The Lui family loves to make pies.  One of our favorites, Blueberry with Sour Cream and Lemon Peel Crust.  Due to the high fat content in this pie crust it can be a little fussy to make.  Once you master it, you will be making it again and again. The crust is flaky, light and delicious. I am sorry to say, I have not developed a low fat, gluten free pie crust that I like. You can try to substitute a commercial gluten free pie crust mix and add the other ingredients.

Prep Time:   1 hour active, 1 hour inactive
Cooking Time:   1 hour
Serves:   8 or 10

Crust
Ingredients
1 ½ C all purpose flour (or you can use 2 1/2 C all purpose flour)
1 C cake flour (optional, cake flour will make a lighter crust)
½ t salt
1 T sugar
1 1/4 sticks butter, chilled and cubed in 12 pieces
3 T solid vegetable shortening
¼ C sour cream, at room temperature
Grated peel from 1 fresh lemon, divided
Juice of 1 fresh lemon, strained to remove seeds and pulp

Directions
Add the all purpose flour, cake flour, salt and sugar to a food processor fitted with a metal blade.  Mix all the dry ingredients for 30 seconds.  Add the butter, shortening, sour cream and half of the lemon peel.  Reserve the other half of the lemon peel for the blueberry filling.  Pulse the food processor off and on until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 1-2 minutes.

With the food processor running, slowly add lemon juice until the mixture looks moist but not completely clumped together.  If the dough does not clump a little, add a little more lemon juice or ice cold water.

If you do not have a food processor, use a large stainless steel bowl and combine the all purpose flour, cake flour, salt and sugar.  Then cut in the butter, shortening and lemon peel using either a pastry blender or 2 knives.  Blend until it resembles coarse meal.  Add lemon juice and mix until large moist crumbs form. Turn the loose dough onto a work area covered with wax paper.  Using both hands, gently compress the coarse crumbs into two balls, one ball a little bigger for the bottom piecrust.  Do not overwork the dough or it will be tough. Wrap each ball of dough in wax paper and put it in the refrigerator to rest for an hour. Prepare the blueberry filling while the dough is resting.

Blueberry Filling
This is also delicious using 1 C blackberries and 1 C raspberries as a substitute for 2 C of the blueberries.

Ingredients
4 C washed fresh regular blueberries or frozen wild blueberries. (2 pints or 2 bags)
1 C granulated sugar
¼ C Minute Tapioca (found in the baking isle of the supermarket)
1 T fresh squeezed fresh lemon juice
Reserved lemon peel from the crust
¼ C butter, cut into small cubes

Directions
Add the berries, sugar, tapioca, lemon juice and lemon peel to a large mixing bowl.  Mix well by hand to combine.  Reserve the butter for the assembly step. Assembly and Baking

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  Lightly spray a pie pan with cooking spray.

Remove the “rested” dough from the refrigerator.  For easier rolling, leave the dough on the counter for 5 minutes before rolling.  Place the bigger ball of dough between 2 floured pieces of wax paper.  Roll flat about 1/8” thick to cover the entire surface of the pan with a 1” overlap on the side.  Place dough on the bottom of the pie pan.

Note: I prefer a pre-bake the piecrust, I like the crispy  bottom crust. So you have a choice to pre-bake or not.
Pre-Bake Crust: This is also call “blind bake.”  To do this, line the pan with one of the crusts.  Prick the bottom in a few places with a fork.  Cover the crust with a piece of aluminum foil, weighted down with 8 -16 oz of dry beans.  Bake at 400 degrees for 7  minutes and remove the aluminum foil and beans.  If any part of the crust is puffy at this point, prick it with fork and push it back into the pan.  Reduce the oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue baking for another 7 minutes or lightly brown.  Fill the crust with the blueberry mixture.  Dot the top of the berries with the butter.

Roll out the second, smaller piece of dough between 2 floured pieces of wax paper and place on top of pie.  Consider not trimming the edges of the crust; rather roll them over the top so that they sit on top.  Try to roll the edges evenly in thickness.  You may have to move some of the crust edge to another location; otherwise you may end up with over-baked areas.  You can “glue” loose dough together by using a little egg wash.  Crimp the edges of the crust by using your thumb and first finger to pinch the edges together.

Optional: If you want a shiny surface pie, you can make an egg wash by beating one egg with 1 T water.  With a pastry brush, brush the egg wash lightly all over the pie, including the crimped edges.  If you do not want to use an egg wash, you can brush the surface with whole milk or half and half.  For a sweet and crunchy piecrust, sprinkle 1 T granulated sugar on top of the egg wash surface. Prick the top in a few places with a fork for ventilation, to let steam escape while baking.

Place the pie on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees.  Bake for another 45-50 minutes until golden brown.  You know your pie is done when you see the filling bubbling through the ventilation holes and you can smell the pie.  During the baking time, if you notice that the edges are getting too dark, cover them with strips of aluminum foil.
Cool on a cooling rack for an hour before serving.

This pie is delicious served with vanilla ice cream.

Creator – Helen Chin Lui is a certified Reflexologist and certified Energy Medicine practitioner.  She is the owner and the founder of the Healing Place in Medfield, MA. Helen specializes in helping people to find long term relief from chronic digestive problems, chronic pain and balances hormones naturally.  When she isn’t working with clients, she is cooking for her family.

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