Bumpy Blueberry Pie

Let’s talk pie. Specifically, bumpy pie. I saw this recipe for bumpy cherry pie on Top With Cinnamon and thought, “Yep. This is happening.” But, as the CSA has been giving us boatloads of blueberries, peaches and plums, there’s been a moratorium on purchasing fruit from the grocery store. Thus, I bring you bumpy blueberry pie.

I was really hoping to get some cherries this (like we did last year) and may go on the hunt to see if any are leftover in our freezer. Because I’ve recently discovered that I actually like cherries (well, duh – you might say – red is my favorite artificial flavor) – and missed out on consuming the cherry galette that I made last year.

But, this year the CSA gave us blueberries from a different NJ farm (due to fruit shortages from the harsh winter/spring – aren’t they the nicest?). And, as I mentioned before – my family doesn’t have a history of being the biggest blueberry pie eaters. Well, my dad does. Just not the rest of us. So, this brings me to bumpy blueberry pie – an adaptation.

To be honest, I spent a Friday night baking this pie, instead of going out in Jersey City. Priorities. It didn’t end up being done until around 11 (and by done I mean out of the oven). You really should let the pie cool before cutting into it. Or you run the risk of all the berries falling out. Which you can see is clearly what happened to me. We’re not patient people, and I had promised my dad blueberry pie.

I wanted to try this recipe since the photos on Top with Cinnamon show a thicker, more cookie-like crust. Something that I thought would increase the crust:berry ratio. The pie was a success! It didn’t turn out quite like I expected – the crust was thinner and crunchier and the berries kept a lot of their shape and texture, but my mom and sister loved it. This pie is definitely worth turning on the oven in the middle of summer.

They both loved the almond base for the crust (this whole lack of food processor deal means I’m making good use of my mortar and pestle aka crushing almonds). Though I can’t compare it to a version with truly ground almonds, I quite like the texture that the not-quite completely ground almonds give the crust. My dad is still a traditional pie kind of guy, so I don’t think is the last blueberry pie you’ll see (and if you were wondering, the blueberry hand pies didn’t count as traditional pie either).

Next up, I want a pie with a cookie crust. Maybe a slab pie, because those have been on my list. But for now, I recommend warming the pie (I microwave, judge me) and then topping it with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream. Perfection.

Also, next up: anyone have some good almond meal recipes? Apparently, we have some laying around the house and I’m looking for a good use. Be on the lookout for that adventure. And in the meantime, I’ll try to post something that’s not blueberry- or strawberry-related.

Recipe adapted from Top with Cinnamon

For the filling:

2 pints fresh blueberries

1 tsp. lemon zest

1 tsp. lemon juice

1/4 tsp. fresh nutmeg
1/4 c. sugar
1 tsp all purpose flour

For the pastry:1 1/3 c all purpose flour
6 tbsp granulated sugar
3/4 c ground almonds (I ground my own in a mortar & pestle)
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp almond extract (generous)

Directions:

1. Stir together filling and set aside
2. In a bowl, stir together the dry ingredients. Rub the butter in (I use a pastry cutter) and add the remainder of the wet ingredients
3. Divide the dough into two balls and chill in the freezer for at least 15 minutes or in the fridge for at least 4 hours
4. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Roll out one ball on a piece of lightly floured parchment paper using a lightly floured rolling pin until slightly larger than an 8-inch pie plate. Place the pie plate upside down (opening side down) in the center of the dough. Flip both the dough/paper and pie plate. Peel away so the pastry lines the pie plate.
5. Fill with blueberry mixture and roll out the second ball (keep this one in the freezer/fridge while you work with the first. I do not recommend rolling out at the same time as the first). Flip the parchment paper on top of the pie and peel away. Crimp the edges and bake 30-40ish minutes until golden brown. Top with sugar (if desired, I forgot and just used ice cream)

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Last week we celebrated my older sister's birthday -- about a week late. See, my mom and I were sick. So sick we couldn't get off the couch or out of bed for about a week and a half and completely missed E's birthday. So, we had her birthday dinner and dessert the next weekend.

It was well worth the wait. I'm glad they decided to wait until we were well enough to eat and help prepare it. We started with a cheese plate of manchego, jarlsberg and fig jam. Then, we had caprese salad and pesto oil while my dad and I finished grilling the asparagus and salmon. For dessert, I made lemon blueberry cheescake cupcakes - and boy were they a hit!

