Blueberry Picking: Blueberry Pie

If you're a long time reader of the blog you know that we love fruit picking around here.  If you're a new reader of the blog,  Hi!  We love to pick fruit!

Blueberry season started a little later here than usual, but the payoff was incredible.  It lasted for a long long time.  Which gave us enough time to head to the blueberry farm, a month later than we usually do.

The thing that I really like about blueberry picking is that it's the easiest one for the kids to do.  There aren't any thorns like blackberries, and there's no twisting and pulling like strawberries.  

The berries literally just roll right off into your hands.

It's also really easy for the kids to figure out which berries are ripe - dark blue berries only!  Don't pick them if they're purple, red, or green.  

It wasn't long before we had buckets of berries.

The other thing I like about blueberries, is that they last a very short time in our house.  The kids devoured a pint before we even left the farm.  And then the remaining pints were gone so quickly I almost didn't have time to make anything with them.  I had to commandeer enough to make this pie.  Because berry pie is a necessity in the summer.  Don't you think?  And it really doesn't get any easier than blueberry pie.  No cooking the berries, no parbaking the crust.  Really it's a dump and bake kind of dish, which is what you want on those hot days.  We brought this over to a friend's house for dinner and there were no leftovers.  Out of berries.  Out of pie.  That's a successful berry picking adventure.

Blueberry Pie

4 cups blueberries

3/4 cup sugar

5 Tbsp flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp butter

pie dough

1. Preheat oven to 450.  Roll out half of the pie dough and line the pie pan with it.
2. Combine blueberries, sugar, flour, and salt.  
3. Place berries in the pie pan.
4. Dot the berries with butter.
5. Roll out the remaining half of the dough and place over the berries, crimping the bottom and top edges together.  Cut slits in the top dough for steam.  
6. Sprinkle the top pastry with sugar and bake for 15 minutes.
7. Lower the heat to 350 and bake for an additional 15-30 minutes, until golden brown.  Cool on a rack before serving.