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When blueberries are in season, make this pie. A fresh blueberry crumble pie with a hint of lemon topped with a brown sugar butter streusel on top! You could even freeze it for later when you are missing summer…
In my family, blueberry pie needs to happen a couple times of year.
My dad and brother would have it every night if possible.
I decided to change it up a bit and make it a blueberry crumble pie. Think blueberry pie and blueberry cobbler got together and made this. Basically this blueberry crumble pie is out of this world good.
How Do You Make A Blueberry Pie?
Start by making your pie crust. This pie is really a cinch to put together. The great part about this pie is that it requires only making one pie crust dough. Most pie crust recipes is a “double crust”, but since this has only pie dough on the bottom you can save the other dough disk for another pie, another day.
Here is a recipe for a flaky pie crust step by step tutorial.
Once your crust has been rolled out into your pie plate, it’s time to make the filling.
You will cook down half of the blueberries over the stove, to create a blueberry jam in a sense. Then once the blueberries have cooked down, that will be added to the rest of your filling ingredients.
This filling will get poured into your pie crust and dotted with butter.
Then mix together your crumble topping- flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Then add in the melted butter and crumble together with your fingertips. This then gets sprinkled over your pie before it bakes.
Tips On Making This Blueberry Crumble Pie:
- Make sure everything is cold for the pie crust. I use frozen butter actually. And ice water. You could even go as far as putting your bowls, pastry cutter, and flour in the freezer if you so choose for 30 minutes before you start.
- I love an all butter crust. Butter gives the pie crust tremendous flavor. I do use half butter and half shortening for the best flaky crust, but choose which fat you prefer! All butter or half butter/half shortening you can’t go wrong.
- Work the dough as little as possible, leaving good sized visible chunks of butter in your dough there is no need to use shortening.
- Don’t overwork the pie dough. Use your finger tips not your palms of your hand when working with the pie dough. It’s ok if you still see some chunks of butter In fact, it’s preferred.
- Bake your pie in the lower third of your oven for the best pie.
- Use a pie shield or cover the top of the pie with aluminum foil if you find the top of the pie is beginning to burn before the pie is done baking.
How Do You Make A Blueberry Pie Filling With Frozen Blueberries?
I have made this pie with fresh and with frozen blueberries.
If you have to use frozen, do not them before you use them. Just simply use them directly from the freezer. When using frozen you might find your filling in the bowl has a lot of juice collecting at hte bottom.
Pro Tip: Scoop only the filling leaving behind the extra juice as this can make your pie extra soggy.
How Long Do You Cook A Blueberry Pie?
You want to start your pie on a high heat (400°F), in the lower third of your oven. And bake for 30 minutes.
Then lower the heat to 350ºF and continue to bake until juice bubbles and crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes longer.
How Do You Know If A Blueberry Pie Is Done?
I’d say follow your nose..but there are visual cues to look for. You want to see the pie filling bubbling through.
Give it another 10 minutes, then take it out of the oven after that.
Can You Freeze A Fresh Blueberry Pie?
This is one of the 5 desserts you can actually freeze now and bake later. Fruit pies are great at freezing. To freeze this pie and bake it later, you want to freeze it uncovered first until it’s frozen. Then be sure to wrap it in 3 layers of plastic wrap, then in tin-foil.
If you don’t have a lot of pie plates to spare, then you might want to freeze the pie so you can pop it out of the pie plate after it’s frozen. To do this, first you can grease your pie plate. Line the bottom with parchment paper, and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Then once it’s frozen you can take it out of the pie plate. Be sure to wrap in plastic wrap and place inside a plastic sealable bag or wrap in tin-foil.
Then be sure to label it! You think you will remember what it is later. Trust me you won’t.
Be sure to label the pie with:
- What it is
- Date Frozen
- Baking Instructions
For more desserts you can freeze now and bake later, be sure to subscribe below!
Until next time, happy baking!
Blueberry Crumble Pie
Ingredients
For the pie dough
- 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons shortening cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
- 3-4 tablespoons ice water
For the filling
- 6 cups fresh blueberries
- 1 Granny Smith apple peeled and grated on large holes of box grater
- 2 teaspoons grated zest and 2 teaspoons juice from 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- Pinch table salt
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into 1/4-inch pieces
For the crumble topping
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tblsp light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 tblsp unsalted butter melted, cooled slightly
Instructions
- For the pie dough: Process the salt, sugar, and flour in a food processor until combined, about 5 seconds. Scatter shortening over top and process until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal (about 10 seconds). Scatter butter over top and pulse mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, about 10 pulses.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl. Sprinkle 3 tablespoons ice water over mixture. Stir and press dough together using a rubber spatula, until dough sticks together. If does not come together, stir in remaining ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
- Put the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into a 4-inch disk. Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. Before rolling dough out, let it sit on counter to soften slightly, about 10 minutes. Dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to a month.
For the filling
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position, place rimmed baking sheet on oven rack and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 3 cups berries in medium saucepan and set over medium heat. Using potato masher, mash berries several times to release juices. Continue to cook, stirring frequently and mashing occasionally, until about half of berries have broken down and mixture is thickened and reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Let cool slightly.
- Place grated apple in clean kitchen towel and wring dry. Transfer apple to large bowl. Add cooked berries, remaining 3 cups uncooked berries, lemon zest, juice, sugar, cornstarch, and salt; toss to combine. Transfer mixture to dough-lined pie plate and scatter butter pieces over filling.
For the crumble topping
- Mix crumble topping ingredients in a bowl minus the butter. Whisk to combine. Add the melted butter and combine with your fingertips. Sprinkle over the blueberry filling.
To bake the pie
- Place pie on heating baking sheet and bake 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until juice bubbles and crust is deep golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes longer. Transfer pie to wire rack; cool to room temperature, at least 4 hours. Cut into wedges and serve.
Notes
- Make sure everything is cold for the pie crust. I use frozen butter actually. And ice water. You could even go as far as putting your bowls, pastry cutter, and flour in the freezer if you so choose for 30 minutes before you start.
- I love an all butter crust. Butter gives the pie crust tremendous flavor. I do use half butter and half shortening for the best flaky crust, but choose which fat you prefer! All butter or half butter/half shortening you can’t go wrong.
- Work the dough as little as possible, leaving good sized visible chunks of butter in your dough there is no need to use shortening.
- Don’t overwork the pie dough. Use your finger tips not your palms of your hand when working with the pie dough. It’s ok if you still see some chunks of butter In fact, it’s preferred.
- Bake your pie in the lower third of your oven for the best pie.
- Use a pie shield or cover the top of the pie with aluminum foil if you find the top of the pie is beginning to burn before the pie is done baking.
- If you use frozen blueberries, do not thaw them before using. And if you have extra juice in the bottom of your filling bowl scoop only the blueberries leaving behind the extra juice.
Nutrition
For More Blueberry Recipes Check Out These Recipes:
- Blueberry Streusel Muffins
- Blueberry Lemon Scones
- Blueberry Muffin Bread
- Blueberry Crumb Cake
- Blueberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars (Just So Tasty)
- Blueberry Lemon Hand Pies (Shugary Sweets)
- Blueberry Cream Cookies (Butter With A Side Of Bread)
Jamie says
Hey. Where’s the egg go?
Heather says
Hi Jamie sorry about that! That’s a typo – I used to do a double crust on my blueberry pie and add an egg wash. But since this is a crumble pie for the topping that’s no longer necessary and must have been a typo (copy/paste error). Sorry about that! The recipe has been updated now. Thank you for letting me know!