Autumn is a pie season. There's nothing better hot cup of tea or coffee with a big piece of your favourite pastry. I remember my very first pie I made. It was lemon meringue pie for 'The Toast' movie. Since then my cooking and baking skills improved, I became more confident, but also more demanding towards myself.
Last year I had no time and no desire to do anything for my cosy blog. Now I'm cured. Today I'm blooming from the inside, I have enough energy, enough time, many ideas and a huge passion. I know where I'm going and I know it's my way. So more films and more pies are coming up:)
So today I'm gonna share a very simple, but totally delicious blueberry pie recipe, which I could technically regard to 'My Blueberry Nights' movie. I don't like the film, but I'm a big fan of all kinds of berry pies. By the way, I found the recipe in a cookbook 'Good Old-Fashioned Puddings' by Sara Paston Williams. That's one of my first cookbooks I've ever bought. And it's really really good one. Highly recommend to get it in your collection.
Ok, it's time to preheat your ovens and get ready for baking!
Dough:Last year I had no time and no desire to do anything for my cosy blog. Now I'm cured. Today I'm blooming from the inside, I have enough energy, enough time, many ideas and a huge passion. I know where I'm going and I know it's my way. So more films and more pies are coming up:)
So today I'm gonna share a very simple, but totally delicious blueberry pie recipe, which I could technically regard to 'My Blueberry Nights' movie. I don't like the film, but I'm a big fan of all kinds of berry pies. By the way, I found the recipe in a cookbook 'Good Old-Fashioned Puddings' by Sara Paston Williams. That's one of my first cookbooks I've ever bought. And it's really really good one. Highly recommend to get it in your collection.
Ok, it's time to preheat your ovens and get ready for baking!
70 g cold butter
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cups sugar or sugar powder
salt
2 Tbs cold water
Filling:
600-700 g blueberries (or other berries)
1 cup sugar
20 g butter
Meringue:
3 egg whites (very fresh and cold)
1 cup sugar or sugar powder
Preparation time:
2 hours
Baking time:
1 hour
Hard?
No, but I included some tips below
First things first: wash berries, put them into a bowl, add sugar, mix and put aside.
Then we start to prepare the dough. In one bowl, mix all dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt. in my opinion, it's better to use sugar-powder, because all ingredients incorporate better then. But for sure you may use white or brown sugar, or make the dough sugar-free at all.
Cut butter with a knife or smash it a bit with a fork, then add it to the mixture. Use your fingers to mix the dough. Separate egg yolks from egg whites, put the second in a fridge. Be very careful while separating: don't let even a tiny yolk droplet get into egg whites.
Add yolks in the dough. Add some water and flour if needed. Mix until all ingredients are very well incorporated. Then cover with a cling film and put it in a fridge for about 30 minutes.
Then we start to prepare the dough. In one bowl, mix all dry ingredients: flour, sugar, salt. in my opinion, it's better to use sugar-powder, because all ingredients incorporate better then. But for sure you may use white or brown sugar, or make the dough sugar-free at all.
Cut butter with a knife or smash it a bit with a fork, then add it to the mixture. Use your fingers to mix the dough. Separate egg yolks from egg whites, put the second in a fridge. Be very careful while separating: don't let even a tiny yolk droplet get into egg whites.
Add yolks in the dough. Add some water and flour if needed. Mix until all ingredients are very well incorporated. Then cover with a cling film and put it in a fridge for about 30 minutes.
It's time to get back to our berries. If you look at the bottom of the bowl, you'll see some berry juice. That's a wonderful thing and we need to pour it into a small bowl (if you want to use the microwave) or a pan (if you want to heat up the juice on the stove). After you did that, add some butter to the juice and put the bowl for ~1-2 minutes into a microwave or keep on a stove until butter is melted. Stir and then let it cool.
Tip: butter + juice + sugar makes syrup that will prevent the wet bottom of a pie crust and hold juice together like a glue. If you still think, that the crust will get too messed - sprinkle the bottom with a little bit of semolina, it will absorb excess fluid and keep your pie nice and crunchy.
Preheat your oven up to 180°Ð¡/ 356°F. Roll out the dough into a baking pan, pierce the bottom of the crust. Bake for ~ 15 minutes on a medium oven's level.
Take the pan from the oven, pun the berries inside, add syrup. Bake the pie for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, let's prepare the meringue.
Tip: add a pinch of salt to egg whites and you'll get nice, rich and shape-holding meringue.
Start to beat egg whites slow, increase the speed of the mixer step by step. Add sugar in small portions. Try the trick with carefully turning the bowl upside down, if the gravity makes 0 impacts on your meringue - you did a very good job:)
Tip: add a pinch of salt to egg whites and you'll get nice, rich and shape-holding meringue.
Start to beat egg whites slow, increase the speed of the mixer step by step. Add sugar in small portions. Try the trick with carefully turning the bowl upside down, if the gravity makes 0 impacts on your meringue - you did a very good job:)
Take the pie from the oven, let it cool for 10 minutes. Then, add meringue on top very carefully and put the pie back into the oven for the very last 20 minutes. Afterwards, let it cool, get your a ball of vanilla ice-cream (or not:) and enjoy!
This is perfect, light, juicy and delicate pie.
