Simple Blueberry Basil Pie Recipe

My mouth and lips have been stained blue for the past 3 days. As of this morning, the pie is FINALLY gone. And I am embarrassed to say Clay doesn’t eat blueberry pie. Oops. So aside from the 5 extra pounds I put on this weekend, I also gained a go-to pie recipe to add to my recipe book. It’s kind of perfect, very easy, and oh, so delicious. It’s derived from the Blueberry pie recipe on She Wears Many Hats blog and mixed it up just a tad. Basically, I have heard basil does amazing things for the typical blueberry pie and I just so happened to have an overgrown basil plant in my kitchen. So why not try! Turns out… they were right, it is amazing.

For filling you will need:

all-purpose flour for dusting work surface
pie dough for double 9-inch pie crust, chilled
2½ pints (5 cups) fresh blueberries
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tablespoons milk or cream
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar + extra for sprinkling on top
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup freshly chopped basil
1 large egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water (for egg wash)

For the perfect pie crust you will need:

2 cups flour (sift, then measure)
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup shortening
1/4 cup ice water

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PIE CRUST:

Mix flour and salt together. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until crumbly. Stir in ice water with a fork until dough holds together. Form in two rough balls. (Note: handling too much makes dough tough. 

On a lightly floured surface, roll out half of dough to ⅛-inch-thick circle. Fit into a 9-inch buttered pie pan, trim, leaving about ½-3/4 inch overhang. Cover crust with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes. If making a full top crust, roll out remaining half of dough into a circle approximately 1 inch larger in diameter than pie pan, cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for about 30 minutes. If creating a lattice top, on a lightly floured surface, roll remaining half of dough ⅛ inch thick into rectangle approximately 11×14 inches. Cut into 10 separate ¾ inch strips. Cover strips with plastic wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING:

(from She Wears Many Hats blog)

Adjust oven racks, place one rack on bottom level and one in the middle. Place baking sheet or baking stone on bottom rack. Preheat oven to 400-degrees F.

In a large bowl whisk together lemon juice and milk, gradually sprinkle in 4 tablespoons of flour, whisk until smooth. Stir in brown sugar and cinnamon. Add blueberries and chopped basil, and stir to coat. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Pour into prepared bottom crust.

Brush the rim of the crust with the egg wash, place the top crust on, trim to ½ inch larger than size of pan, and crimp together edges with fingers to seal bottom and top crusts, or weave strips of dough to create lattice top, crimping edges to seal. If dough seems soft and warm, cover top with plastic wrap and chill pie in refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.

Brush crust with the egg wash, sprinkle lightly with sugar and place pie on baking sheet or baking stone on bottom rack and bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 375-degrees F and transfer pie (on baking sheet) to center rack. Cover the rim of pie crust with foil. Continue to bake at 375-degrees F until crust is golden and the filling is bubbling, about 30 to 40 minutes. Check crust every 10 minutes or so, and if crust/lattice starts to brown too much, tent pie loosely with a piece of foil. Let cool to set and thicken before serving.

Ezra, not to my surprise, was being extra clingy the moment I started baking. He was testing my pie-making skills, (and patience), for suuuure.

I’ve always been a little wary and intimidated by the lattice pie crust. But I found a simple tutorial that might help if you are new to latticing… 🙂 Click here to watch tutorial!