I think that homemade blueberry pie is my favorite fruit pie. While staying with my sister Shanna, we decided to take advantage of her and her son’s hard work picking blueberries last summer. Shanna had a freezer full of blueberries that needed to be used up…and we had a beckoning sweet tooth!

My mom was an amazing pie maker. She always had the loveliest pies at our church potlucks. She could whip up a pie in 10 minutes and it would be so delicious! I was always nervous to make pies, because cook books always tell you not to overwork the dough. Cook book writers always wax eloquent about how finicky pastry making can be.

I decided to have my mom give me a pastry making class. She showed me that you can’t be afraid of the dough and that you have to make the pastry, and in making it, you have to use your hands to incorporate all the ingredients.

My mom always used lard to make her pie crust, but Shanna doesn’t have a good source for home rendered lard in Louisiana. So as a substitute, we used butter to make the crust for our homemade blueberry pie. This is actually how french pie or pastry dough is made. This is a great alternative for those of you who also do not have a good source for non-hydrogenated lard.

The cook book writers always say, everything has to be ice-cold, but I beg to differ. My mom showed me that you do not need to refrigerate your pie dough for an hour. You just need to have cold butter, iced cold water and a willingness to get in and get it done. The key is always to work as fast as possible.

Here is a list of tips to help make the process of baking your homemade blueberry pie much easier:

1. Have a pie plate ready.
2. Make sure you have your rolling pin out.
3. Keep a knife handy.
4. Prepare a small pitcher of ice water.
5. It’s a good idea to have a set of measuring cups for both wet and dry ingredients.
6. Have a pastry cutter ready, or a food processor.
7. If you choose to decorate your pie crust with cutouts, make sure your pastry dough cutters are close at hand.
8. Make sure your oven is preheated to 375*.

Ingredients for the Homemade Blueberry Pie Crust:

• 3 cups of all-purpose King Arthur Flour
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 2 sticks (or 1 cup) cold salted butter, cubed
• 1/2 – 2/3 cup ice water
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Note: You may or may not need as much ice water, depending on the humidity in the air on the day you choose to bake.

***This recipe is for a double pie crust, so you can make 2 pies, or one pie with a top crust, like our homemade blueberry pie.***

Pie Crust Directions:

In a large bowl, add your flour and salt and whisk together. Add your 1 cup of cubed butter to the flour mixture. You can use a pastry cutter or your clean hands to cut the fat into the flour. If you prefer, you may use a food processor. When the butter and flour look like lumpy sand, you can then add the iced water, mixing with your hands until it forms a ball. Do not be afraid to make sure it comes together to form a ball.

Slice the ball of pie dough in half. Before you start rolling out your pie crust, flour your surface as well as your rolling pin. Roll half the dough into a 1/4 inch thick disk. Rotate the disk and add flour underneath as you expand it to around 15 inches of diameter.

Sprinkle flour on the surface of the dough, then roll it around your floured rolling pin like a cigar. This will make it easier to transfer to your pie plate. Simply unroll it over the pan and position it so that it is evenly distributed. At this point, you can add your pie filling and roll out your second half of the dough for the upper crust.

FRUGAL TIP: Use the leftover pie crust to make a free-form Russian style pie. All you have to do is add sour cream and your favorite jam. ***

Ingredients for the Homemade Blueberry Pie Filling:

• 6 cups blueberries, fresh or thawed
• 1 1/4 cups of cane sugar (Domino sugar is non-gmo certified)
• 5 TBsp. all-purpose King Arthur Flour***
• 3-5 TBsp. cubed salted butter
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• Zest of 1 orange or 1 lemon
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon (optional if you don’t have citrus zest)

Note: We used flour instead of corn starch for our homemade blueberry pie, because we did not have access to non-gmo corn starch.

Pie Filling Directions:

Place all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix until fully incorporated. Pour the blueberry pie filling into the prepared pie crust. At this point, you can add a top crust, make lattice work, or place pastry cutouts on top of the filling. Make sure you add vent holes to a solid crust.

Place your homemade blueberry pie in a 375* oven for an hour and fifteen minutes.

Note: No oven is the same. Some run hot, some run cold. You could also bake at 400* for the same amount of time, but for my oven, 375* for 1 hour and 15 minutes is hot and long enough.

***Another side note, a good indicator that your pie is fully cooked is when your pie filling starts bubbling.

Here is another blueberry pie recipe by Martha Stewart that is simply delicious!

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