After the extravagant caviar, salmon 
and pesto/walnut appetizers, the crab cakes and the steaks with foie gras, what does one serve for dessert? I guess a lighter fruit based option would be good… but I decided to just bake some pies in the morning and bring them to the dinner already ready to be served. One of the guests that evening was American and I figured I would make something that they would be familiar with. The first pie was my standard apple pie, made with granny smith apples that are tart and flavorful. My recipe for the apple pie was posted here a couple of years ago. This is one of my default desserts that is extremely easy to make and almost always great to eat. It also keeps for a couple of days so its okay if you don’t finish it all soon after baking…
The second pie that I made was a blueberry pie. Obviously best made when you have the finest freshly picked blueberries, I made this one with flash frozen berries 
I got at the grocery. I used the same pie crust as the one for apple pie, but for the filling, I simply mixed blueberries with lemon rind, a few drops of fresh lemon juice, some sugar and some flour or cornstarch to thicken the blueberry filling. Stick this in a 350-375 degree oven for about 45-50 minutes or the crust is a nice golden color. Allow the cooked pie to sit for several hours then refrigerate it before serving. If you don’t do these last steps, the filling will be incredibly runny… it will still taste great, but just harder to serve up. I love the color, the flavor and the consistency of a blueberry pie. For dessert that evening, despite all of the calories we had already consumed, almost everyone had a slice of blueberry pie, a slice of apple pie and several scoops of vanilla ice cream…
7 Responses
i love blueberries and there’s nothing like the fresh ones, you’ve gotta try it, sometimes we even eat fresh blueberries with marshmallows, really good. . . .
Fresh(US)blueberries taste great as ,unfortunately, compared to the ones we have up north, here in the Philippines. Nothing beats to the taste of fresh blueberry pie and apple pie. I love ’em plain!
I recently found frozen blueberries and assorted berries in the chillers of S&R in Filinvest. I would definitely make these pies(blueberry or apple), it will surely be a challenge for me (making the crust)but these pies just look to goood to pass up.
I’ve had the great experience of picking fresh blueberries and other kinds of berries in the woods of Norway. Our host made pies and compote out of them and I prefer the blueberries most of all. After having eaten these, I agree with Elaine that the pies made out of the fresh ones seem incomparable but then…I still enjoy eating blueberry pies and cheesecakes! Your meals are a delight to read…I’ve “fattened” up already :-)!
Baking them at home is the only way you can taste decent fruit pies even here. The fruit pies you pick up at the super market are filled from large pails of commercial ready-made fillings that are artificialy flavoured and coloured and thickly bound with modified cornstarch called Quickjell. I avoid using fresh ones unless I picked them myself. I just mix equal parts of frozen wild and frozen cultivated blueberries and use fine tapioca (pearl sago) as thickener and it floods the house with this wonderful blueberry aroma that reminds me of fragrant sanggumay (the common purple dendrobium).
Ah, I love both apple and blueberry pies! Freshly baked and hot & topped with premium vanilla ice cream…great!
MM, Did you know that Dole is currently experimenting on growing blueberries in South Cotabato? Sounds incredible, but it seems the conditions there are perfect for these bluies. Yup, we could be a blueberry-exporting country someday!
That looks so delish! Now I have to find some blueberries and try your recipe!