Category: Pies

Blueberries

I’m watching both the progress the blueberry blooms are making as well as the calendar. Watching the blossoms grow and mature. Watching the weeks go by on the calendar. Right now in early April there are only tight buds on the many bushes.

And it’s hard to say since this is weather related and as we all know the weather can be extremely capricious. Hard to say when the blooms will be open.

Hard to say when the butterflies and bees will be called to the blueberry flowers. Called by the nectar and pollen. Called to pollinate the blooms that will become delicious morsels of goodness.

It will seem like forever to me. Going from compact buds to petite orbs. Forever and still not exactly what I’m waiting for.

Slowly slowly those petite orbs will swell. And go from apple green to a lavender blush to finally deep blue. But I’ve learned over the years I can’t be too quick. Those first berries looking so luscious blue are still lavender blush on the other side. The far side hidden and waiting to fool me. Be patient. They will turn totally inky blue with a white bloom with time. That’s what it’s all about. Patience and waiting.

I’ll be waiting. All this time. Waiting to pull out simple ingredients.

Waiting to turn those berries, those luscious inky blue with white bloom berries into blueberry pies. Other things too, but oh those pies!

Pie Crust

Pies make the world go round. And one basic thing is common in nearly all pies. The crust.

Many different recipes.

Not for ME.

I use one recipe that I got from my Mom and I stick with it.

No sense in tangling with perfection.

Here’s the recipe that I use without fail. Memorized since I use it so often.

Pie Crust      

2 — 8 or 9 inch crusts

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup shortening

4 to 5 tablespoons COLD water

Stir flour and salt in large bowl until blended. Cut shortening into flour mixture using pastry blender or fork until shortening pieces are the size of peas. 

Gradually add just enough water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring with fork just until dough holds together and forms a smooth ball.

Let dough sit for one hour. Divide dough in half and shape into two balls for two pie crusts. At this point the balls of crust can be frozen.

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I hope you’re able to use this recipe and thoroughly enjoy it.

Cherry Custard Pie

George Washington’s birthday was just a few days ago. A celebration took place in my kitchen and the end result was a cherry custard pie. Not my usual pie and certainly not my usual CHERRY pie. But I’d say it was quite a success. Another of the household would prefer the recipe for cherry pie that I normally bake. I guess when you’re used to perfection it is hard to accept anything else. For me though, this recipe was totally yummy.

BTW if you are fortunate enough to have a Montmorency cherry tree that provides you with fresh cherries in the summer. Lucky you. I’ve got one in my yard, but it is for the birds. I don’t get any. That’s fine. I love birds.

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think.

CHERRY CUSTARD PIE

1 – 9 inch unbaked pie shell

2 cans (14.5 to 16 oz each) Montmorency or sour pie cherries

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup flour

2 eggs

1 cup milk

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Mix sugar and flour. Add eggs, milk and almond extract and mix well. Place drained cherries in unbaked pie shell. Pour custard mixture (sugar, flour, eggs, milk and almond extract) over cherries. Bake at 425º for 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325º and continue baking for 55 more minutes.

In Praise of Blueberries

In my yard I’ve got a good number of mature blueberry bushes. Twelve? Fourteen? Enough that I can stock my freezer with loads of quarts of luscious berries to last throughout the year. And the birds? They’re welcome to their share. I love that the berries entice them.

Of the birds that come to enjoy the berries some are frequent visitors that I know well. A cardinal, a perfect example. Other birds don’t often make their presence known depending on the magic of camouflage to hide from my attentive eyes. A female scarlet tanager blending right in.

Each of the seasons provides a different aspect. A different way to appreciate the berries, the bushes. Winter with the buds anticipating the following spring develop sometimes encased in ice.

Winter as the rusty-red branches provide an accent to the snow that falls.

Spring with buds creamy white. Spring with buds soft red.

Spring and her blooms. A pollinators’ playground.

And then there’s summer. You know what that means.

Harvesting and eating.

Autumn celebrates with a brilliant palette. Sumptuous warm colors that tell me there is more to come with each season.

Can you tell? I am in love with blueberries and their bushes.

Pie

Such strange times. Staying home ALL the time. Just me and my dear husband in the mountains in the middle of the forest. He’s able to focus. Cutting down trees that have grown up too close to our cabin. Pulling out his N gauge train set from long ago. I on the other hand am finding it hard to focus and get things done.

I did accomplish something this afternoon, in this odd stay at home time, I spent time baking. Those of you who know me won’t be surprised. I baked an apple pie. Gala apples. And yes, we have some ice cream to go with it. Comfort.

Pi or Blueberries

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This pan will do the job of representing two words: pi and pie. Pi is the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter, and this pan is a circle. A Pie is usually a sweet, baked good which often is cooked up in a pan such as this. Many people look to me as a pie baker and I mention Pi Day because of that connection.

2-7-1997

Whether you are a bird . . .

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Whether you are a baby . . .

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Whether you are a baker . . .

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Whether you are a botanical connoisseur . . . chances are you have an interest in blueberries. As a baker, I love them for their ease of use. I just pull them out of the freezer and pop them into the batter for muffins, or pancakes, or pour them into a pastry lined pie pan and I am nearly done.

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As a naturalist and photographer, I love the blueberry bushes in my gardens for their beauty in every season. Even in the middle of winter they are simply gorgeous.

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A native shrub, which is easy to grow, with a bonus of yummy berries, I cannot recommend them highly enough.

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Just be sure, as harvest time arrives, that you have enough room in your freezer, and enough time to stay one step ahead of the bear.

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Happy Pi Day.

 

A Bush To Love

I’m in love with a bush that’s growing in my yard. Actually I have 14 of these bushes growing along the edge of my front porch, bordering the vegetable garden, and creating a shrub island by the wood shop. I can’t recommend them highly enough. Here in the mountains of central Virginia, they are a perfect shrub, lovely and trouble free.

After being planted, it was just a matter of sitting back and waiting. I do admit to being concerned when they were baby shrubs, and new to this mountain. I diligently watered them. I stopped doing that years ago, and they are not complaining in the least.

Native to Eastern North America, I can easily find blueberry bushes as I hike up the mountain. It always gives me a thrill to find this crop plant growing wild.

In the spring they show off with their creamy white, to blush pink blooms, enticing bees to come pollinate them. The blueberry bush, with its yummy berry, provides benefits to an incredible number of insects and animals, including at least 30 species of birds, along with many mammals. Browsers love to chomp on the leaves, but are not a problem. I’m thankful though, to have very few deer.

As the berries think of ripening, they create inspiration for me. Inspiration to take photographs of the still green fruit. I find them beautiful whether green or blue.

As they mature into frosty looking, deep blue orbs, there is more inspiration. Inspiration to bake. Bake pies, bake muffins, make pancakes. Although there are plenty of berries, I have to pace myself and not use them all up. Many, many quarts of berries are frozen, for treats throughout the year.

As summer turns to autumn, so do the leaves of the blueberry bush, creating another treat. The brilliance of the season is reflected in the foliage of the blueberry bush. Another season to inspire — more photographs!

And then comes, what is perhaps my favorite season, winter. The twigs of the blueberry bush in winter provide more spark for me, particularly when the ice storms hit — bright red branches, covered in ice. As others stress over the weather, I think, “Soon it will be spring again. Don’t stress over that ice. Just go get photos!”