As the bittersweet arrival of the last of the northwest blueberries coincides with the happy coming of the first glorious Colorado peaches, the two together feel exactly like a match made in heaven in my kitchen on a beautiful cool morning.  With just a smidge over 5 cups of beginning-to-pucker and wilt Oregon blueberries in the fridge, I had not quite enough for a 9-inch pie. A case of peaches sat wafting their keen aroma from the mudroom, so I followed my nose out there and snagged a couple of not-too-ripe beauties to peel and slice for the bottom of the pie, filling that empty extra inch of space. The buttery sweetness from the berry mixture on top would provide plenty of juicy goodness for the still somewhat tangy peaches.  Making something with peaches that aren’t quite ripe or up-to-snuff?  Add a pinch of ground mace to increase their flavor.

Palisade Peaches two days ago at Whole Foods in Colorado Springs

I wish peach and blueberry pie had a name. Peach and raspberry pie is called a Peach Melba, but somehow my sweetie pie didn’t seem to every earn its own title. Perhaps I’ll come up with one. Or you will.  We’ll let our friends Jeanne and Tony try, too; the pie’s for dessert after dinner with them Thursday night. Until we have a name, though, try this:

PEACH-BLUEBERRY SWEETIE PIE

makes a 9-inch pie                        6-8 servings

Joy of Baking pie dough video link at bottom. She has a bit different method than mine, but it’s very well done and easy to follow. A video is sometimes simpler to understand than all of these written directions!  Keep making pie as it’s well worth the effort.  Whatever it looks like the first time or two, it will taste many times better than anything you buy and you will be someone’s very loved person if you make their favorite pie. If you do give up on the dough,  buy the refrigerated version (*not the frozen variety) at the store and make the pie anyway; it’ll still be very worth eating.

INGREDIENTS:

PIE DOUGH INGREDIENTS  for Two-Crust, 9 or 10-inch pie  

             You’ll have dough leftover for pie dough cookies* if you make the 9-inch.

• 2 2/3 cups unbleached white flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup (8 ounces or two sticks), very cold or frozen butter—cut into pieces about 1 tablespoon (1 ounce) each   I like salted butter, but you can use unsalted if you prefer.
• ½ cup (4 ounces) ice water or a bit more if needed  (I measure 1/2 cup into a liquid measuring cup, add 2 ice cubes, use that, and add more if I need it.)

FILLING INGREDIENTS:

• 2 large peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced thinly–to be placed on the bottom of the pie crust before adding the blueberry filling
• 5 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 4 tablespoons white, all-purpose unbleached flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar– plus a little more for dusting the top of the pie before baking
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, cut into very tiny pieces–to be placed on top of the filling before the second crust is added

DIRECTIONS:

Make the dough–   

1. Place flour, salt, and cold butter in a food processor or regular bowl.  Using the steel blade, two knives, a pastry cutter, or your fingertips, cut the butter into the flour and salt until dough is peppered with several different size pieces of fat and flour.

2. With machine running, or while stirring, pour ice water into dough in a steady stream.  Process or stir (you can use your hands, but the warmth isn’t the best thing for pie dough) until the dough just barely comes together.  Remove carefully from bowl or food processor, if using, and knead a bit, to bring dough together.

3. Form into a large ball quickly and cut into two even halves.  Wrap each well and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  (See Baker’s Note below for immediate rolling.)

Make the filling–

4. Stir together gently the ingredients for the blueberry filling (blueberries, sugar, flour, salt) except for the last 2 tablespoons of pieces of butter. Set aside briefly while you roll out the dough. The sliced peaches will go in by themselves before the blueberry filling.

5.  Remove one piece of dough from the refrigerator and roll out evenly between two sheets of waxed paper on a damp counter. Or roll out on floured counter with floured rolling pin, lifting and turning dough a few times while rolling to keep dough from sticking. Place the pie pan upside down on the dough to measure and make sure you’ve rolled the dough large enough; it should be at least an inch larger than the pie plate.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Position rack at center of oven.

6. Flip dough over, roll pin over once, and carefully, steadily lift paper off circle of dough. Turn dough over again and carefully place in pie plate. Peel off paper gently.  Crimp the edges of the dough.

7. Add the sliced peaches evenly the bottom crust. Spoon the reserved blueberry pie filling evenly on top of the peaches. Add tiny pieces of butter evenly over the filling. The butter melts into the pie and melds with the flour or other binder to help thicken the filling. Butter is also a main flavor in pie–especially in the crust.

8. Repeat above (#5) with the other piece of dough and add it on top of the pie filling.  Again, carefully peel off the paper and by working quickly and gently with your fingers, fit the dough over the filling and butter.  Don’t stretch the dough.  Leave the excess hanging,  patch holes, torn “corners” with extra dough if needed.  Trim dough so that you have about one inch of overhang.  Pinch or crimp edges.  With a small sharp knife, cut several slits at equal intervals into the top crust to vent the pie–a decorative pattern is fun here:  B for Blueberry Pie, T for Tom (if it’s Tom’s birthday), outline of a cherry for Cherry Pie, etc. I’ve done a heart here, plus extra arrows:

Sprinkle the top crust evenly with the reserved sugar.

*Extra dough can be cut into strips, fried in a little hot oil, and sprinkled with lots of cinnamon sugar for Pie Dough Cookies.

Blueberry-Strawberry Pie for Mike’s Birthday

In Memoriam:  Judith Jones  (1924-2017)