It was a really good meal to eat after such a busy day. My mom and I started off the morning with a long talk over coffee and blueberry pancakes (aka my favorite kind of morning) before we headed off to church and met our new pastor (though hesitant at first, we're now big fans). We came back home and had lunch before running up to the grocery store to get a few things. Then, we came back and my dad and I started pickling! We're making pickles.

My mom isn't pleased, but we're excited. I'll tell you more about it later but we're making regular and spicy dill pickles and sweet bread and butter pickles in the fridge. We got some pickling cucumbers in our CSAt two weeks and, well, it seemed like the perfect time to try it. It's also really fun that E's fiancee loves spicy dill pickles and we had no idea. Talk about perfect timing. Our pickles are ready to eat now and for the next few weeks, so I'll be sure to tell you all how they are.

We got more pickling cucumbers this week, so I think we're going to try preserving some pickles, because my mom will freak if we put any more jars of pickles in the fridge for now. I'm proposing a taste test to check the difference between the two. Then, I whipped up the lemon blueberry cheesecake bars while my dad started the bread dough. After sorting through boxes of kitchen equipment from my apartment in college, I put on a bathing suit and went outside where my dad started teaching me to roll a kayak!

I was so nervous at first that I was actually shaking. There's something so scary and vulnerable about being trapped in a kayak and suspended underneath the water from it (thanks, spray skirt). I thought I would panic as soon as the kayak flipped and be completely helpless. I kind of thought I would drown. but, I also think so much about life is about facing fears. It's so easy to go through life avoiding what makes you scared, but I think facing your fears makes you feel stronger. I'm certainly going to feel stronger, though sore, as I head in to work tomorrow. If nothing else, for facing my fear and staying calm underwater. It was a great bonding exercise with my dad who was trying to teach me how to do it. We made some great progress and I can almost right the boat completely by myself. I hope we'll be jumping into the pool to do it again this weekend also.

So, let's talk lemon blueberry cheesecake bars.

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction & my Great Nana's Cheesecake Recipe

Ingredients:
8 whole graham crackers, crushed
2 Tbsp. melted butter
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp sugar + 1/3 cup sugar
2 packages softened cream cheese
1 egg
2 Tbsp. vanilla
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 1/2 pints fresh blueberries (or frozen)
1 cup sour cream
3-4 rounded tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Mix crushed graham crackers, melted butter a pinch of salt and 2 Tbsp. sugar in a bowl. Press into lined muffin tins to form the crust (mine made 17 nice and full cupcakes)
2. Preheat oven to 350. Beat cream cheese for 1 minute until light. Add 1/3 c. sugar, 1 Tbsp. vanilla, egg, lemon juice and lemon zest (I spilled about half the lemon juice because I'm clumsy and they still came out great. I also forgot the vanilla. I was a little bit distracted). Beat 3 full minutes. Fold in blueberries and fill muffin tin.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until set. Cool on counter and then move to fridge for at least 2 hours.
4. At some point after the cupcakes have cooled on the counter, mix the sour cream, powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp vanilla. Frost the cupcakes and return to the fridge. This frosting won't harden too much in the fridge. Top with fresh blueberries and a mint garnish if desired before serving.

Blueberry Hand Pies (for 2)

I'm feeling so much better. Better than I have in a week exactly. Not 100% but significantly better. So much better that I made my dad some blueberry hand pies for dessert last night. I just love how the blueberries have oozed and bubbled over and stained the crust with that deep dark purple.

See we have this thing with blueberry pie in my house. My dad loooooves blueberry pie in his hand. It's got to be one of his favorites, though he claims whatever pie is in front of him is his favorite. But, the rest of us haven't been so hot on the blueberry pie. In fact, up until rather recently I didn't eat blueberries at all.

I'm warming up to blueberries. I used to only eat them in muffins or pancakes, but now I like them fresh or in my oatmeal also (I know -- really shaking things up here). Regardless, its progress. (Though, can we all agree that mushy fresh blueberries are the absolute worst? They actually make me gag a little bit). And my older sister just recently started eating them also. My little sister likes them, I think? (K, if you're reading this can you confirm?) and my mom likes them, but she's pretty agreeable to anything.

