blueberry PIE me OH my!

It is blueberry season in Michigan. I did a little blueberry research. Apparently, I have been taking something for granted....and it's not Lake Michigan. It's the fact that I have lived in the midst of the nations largest blueberry crops my whole life and didn't even know it!

YES it's true...I knew that there were alot of blueberry patches around. But I did not realize that southwestern Michigan is the number one producer of the nations blueberries. The sandy soils make our area the perfect place to grow the only true blue food!

60 to 100 million pounds of blueberries come out of this region every year between mid-July and September.

Another amazing fact about the pretty lil fruit is that is has been said to reverse the aging process! The chock full of antioxidants and other things I cannot spell. Apparently some study done on furry little creatures showed this to be true. So I wonder how many blueberries I would have to eat to be 28 again. Blueberries are also high in fiber 5grams per cup...hmmm that explains......well I bet those rats where young but they probably spent most of their furry little lives on the WC! (mommy speak: WC=potty)

Sorry...I wasn't going to go there...but I did. Now I hope your appetite is not ruined, because I wanted to share my blueberry pie filling recipe with you. You can go back and check out how to make pie crust here if you want....or you can use Pillsbury I won't tell anyone if you do.

Blueberry Pie Filling

printable recipe

ingredients:

5 cups of fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 lemon, juiced and zested
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 pie crusts
1/4 cup 2%milk
cinnamon sugar for dusting

Here are the goods you will need. The raw sugar is for the pie pockets....I use the cinnamon sugar on my pie.

Juice your little lemony-wemony! And then scrape his skin off, poor buddy gets the juice kicked out of him then you skin him. Put him out of his misery in your garbage disposal, it will make it all lemony fresh.

Then put the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch in pan, toss to coat blueberries. Then add your lemon juice and zest.

Cook over medium heat for 5-8 minutes until sugar dissolves and juice starts to thicken. Don't over cook, remember that you are going to to bake the pie still...you don't want blueberry jam pie!

So if you went and checked out my pie crust lesson you will know how to get to the below point....just roll out the dough and cut into 5 inch triangles, then put a 1/4 cup of filling on the dough....

Then you you want to fold the dough over like soooo.....

Key to saving yourself a ton of time cleaning your cookie sheets PARCHMENT PAPER, if you have some line your pan with it, if you don't have any get in your car and go buy it. Now that we have that settled let's proceed.

Then take a fork and give the edge a good press, to hold in the filling. (although no matter what you do, it's still going to ooze out a little thats ok.)

Brush the little pies with milk....

Sprinkle them with the sugar...

Voila, like so...isn't it purdy? Now bake it at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely before trying to pick up and eat.

OR you can just go this route and do ONE big Ol' pie. That works for me.....

Bake your pie on a cookie sheet (so if it runs over you won't have a huge mess all over the bottom of your oven) in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until golden brown like the pie you see below! Let cool for half an hour before digging in.

I always like to put my pie in just as we are sitting down for dinner. Seems like perfect timing for dessert after dinner. DO not forget to serve with vanilla bean ice cream!

There are my lil' pies on a platter waiting to be served with some muffins.

I hope you try this pie filling. You could make little tartlets too. Or if your cobbler background is of the pie crust sort, well then put your crust in a 9x13 pan pour pie filling over the top and then lay random pieces of crust over the top....cobbled crust...and bake the same as the pie.

Enjoy!