the ultimate blueberry pie with a crisp topping!

I just burned my mouth and I have no regrets. Trust me, if you pulled this pie out of the oven, you’d need a fire extinguisher and then an air-conditioner blazing in your mouth. From yesterday’s post, you’ll see that I made a peach pie. The pie, although gorgeous and juicy, was a little heady. The cardamom overwhelmed the peaches and I knew, deep down, that I didn’t have enough for the pie. I keep having to remind myself that baking is all about precision and chemistry, none of this improvisation business of which I so love. This morning I was determined to make up for the peach snafu with a fruit I know and adore quite well - the blueberry. oh! how it blisters and turns violet when cooked and spritzed with lemon juice!!!

So what I’m looking for is a pie without all that dreaded heaviness. Something light. A topping that is a vehicle for the fresh local berries. I recently made a pie with a marzipan crumble, but while delish, not light. So I turned to one of my favorite foodies, Heidi Swanson. She recently posted a recipe for a peaches and plum crumble and the topping seemed perfect (a great mixture of textures and suitably sweet, but not overwhelmingly so), and a little on the lighter side, courtesy of the yogurt rather than dumping in a stick of butter (I only used 3 tablespoons and, in retrospect, I think I could have gotten away with less). So a marriage was in the making. My pie from July’s Bon Appetit combined with Heidi’s crumble, and voila! light! delish!

If you want to go even crazier, you can nix the pie crust on the bottom and roll with crumble.

INGREDIENTS
Note: I use all organic and/or local ingredients, because that is just how I roll.

Filling
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (or more) sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
5-6 cups fresh wild or regular blueberries (32 ounces) or 32 ounces frozen wild or regular blueberries (do not thaw) or 2 pints from your local market
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Crisp (adapted from Heidi Swanson’s Plum & Peach crisp recipe):
3/4 cup rolled oats (I used toasted oats because I couldn’t find rolled oats in my local market)
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1/2 cup natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
big pinch of salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup yogurt (I used low-fat yogurt)

For filling:
Whisk 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar and cornstarch in heavy large saucepan to blend. Stir in blueberries and lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture bubbles and thickens, frequently stirring gently, about 13 minutes. Chill filling until cool, about 1 hour (I shoved this in the fridge and it cooked in 1/2 hr, just fine).

For the topping
Combine the oats, flour, and sugar together in a medium bowl. Stir in the butter, and then the yogurt and mix until everything comes together in a dough-like texture. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the blueberry mixture.

In a 9inch pie dish (please do not use aluminum or one of those pie crust pans as this will be a disaster), add a rolled out pie crust (i use store bought, because no way am i making dough until autumn). Add filling. Add topping, ensuring you distribute evenly. In a pre-heated 400 degree oven, place pie on rimmed baking sheet and bake until crust and topping are golden and filling bubbles thickly, about 25 minutes.

Serve lukewarm/chilled with gelato!

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 15th, 2007 at 10:55 am and is filed under foodie gal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.