Happy Memorial Day! I was feeling festive and decided to make a blueberry pie. I had a large bag of frozen blueberries in my freezer, so that's what I used. All of the things I read said frozen berries produce really soupy pies. A couple places said to use tapioca flour, instant tapioca, or tapioca starch to combat that. My friend Emily (thanks Emily!!) had some instant tapioca that I borrowed, and it worked beautifully.I couldn't find any recipes specifically for frozen blueberries, so I did what I always do and combined a lot of recipes. It turned out better than I could have hoped; it was a very "pure" pie that tasted like blueberries. The filling wasn't overly sweet. I think it could have used a little salt and a little more lemon to bring out the flavors. The filling was not soupy at all, and may have been a tad bit too thick/solid. If you like a nice, solid pie, keep the tapioca to berry ratio 4 Tbsp tapioca to 4 C berries. If you like it a little runnier, I'd probably do 3 Tbsp tapioca to 4 cups berries. It was really easy. I used frozen pie crusts that I made probably 3-4 weeks ago. I just let them thaw on the counter.
Here's the recipe I created:
A Non-Soupy Blueberry pie made with frozen berries
Ingredients
4 C frozen blueberries
¾ C sugar (increase to 1 cup+ if you like really sweet pies-this pie tastes more like fruit than sugar)
3-4 T instant tapioca (4 makes the filling really thick)
1-2 tsp lemon
dash cinnamon
dash nutmeg
dash salt
2 pie crusts (for a great recipe, see this post)
Optional: sugar to dust the top (and food coloring if you want to color it. That's why my pie is colored)
Partially thaw blueberries by putting them in a strainer and running water over them a few seconds. Transfer to a bowl and mix with sugar and tapioca. Let sit for 15+ min. Mix in remaining ingredients. Spoon into crust. Do what you want with the top crust (lattice, shapes, full crust). Bake (covered with foil) for 30 min. at 425. Uncover top (leave perimeter crust covered) and bake another 10-15 min. Take it out and let it cool. Eat and enjoy.
I would imagine you could make this with any frozen berry, but the sugar and extra seasonings would probably need to be altered according to berry sweetness and flavor...And to leave you with a nice summery picture, here is my cute little one enjoying his new pool for the first time.
10 comments:
That is a beautiful pie. I wish ingredients here in Germany were the same, but there's something different about them that makes so cookies turn into floury dough balls and pies are a little hard. I'll keep experimenting, though.
what a grand treat to have-love the stars. i'm SO not good at baking and would just rather buy mine, maybe some day i'll be brave.
It turned out gorgeous! You are welcome for the tapioca. I am going to try that next time on my blackberry pie. ;)
Your little boy is so cute!! I found your blog on Alethia and Sarah's and checked it out. How are you? This is Emily (Hoover) by the way!!
Wow. That pie could be the picture in a cookbook. I am printing this out and making it on the 4th of July (some year, maybe not this one since I'm due July 5th). We almost always have frozen blueberries on hand since we make smoothies in the summer almost every day. BTW, Costco/Sam's Club have blueberries way cheaper than anywhere I've ever seen. Thanks for the inspiration (once again).
Michemily, thanks for stopping by. I wish I had suggestions for baking in Germany!
Becki, don't be scared! Who cares if your first couple don't turn out great. You'll get better with practice!
Emily L., yes, the tapioca worked wonders and you couldn't even tell it was in there.
Emily B., I'm so glad you stopped by!
Amanda, wow! Thanks for the compliment. It really is one of the easiest pies I've ever made. I hope you enjoy it when you get around to it. Also, the pie crust recipe I linked is so easy as well. It makes 3 crusts at a time, and like I said in my post, they freeze and keep really well.
I can just see you running a TV Food show, Celia. Then you could publish all your great recipes and make a fortune. Love, G'ma
Celia,
Wow! that looks like a great pie. I especially love the stars - and the color! Also, your little guy is getting SO big! What a cutie!!
Thanks! The stars were kind of an "AH HA!" for me. I was thinking, "hmmm..I wish I had a star cookie cutter. Oh wait! I do with my Christmas stuff!" So I got out my Christmas stuff and luckily found the star pretty easily.
Wow! I don't think I can say thank you enough! You went WAY beyond anything I ever thought anyone would do, those are perfect. Basically I am trying to come up with meals of thigns that can be stored (including freezers full) of meat, cheese, etc., so that is great! Thank you so much! I really apprecaite it.
Post a Comment