought 4 pints.  While I am more than happy to eat them plain as a snack or as a garnish for my yogurt, I wanted to do something a little more exciting with these sweet little berries.  I chose this luscious blueberry pie.  I think it’s a perfect summer dessert.

This is not, however, just blueberry pie.  The filling is made of sour cream, eggs, sugar, flour and blueberries.  And the fun doesn’t end there.  On top of this pie is a streusel type topping made of butter, sugar and flour.  This pie has no other option than to be delicious.

On allrecipes.com, this pie is called Creamy Blueberry Pie.  Here is the link.  It calls for a 9 inch deep dish pie crust, but I decided to make my own crust.  This is not something I do very often.  I like the convenience of a store bought crust, and they usually taste great.  The Pillsbury kind that you roll out on your own are the best.  I’ve found that the frozen kind already in the pan have a tendency to crack, and the edge of the crust looks like it came out of a machine…because it did.  So, if you do use a store crust, go with the one that at least looks like it’s homemade!

Most pie crust recipes are quite similar.  All use flour, sugar, salt, some kind of fat, and some kind of liquid.  Having your ingredients chilled is considered to be a must in pie crust making.  It is also important not to overwork the dough.  You can mix the dough by hand, or in a food processor.  When you mix the dough, make sure that you can still see bits of the fat in the finished product.  This ensures a tender, flaky crust.

The differences arise when it comes to your choices of fat and liquid.  Fat options include butter, shortening, lard, or a combination.  Liquid options are ice water, vodka, lemon juice, vinegar, and I’m sure others as well that I haven’t seen.

The recipes I have always liked the most have used equal amounts of butter and shortening.  Butter gives a great flavor, and the shortening creates a more stable crust.  Ice cold water has also been my liquid of choice.  It doesn’t alter the flavor, and I always have some in my kitchen!  Here is the recipe I used, Best-Ever Pie Crust from epicurious.com.

Now to the pie.

After putting your pie dough into a deep dish pie pan, in go the lovely blueberries.

On top of the layer of fruit goes the custard mixture.

Sprinkle the crumble topping over all of this and it bakes for about an hour…I baked mine for 55 minutes.

I would have liked a browner crumb topping, but the bottom crust was getting a bit dark.

After taking the pie out of the oven, let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour.  You can either serve the pie warm, or chill it in the fridge for another hour or two.  This allows the custard layer to get nice and firm.

When you cut into this pie, you can see the layer of tender, buttery crust on the bottom.  Above the crust is the creamy custard , and the tart blueberries that make this pie so incredibly delicious.  Atop all of this is the sweet, crunchy crumbly topping that balances out everything.

I served the pie with vanilla ice cream, but it would be fine alone.  This is a pie that can definitely be served in the heat of summer and will have a prime spot in my recipe collection as something I will definitely make again.

Creamy Blueberry Crumble Pie

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh blueberries
• 1 (9 inch) deep dish pie crust
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter

Directions

1. Combine 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and salt. Add eggs and sour cream, stirring until blended.
2. Place blueberries in pastry shell, and spoon sour cream mixture over berries.
3. In another bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup flour. Cut in butter or margarine with pastry blender until mixture resembles course meal. Sprinkle this mixture over sour cream mixture and berries in the pie shell.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 50 to 55 minutes, or until lightly browned.