Bluberry Nectarine Pie

I love homemade fruit pie!  There is just nothing quite like it.  Store bought stuff just can't compare.  Some summers I make a pie a week, but not this summer.  It has just been too hot, my rhubarb didn't do well, and the fruit selection has been expensive or not very good. Bummer! The 4th of July just isn't the same without a pie, though, so I cranked up the a/c and got to baking.  I still ran into the same problem with the fruit.  Add to that, everyone wanted something different (rhubarb, peach, blueberry), so I got creative.  Blueberries and nectarines.  I love mixing fruits in pies!
 

Start with a double pie crust, whatever recipe works for you. Most recipes don't have egg in them, but a few do.  So if you want the pie to be egg free, be sure to select one without eggs.  I love the flaky pastry recipe from The Joy of Cooking.  I use half shortening and half butter, so I get the great flakiness from the shortening and the yummy taste of the butter- best of both worlds!  I also add 1/4 cup powdered sugar to the dry ingredients instead of the teaspoon of granulated sugar.  It adds a nice hint of sweetness for fruit pies.

When making pie crust, the key is fast and cold.  Your butter and water need to be very cold.  I put ice in my water, and work fast.  This is in part, so things don't warm up, but also you don't want to overwork the dough.  Ice water is also your friend when rolling out your dough.  Any tears can be patched by pressing the dough together with a little ice water as glue. Although, in my opinion, a perfect looking crust is not important; you can get that from a store bought pie.  What matters is taste and texture. I also like to roll out my dough, put my bottom crust in the pie pan, and put the pan and the rolled out top crust back in the fridge while I make my filling. That way the crust is nice and cold when it goes into the oven. Once you have your crusts and pan prepared, make the filling

Blueberry Nectarine Pie Filling:

3 cups blueberries
2 cups nectarines sliced (I left the skin on and nobody was the wiser)
3/4 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix everything but the butter in a large mixing bowl.  Let sit for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Pour filling into prepared bottom crust. Work fast after this; you don't want the filling to make your crust soggy before you get it in the oven. Dot the top of the filling with the small pieces of butter.  Brush the edge of the bottom crust with ice water, place the top crust on top.  Trim crust as needed and seal bottom and top crust.  Cut vent holes and place in the bottom 1/3 of the oven at 425 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes.  Then place a cookie sheet under the pie pan (I usually put my pie shield on now too) and drop the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 30 minutes or until thick juices begin to bubble from the pie.  Remove form the oven and let cool on a wire rack before serving.

This pie was quite tasty.  In the future, I would use fewer blueberries and more nectarines.  They got a little lost in the blueberries, but nobody at our house was complaining.  Prep was super easy too, since nothing had to be peeled.  Happy pie baking and eating!

I do really LOVE to bake pies.  I think it is becoming a lost art. So if you have nay questions about crusts and/or pies, feel free to ask.  I would love to try to help!