Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie

We've been blueberry picking three times this season, and are hoping for a fourth time.  This has not been the smoothest season for the local blueberry farmers, though, because of all our rain.  Last time we picked, the farmer told us about some of their difficulties, including having to close fields in the middle of the picking day.

I love having the fresh berries so much, though, and we can (and do) always freeze the excess for the winter.

What follows is one of my favorite ways of eating blueberries - blueberry pie, using a slightly changed recipe provided by the U Pick farmer.  It makes the best blueberry pie I've ever had, and I blogged about it last year.  This year, I made some changes, so here is my Better Than Last Year Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie.

There seem to be a lot of similar recipes online (in fact I found a recipe identical to what the farm provided in an online church cookbook) so I feel OK in posting this farm's recipe for all to enjoy.

Crust

1 refrigerated piecrust (because I'm lazy), baked in a 9 inch glass pie pan.  Last year I tried to make a low calorie graham cracker crust.  This year, I abandoned that thought. 

Filling:

4 cups fresh blueberries (divide into 2 parts, 2 cups each) (apparently you can use frozen but I haven't done it myself, so I don't know if it will work with frozen.)

3/4 cup sugar.  I tried 1/2 cup last year, but later berries tend to be tart.

2 1/2 tbsp potato starch or 3 tbsp cornstarch.  We had leftover potato starch in the house from a holiday earlier in the year, so used that.

A pinch of salt

1 tbsp lime juice (because that's what we have - the original called for lemon juice)

1/4 cup cold water

1 tbsp butter (we used whipped butter).  Last year I used 1 tsp light butter-like spread (because that's what I had) but I think the butter works better.

Method

Combine sugar, cornstarch or potato starch, water, salt until well blended.  Add 2 cups blueberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the blueberry mixture thickens. If you use potato starch, please keep in mind that it will thicken very quickly.  You need to pay careful attention.

Then, add the butter and lemon or lime juice.  Let cool.

When cooled, place the reserved 2 cups of blueberries into the pie crust.  

Then top with the cooked mixture.

Serve. (A little squished in this picture getting it out of the pie pan, but it tasted so good!)

I changed the name to "Double Plus Good Blueberry Pie" because it is that good.  I'm not surprised this recipe is picked up by church cookbooks.  Sometimes you find the best recipes in those collections.

If you are a pie eater, what is your favorite pie?