Picking arctic blueberries and making a wild blueberry pie!

It's berry season here in the north, and wild blueberries are growing everywhere. They don't grow as big or quite as sweet as they do in the sunny south, but the fact that they grow at all in these harsh conditions is a miracle to me. 

Yesterday the husband and I spent a few hours gathering berries, and last night I made a pie. It was a great reward for all our back-bending hard work (arctic berries grow really low to the ground).

It was the first time I've ever made a lattice top pie crust. It's certainly a labour of love, but since we had picked and washed every single berry by hand, this pie deserved a proper top!

It turned out amazingly, and tasted Deee-licious!

Read on for the recipe....

Wild Blueberry Pie

This pie recipe contains some ground almonds and flour, which disappear into the pie filling, but help bind it together beautifully.

My Grandmother's Pie Crust Recipe
(makes enough dough for 2 pie shells or one bottom+top crust)

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cups vegetable shortening
5 Tbs cold water

Mix flour & salt. Cut in shortening. Make 5 small wells in the dough and add the 5 Tbs water, mix with a fork. Then using your hands, form the dough into a ball. Divide into 2 equal sized balls, cover with a cloth, and let sit on the counter for 10 minutes before rolling out.


Blueberry Pie


Approximately 1 pint blueberries (or enough to fill a standard pie dish)
2 Tbs sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup finely ground almonds
1 Tbs flour
1/8 cup sugar, extra
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon rind, minced
optional - 1 egg, beaten, for brushing top of lattice pie crust + granulated sugar for sprinkling on top.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a pie plate with the uncooked rolled out pastry.
For a lattice top pie crust, roll out the other dough and cut into 1cm wide strips. Set aside.
Wash and dry the blueberries. Mix with 2 tbs sugar and the lemon juice. Set aside.
Mix the almond meal, flour, extra sugar, vanilla and lemon rind. Spread this mixture on the bottom of the pie (on top of the bottom crust), and top with the blueberries.
Now take the pastry strips and weave to form a lattice top. Tuck the edges into the sides of the pie. Brush the tops with the beaten egg and sprinkle with granulated sugar.
Bake at 350 for approximately 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
Let sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes before serving (the longer it sits, the better it will hold together when sliced into).

Enjoy!