Conversion begins at home...

It's been five months since I've begun my little food blog, and though I have yet to establish an enormous following, I have one small but significant milestone to brag about. My roommate, always a more-than-enthusiastic eater of pie, has finally begun to bake them herself! Her first effort a couple of months ago, which we jokingly referred to as "the homeliest pie in Christendom," was also among the tastiest! She chose the unorthodox but delightful combination of cherry and blueberry, but other than a filling that was too runny (who among us hasn't had that problem?) and its rather unphotogenic character, it was certainly successful, especially for a first attempt. An outside source and our toughest critic of cherry-based pies, June, confirmed that the pie was delicious. Of course, I was very proud of her!

And as we are experiencing some crazy, October-like weather this weekend (dark, stormy, cold, rainy, and horribly windy), and we still could not get outside to get the garden planted, we decided to stay in and make another pie together today. I had a recipe that I wanted to try, a Blueberry Crumble Pie, and anything with a crumbly topping is Cyd's favorite. But instead of straight blueberry, I picked up a bag of mixed berries (blueberry, raspberry and blackberry) at the Sam's Club--don't you love how everyone adds that definite article to the name of the store? THE Sam's Club, THE Wal-Mart, etc. Why do they do it? It's the same with diseases. "She has THE diabetes" or "He has THE sleep apnea." Puzzling...

Anyway...the pie turned out pretty well, though it's definitely a crumb-lover's pie. In fact, the layer of crumbly topping was thicker than the berry layer! Cyd says she likes it that way, but I think it A) needed more fruit in general, and/or B) needed only 2/3 to 3/4 of the crumble on top. Still, it was quite good--particularly served with another batch of buttermilk ice cream that we whipped up--and that's one more notch on the old girl's pie-making belt! (Just don't ask her to calculate pints to cups, whatever you do! ha ha) And that's also one more convert to the Lindsey's Luscious way! So keep baking, grasshoppers (and try to walk with full measuring cups on the parchment paper without tearing it)! ;-)

CRUMBLEBERRY PIE
(source: www.sweetbabymedia.com)

Crumble:
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of salt

Filling:
6 cups mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries or your preference)
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
3/8 cup quick-cooking tapioca
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped lemon zest (or 1 tablespoon lemon juice)
pinch of salt
pinch of freshly ground pepper

In a food processor, pulse the flour and brown sugar until thoroughly combined. Add the butter, and pulse until mixture is crumbly. (Don’t overmix!) This can also be done by hand with a pastry cutter if you’d rather. Refrigerate until ready to use. In a large bowl, gently combine filling ingredients and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Press crust into a pie tin, trim dough and crimp edges as desired. Using a fork, lightly prick all over sides and bottom of dough; refrigerate 20 minutes. Remove pie shell from refrigerator and line with parchment paper. Fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until crimped edges are firm, 10-15 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and weights, and continue baking until the bottom is firm, about 10 minutes more. Remove the pie shell from the oven. Pour in the berry filling, and top with the reserved crumble. Place pie on a parchment-lined baking sheet; bake pie until crust and crumble are browned and filling starts to bubble, 1 to 1 ¼ hours. (You may have to cover the edges of the pie with foil or a pie shield if it starts to brown too much.) Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely.