The DRAMA, The CRUST, The FILLING, THE PIE!

DRAMA. Of course there is drama, right? It's me!

I need a rolling pin. When my dough balls were sufficiently chilled, I pulled them out to get rolling and DAMN IT! No Rolling Pin!

I forgot I gave it to Turbo as a chew toy.

What's a girl to do?

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How will I ever make this wonderful Double Crusted Blueberry Pie?

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Specifically, it's a bottle of Rosenblum Cellars 1998 "Yates Ranch Reserve" Cabernet Sauvignon. It is a fantastic, award winning wine and this bottle (it's full) made a fabulous solution to the missing rolling pin. Actually, this same bottle pulled me through the "Great Sugar Cookie Disaster of 2001", it served as a rolling pin then too. Now, I do not worry about this affecting the quality of the wine and actually, I have about 9 bottles of this same wine so I could always open another......

Now that crisis was adverted, the crisis being ANOTHER trip to the store.

I have never baked a pie, that I can remember. Have we ever baked a pie together?

On to, THE CRUST.

I remember you making pie crusts using a little U Shape cutter thing with a wooden handle. Yeah, I don't have one.

The instructions recommend a food processor. Yeah, I don't have one.

So....off to the store I went (this was BEFORE I realized I didn't have a rolling pin or, I would have bought one too)

I bought myself a shiny, chrome KitchenAid food processor. It ain't one of those $10 things from the drug store, this baby mixes! And, mixes well! There was NO fighting with it or rocking it to get the ingredients to move....it purred so beautifully and mixed the frozen butter so well.

It's a keeper and is currently at it's new home, on the shelf above my beautiful KitchenAid mixer.

The dough went together wonderfully. I did add one more tablespoon of ice water than listed in the directions. No particular reason. The recipe said I may need more water, I couldn't tell if I needed more water, so I added more water.

It baked flaky and wonderful. That last bit of water did the trick!

Now, THE FILLING.

A blueberry pie. What a great choice for the 4Th of July weekend. Better add some red and white so I can say....RED, WHITE and BLUEBERRIES! So, I did.

I substituted about 1/2 pint of the blueberries for strawberries. Fresh, California Farmers Market Strawberries.....we ate the rest of the strawberries while we waited for the pie.

After I let the filling rest, per the instructions, I tasted it and it definitely needed more sugar for our tastes. I add an extra 1/4 cup sugar. I think the most fabulous part of the filling was the lemon zest and juice. The filling was fresh and lively on your tongue, I believe the lemon made this contribution.

The odd thing about the filing, I thought, it was dry going into the pie. It worried me a little. It basically looked like blueberries covered in sugar (which, I guess it is).

The instructions called for 1/4 cup of bread crumbs to top off the pie crust before pouring in the filling. Ummmm, BREAD CRUMBS? That seems odd too. I read some of the comments at the TWD website and some people were using graham crackers in it's place. That sounded fine and good, but I can't have graham crackers (ahem, remember mother, honey allergy). It's a big fight to sort passed the 100 different kinds of those things to find the one kind I can have..... So, I used Nilla Wafers, crushed. I may add them to every pie. The consistency was compellingly perfect.

Finally, THE PIE!

mmmmm, the pie.

I used my stoneware Pampered Chef pie plate.

I coated the top crust with an egg wash, sugar and red sanding sugar (Ahem, Red, White and Blueberries).

The pie baked up perfect! The edges did begin to brown quickly ( I think stove is not level) so I tented it with aluminum foil the last 30 minutes.

I think it's beautiful. And, a cut piece is more heavenly.....

It was the best damn pie ever. We shared it with Alan and Lyndee, after I had a 'test' piece, they loved it too. I topped it with fresh whipped cream (not the store bought kind) and strawberries....I forgot to save some blueberries for decoration.

We will definitely have this pie again. It was wonderful.

Sorry, we did not save you a piece. I wish I had a piece today for breakfast.

Love you,

K