1st day blueberry pies

greyson started first grade today.  first days of school are a swirl of emotions aren't they? i've experienced first days as both a student and a teacher. for the past few years i've been the wife of a teacher.  now i'm the mom of a student.

i'm the mom of a tall First Grader whose enormous permanent front teeth are finally coming in, erasing any trace of baby.

greyson had been asking me for a few weeks if we could make "mini blueberry pies." i'm not sure where he got the idea, but it sounded good for a first day treat.  they were hot when he got home and he was thrilled.  the bubbly, crumbly little pies were a celebration of a perfect first day.  the smell of blueberries and lemon zest in the oven was also a happy comfort on a day when my son casually told me that first graders don't need their moms to walk them to school anymore.

the pies were far from perfect, but they were delicious.  i referenced this blueberry pie recipe from Williams-Sonoma.  a friend of mine recently made this pie and it was fantastic.

this index card is my mother in law's crust recipe written by my husband.  i love it. i hope one day my grand kids are making crust from this card.  this was about my 3rd time ever to make pie crust.  i'm not great at it.  there must be some magic i'm missing with the crust.

here's what i did, let me know if you have suggestions:

1st day blueberry mini pies
crust
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup organic vegetable shortening
ice water

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. combine flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. cut shortening into small pieces and add it to the bowl.  (though my mother in law's recipe says to combine ingredients by hand with a pastry cutter, i used my stand mixer because food network said i could.) mix on low speed until the mixture looks like coarse corn meal.  add ice water one tablespoon at a time until dough just comes together - i only used one tablespoon of water.  it should be wet enough to hold together, but not sticky.

to make mini pie crusts, form the dough into about 12 2 inch balls. start by pressing each ball into a flat disc, then press each disc into the bottom and sides of a muffin tin.  my crusts were a bit thick, i'll press them thinner next time.

prick the bottoms of the crusts with a fork.  bake empty crusts for about 10 minutes, until just barely golden.  remove and fill with delicious blueberry filling.

blueberry filling
3 cups fresh organic blueberries, rinsed and picked over
zest of 1/2 a large lemon
1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup pure cane sugar
2 tablespoons organic cornstarch
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon
butter*

*my husband and boys do not eat dairy.  we use a dairy free butter from Earth Balance called Buttery Spread. it comes in sticks or a tub.  it is vegan and they have an organic version, a soy free version, and probably more. it works great in almost everything in place of butter.

combine all ingredients except butter and toss together well.  spoon into crusts, pile each crust really high with berries, they flatten as they cook. drop a small pat of butter on top of each pie. bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until filling is bubbly and the edges of your crusts are golden.

my pies smelled amazing, but they were messy and the crust was crumbly.  i didn't fret about it too long - turns out First Graders don't mind messy.

important side note:  i am a little self conscious about posting recipes here.  i'm not a chef.  i only decided i like cooking about a year ago - now i love it.  i've never written out a recipe of my own, are there rules about recipe writing?   i very rarely come up with something all new and original, usually i work from a recipe a great chef did post on some other blog.*  but i do make some really tasty dishes.  and the purpose of this is to learn to do new things.  and i love to share. so i'm going to.  

*i will always credit the original source of the recipe.