Blueberry Pie With Crunchy Crumb Topping

Before I went to culinary school, I only made pies very infrequently. I also found the fruit pies I made did not turn out very well, with the bottom crust sometimes soggy, sometimes underbaked, and the filling often too liquidy. I found pie crust hard to get right. I always joked that older people are usually good at making pies because it takes about 40 years to get it right, which is a bit of an exaggeration. But I quickly learned you could get good at making pies very quickly, and it’s because there is a better way. Or, more accurately, two better ways.

The traditional way of making a fruit pie that most recipes use is known as the old fashioned method. Mix up all the filling ingredients, dump them into the pie crust, stick it in the oven and hope for the best. It’s simple, it’s traditional, and it sucks. Sure, you might get lucky and it will turn out okay. But there’s just as good of a chance it will be disappointing. The dreaded soggy bottom that I mentioned, filling that isn’t fully baked, filling that never comes together and falls apart when cutting into the pie, etc.

The two alternate ways of making a fruit pie are known as cooked fruit method and cooked juice method. Cooked fruit works well for fruits that can withstand cooking on the stove top, like apples. As you may have guessed, blueberries do not fall into that category.

Instead, with blueberries and cherries, you let some of the juice drain out of the berries (which works better with frozen blueberries than fresh, and makes less of a difference with cherries). You then take that juice, add water to get the needed amount, and boil it in a sauce pot with some of the sugar. Beat in a cornstarch slurry (cornstarch plus cold water beaten together) and cook until it goes from a cloudy, opaque look to a translucent color. You then add the additional sugar, salt, lemon juice and cinnamon and let it boil until the sugar dissolves. Pour it over the blueberries, gently stir it all together and let it cool. Then pour it into your parbaked pie crust, top as desired and bake until the liquid has a slow, bubbly look. Think bubbling lava, not boiling water. When it cools off, you refrigerate it to let it set up the rest of the way.

Why is this better? The starch gets a bit of a head start, so it sets up faster in the oven. The berries spend less time in the oven, so they are more likely to stay intact inside the pie. The crust is parbaked, so it’s less likely to get soggy on the bottom. What is the downside? Time. It definitely takes longer to make a pie like this than one using the old fashioned method, but with proper preparation, it’s really not that bad.

If I am using frozen blueberries, I measure out what I need into a colander inside of a larger bowl. Then I make the dough for the crust. The crust can either go into the freezer for about 30 minutes, or the refrigerator for a couple of hours. I usually do the freezer, but will sometimes make the dough a day in advance and just refrigerate it. I then measure out the other components separately. Sugar in a pot (waiting for the juice plus water mix), cornstarch and cold water in a cup (don’t bother whisking it until it’s about to go in, because it will quickly separate and settle if it sits for a while), additional sugar/salt/cinnamon in another bowl with the lemon juice measured out on the side. I then take my pie crust out of the freezer, roll it out and parbake it. If the berries are thawed out now, I start making the filling. If not, I’ll make the topping. Then I cook the filling. If you try to stick to a rigid order, you run the risk of spending a lot of time waiting for the berries to thaw and not getting things done that you will need to do.

For pie crust, I find using a pastry blender works best. I have tried using a food processor or a stand mixer, but was never happy with the results. I would almost always overmix the dough, which is obviously a bigger problem when using regular flour than gluten free, but not good either way. To parbake it, you have three options; poke a bunch of holes into the dough with a fork and hope it doesn’t puff up too much in any areas (it can work, but not always), use pie weights, or use dried beans. I bought two bags of dried kidney beans for less than half the cost of one set of weights. You use them the same way, and you can reuse them as much as you want. So if someone is buying you the things to make a pie, have them buy weights. If you are spending your own money, get beans. Just my advice.

The topping is a fairly standard oat filled streusel, but vegan and gluten free. I also use a pastry blender to cut the vegan butter in (just like the pie dough). I have found that if you spread it too thick, it doesn’t always become crunchy in those spots, so try to keep it even.

And that’s it! Okay, it is a lot. Pies are not easy to make, until you get good at the whole process. They are still more time consuming than some baked goods, but they don’t need to be frustrating. Go with the right method and prep what you can ahead of time and that will take care of 99% of the headaches.