Do You Like Blueberry Pie?

We're so blessed that we have a bunch of blueberry bushes in our backyard  (ha ha, alliteration!), with as many ripe delicious berries as we can eat in the summer months.  Of course, aside from being eaten right off the bush, or used for breakfast in a variety of ways, blueberries have a particularly wonderful use of making great pies.

So that's what I did tonight.  This morning, mom picked blueberries; this evening, I made a pie.

The recipe is titled " So Easy Blueberry Pie," and the title does not lie, my friends.  This pie was a breeze to make, and only has 5 ingredients.  The recipe comes from a little booklet called " A Taste of Blueberries" that the previous owners of our house gave to us and that my mom has cooked with for thirteen years.

So Easy Blueberry Pie

Baked 9" Pie Crust (I like the deep dish)
3 Cups of Blueberries, Plus 1 Cup
2/3 Cups of Water
1 Cup of Granulated Sugar
3 heaping Tablespoons of Corn Starch
Optional: Spices (Cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, ginger, mace, nutmeg, fresh cilantro or mint or basil, vanilla or almond extract)

Place 3 cups of blueberries in the pie shell (which is already baked) and set aside. 
In a saucepan, combine sugar, water, cornstarch, and 1 cup of blueberries for glaze.  Add any spices at this time: I added cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger.)
Cook until thick, stirring frequently; approximately 10 to 12 minutes.  (Although the recipe does not specifically say, I had the stove turned to medium heat.  Oh, and don't look away because the glaze thickens up before you know it! Trust me.)
If you are going to add extract (for example, a touch of vanilla extract), stir it in now, so that the flavor doesn't cook out.
Pour glaze over berries in the pie crust, cool, and refrigerate.
Serve with whipped cream and a few berries on top.

A note about the pie crust:  if you use a "deep dish" pie crust, then use 4 total cups of blueberries; but if you use a pie crust of regular deepness, use 3 total cups of blueberries.  Trial and error for ya!

More Blueberry information can be found at this website:  Produce Pete.