Getting to be Thanksgiving, so that means “pie” to me, and here is one of hopefully a few that I make this week. Appropriately called “wicked Twistah” for the twist in my top crust, it’s tart and sweet and really delicious.
Ingredients
for the pastry
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water
for the filling
6 cups blueberries; fresh or frozen
1 cups sugar
juice from one lemon
3 tablespoons corn starch, mixed with 1/4 cup water
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water
coarse sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
Directions
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and pulse in until it turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into ball, then divide and flatten into two disks. Wrap in plastic and chill a minimum of 2 hours or up to 24 hours.
In the meantime, make your filling, as you pre-cook the blueberries and they must cool completely. This can also be done a day ahead of time. In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine blueberries and sugar. Let come to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. The blueberries will also become soft and release much of their liquid. Whisk in the corn starch slurry and let come to a boil again to thicken. Once thickened, remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Set aside to cool.
Preheat oven to 425F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the first pie dough to a 12-inch circle. Place the first round into a 9-inch pie plate, pressing down into the edges. Place the blueberries into the pie plate, mounding them towards the edge a bit (as you can see from the photo, there is a big, overlapped bit of dough bit in the center. If you don’t put a little bit of indentation in the blueberries, it will rise up pretty high). Roll out the second piece of dough to a rectangle where one edge is at least 11 inches. Cut very narrow strips, less than 1/4 wide. Lay strips close to another (or even touching) in a circle. They will overlap and create a “swoosh” by themselves as you lay them on the pie. Once completely covered, seal the edges by pinching them together and folding them over. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg with a tablespoon of water. Brush over the pie dough. Sprinkle with granulated sugar, if desired. Chill pie for at least 1/2 hour before baking, particularly if the dough has softened.
Bake pie for 25 minutes before lowering oven temperature to 375F. Bake for an additional 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown. If the edges begin to darken too quickly, cover with aluminum foil to prevent additional browning.
Cool pie for at least 3 hours before slicing and serving. Reheat slices individually if you want warm pie (with ice icream!)
