VALENTINE's DAY RECIPE POST: Making a delicious fresh blueberry pie infused with lemon and brown sugar for my Valentine!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Let's forget chocolates and flowers, I'm baking a blueberry pie for my Valentine this year.  Since I'm out of town today, I made Randal's favorite pie for him to nibble on while I'm gone.  I'm channeling the summer tastes of fresh-picked fruit with this homemade blueberry pie. We picked up a pint of blueberries this fall at our favorite farm stand in Bridgehampton, then immediately froze them in order to make a farm fresh blueberry pie this winter.  I love the Long Island blueberries which are small and flavorful.  They are sweet and pungent and no need to add tons of sugar, but with a bit of brown sugar and a drizzle of honey mixed together with the juice of a fresh lemon and shaved lemon zest, the flavors are perfectly balanced. 

I took the frozen berries out of the freezer then washed them completely letting them thaw for an hour before I baked them. 

I cooked my berries for a few minutes on low heat and combined the ingredients together before we put it in the pie shell.

Whenever I make a fruit pie I like to see a little bit of liquid forming before I put the top layer of crust on the pie.  
This assures me it will be a moist pie.  

 Remember to cook the pie until golden brown on the edges, and serve warm! 

My secret ingredient for blueberry pie:  

Lemon zest, fresh lemon juice with brown sugar.

blueberries are sweet and a little tart and they make the perfect fruit for a pie.  I am not a huge fan of overly sweet pies, so instead of the oodles of sugar most recipes call for I cut it in half and use light brown sugar instead of white sugar.  This gives a richer more caramel taste.  I like to add the lemon zest and the juice of a fresh lemon because it brings  just the right amount of tartness to this sweet pie.  With the sharp edge of a steak knife I put several small slits on the top crust to let the air out while baking. I recommend eating a slice while it's still warm, Enjoy!

Pie Crust: 
Guilty as charged, store bought.  With all the amazing pre-made pie crusts found in the refrigerator section, it makes pie baking a cinch. I leave it out on the counter for about a half hour before I use it so it is room temperature.  With a sprinkle of flour I roll out the crust so it is think and large enough to drape over a ceramic or glass pie shell.  With a sharp knife I cut the edge and slightly crimp the top of the pie edges.

Pie filling:

3 containers of frozen blueberries (thawed out a couple of hours -- I bought fresh blueberries and froze them right after they were picked) 

1/4 cup of light brown sugar

juice of one fresh lemon

zest of that lemon

a dash of salt

1 TB Cinnamon

3 pats of butter

Filling:
mix the dry ingredients together (sugars, flour, salt, cinnamon) with a fork until it's mixed.  Set aside.  In a pan add the lemon juice, butter and blueberries.  Gently mix them together in a pan and heat for five minutes on low heat.  add the zest of the lemon to the blueberries. Turn the heat off, gently fold the dry mixture to the pan and mix well.   fill the bottom of the pie crust with the filling.  Place the second rolled out dough crust on top and while turning the pie bottom pinch the top so it's ruffled.  with the edge of sharp knife put three or four slits in the top of the pie.  Cover the crust end with a layer of aluminum foil and bake in a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees for 40 minutes.  Keep checking the edge to make sure it is browning but not burning.  if it's not burning take the foil off the last few minutes.  Take the pie out of the oven when the entire pie top is completely brown edges.  

Happy Nesting
Happy Valentine's Day
XO Tamara