Point being. We rarely make a blueberry pie - because my dad is the only one who would really eat more than a piece (or really do anything besides make a face at it), and a whole pie for him just doesn't seem that practical. Plus, we all like the blueberry muffins so much that there's a little bit of a competition. Over the years we've compromised and made small blueberry tarts for him.

But, last year, I saw hand pies on Pinterest and became kind of obsessed. I'm weird. It's whatever. And, I've been plotting to make hand pies ever since. And now I have. And, they're adorable. And, I'll be making more. I just love the idea of a personal pie that you can hold in your hand and eat with your hands (though a fork, knife and plate are probably the recommended and socially-acceptable option).

Also, I'm obsessed with this pie crust recipe. It's from this awesome cookbook I found at a flea market that was published in 1915. I adapted it a little bit, but let's just say this was my best purchase ever (and I bought a Jeep Wrangler, so...). For me, pie crust used to end in tears. I cannot get my grandma's pie crust recipe to cooperate. But this, it worked like a charm. It's definitely going to be my go-to recipe from now on. So, blueberry hand pies...

Ingredients: 

Pie Crust (probably enough for 3 or 4 hand pies):
1 1/4 c. flour
1  heaping tsp. baking powder
1 pinch of salt
1/4 c. cold butter
1/4 c. crisco (throw in the freezer while gathering ingredients and mixing dry ingredients
3-4 Tbsp. ice water

Filling:

1/4 - 1/2 pint blueberries

1/4 c. granulated sugar

salt

flour

lemon juice

nutmeg

Directions:

1. Put the crisco in the freezer while you're gathering and measuring the other dough ingredients. Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl. Grab the crisco and the butter. Cut into chunks and rub into dry ingredients with a pastry cutter, forks or hands.
2. Add enough ice water 1 Tbsp at a time to develop a wet dough that just sticks together. Throw it in the fridge while you gather the filling ingredients.
3. Preheat oven to 375. When ready, pull the dough out of the fridge and roll out. Cut out pie bottoms and tops (I used a 4-inch circle cookie cutter)
4. Place a few handfuls of blueberries in the center of the bottom pie crusts. Sprinkle blueberries with a couple pinches of sugar (1-2 Tbsp sugar per pie), add a pinch of flour, salt and ground nutmeg each. Add a few drops of lemon juice.
5. Place other pie crust on top and cut three slits. Use a fork to crimp the sides of the pie together and dust a little extra sugar on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown on top.

Blueberry Pancakes

I LOVE PANCAKES. Plain. Chocolate chip. Peanut butter chocolate chip. Banana. Cinnamon vanilla. Pumpkin. and especially blueberry pancakes in the summer. My dad has making these pancakes for as long as I can remember.

Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. flour
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/4 c. milk
2+ tsp. vanilla

Directions:

1. Mix together dry ingredients.
2. Mix together wet ingredients; add to dry ingredients and gently whisk until just moistened. Batter will be slightly lumpy.
3. Over medium heat, pour 1/3 c. batter and let cook until bubbles stop popping. Add blueberries, flip and brown on the other side.

Double Blueberry Muffins

There are blueberries everywhere. I don't even like blueberries that much and I can say these muffins are delicious. Easily the best blueberry muffins I've ever had. I thought the blueberry preserves would act as a filling, which I was not excited about, and much to my surprise it worked very differently. These are so yummy that I've made them twice in the last week and have to plans to make them 2-3 more times in the coming weeks - an unprecedented occurrence.

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:
2 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
3/4 c. buttermilk
6 T. butter, melted
1 c. fresh blueberries
1/2 c. blueberry preserves
1 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. lemon zest
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. butter, melted

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners (or parchment paper!)
2. Stir together flour, the 3/4 c. sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture; set aside.
3. Whisk together eggs, buttermilk and 6 Tbsp. melted butter (note: the butter may congeal upon being mixed with cool eggs and buttermilk, this is OK). Add all at once to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in blueberries. Remove 1 1/2 c. batter.
4. Spoon remaining batter into prepared muffin cups. Spoon 2 tsp. of blueberry preserves into the center of each muffin. Top with remaining batter to cover the preserves. Bake 20 minutes.
5. Stir together orange zest, lemon zest and 2 Tbsp. sugar. Remove muffins from oven; brush with 2 Tbsp melted butter and sprinkle citrus-zest on top.