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Blueberry Crumble Pie

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Blueberry Crumble Pie

Blueberry Crumble Pie – made with fresh, sweet blueberries topped with a crispy crumble all baked up in a wonderful summer pie. A must make for your ripe blueberries!

It’s been a while since I rolled out dough and filled it with nature’s best fruits.  With all those wonderful berries ripening under the hot summer sun … well, I couldn’t help myself.  Berries and pie are “made-for-each-other.”

 

blueberry bushes

My new favorite Saturday morning adventure starts at Miller Farms Market where you pick your owns fruits and soon there’ll be sweet summer corn too.  You may remember I recently picked more than 20 pounds of strawberries and made numerous recipes, froze a bunch and even shared with my son and daughter-in-law.  When Miller Farms said the blueberries and raspberries were ready, I had to go back.  Blackberries should be ripe in a few more weeks and I plan to take helpers with me next time!

 

ripe blueberries

The blueberry bushes are not as old as the strawberry, raspberry and blackberry plants so the berries are not as abundant – and were not quite ready in large amounts.  I was able to work a while and get enough though.  I think I missed my calling and could have been a pretty good field hand/picker of fruits and vegetables.  I just love being outside.  Stay tuned for black and red raspberry desserts coming soon!

 

 

unbaked pie crust

I like to make my own pastry using our Perfect Pie Crust Recipe but this pie could easily come together in no time with a pre-made crust.  My grandmother actually froze homemade crusts and entire unbaked pies but she had a giant deep freezer which ended up being an architectural dig when she passed away.  Nobody went hungry at Mammaw’s house.

 

 

blueberry crumble pie

Blueberry desserts are a personal favorite and this pie does not disappoint.

 

In 2011 I made a pie a week for an entire year.  My son was a volunteer firefighter at the time and he and his crew quickly figured out that Sunday was “pie day.”  If they came late enough, I would have all the pictures I needed for the blog posts and the remaining pie was up for grabs.  I enjoyed feeding those hungry young men, even though my neighbors must have thought we had a lot of fires at our house as there was often a fire truck sitting outside.  I now have more than 75 pie recipes on the blog.  Over the years I’ve gotten a little better with my camera so please excuse the out-of-focus, poorly composed, badly lit photos – the pies were still good to eat!

 

 

blueberry crumble pie

There are a few steps to make this pie but it is super easy and comes together perfectly, I couldn’t be more pleased with the end result.

 

 

blueberry crumble pie sliced

My son, daughter-in-law and a former firefighter friend stopped by Sunday and it made me very happy to share this pie with them.  They talked about the old days when I made pies on a regular basis – and it warmed my heart!

 

 

Blueberry crumble pie

Make a memory and bake a pie for someone you love!

 

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Blueberry Crumble Pie - made with fresh, sweet blueberries topped with a crispy crumble baked in a wonderful summer pie. #blueberrycrumblepie #blueberrypie #pie #summerpie #blueberries #blueberry #homemadepie

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4.75 from 4 votes
Print
Blueberry Crumble Pie
Prep Time
45 mins
Cook Time
1 hr
Total Time
1 hr
 
Sweet blueberries topped with a crispy crumble all baked up in a wonderful summer pie. A must make for your ripe blueberries!
Course: Dessert, Pie
Servings: 8 servings
Author: Tricia
Ingredients
  • 1 unbaked 9-inch deep dish pie crust, well chilled before filling
For the blueberry filling:
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest, about 1 lemon
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 5 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and dried
  • 1/2 of a small apple, peeled and cored, then grated
For the crumble topping:
  • 2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup cold butter cut into chunks
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and place in the oven to preheat as well. Remove the unbaked, prepared 9-inch deep dish pie crust from the refrigerator. Line the pie crust / pie plate with parchment paper and add pie weights or dried beans. Bake the crust for about 20 minutes.

  2. Remove the parchment paper and pie weights or beans and set aside. Return the crust to the oven and bake another 10 minutes or until it starts to brown lightly.
  3. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool while preparing the filling.
To prepare the filling:

  1. Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and lemon zest. Place the clean, dry blueberries in a large mixing bowl. Add the grated apple, lemon juice and sugar/cornstarch mixture. Gently toss the blueberries to combine or use a rubber spatula and gently turn to coat. Set aside until the berries start to release their juices - 20-30 minutes, while preparing the topping.

To prepare the topping:

  1. In the bowl of the food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, butter and granulated sugar. Pulse until combined. Remove to a small mixing bowl and using the back of a large spoon, press some of the topping together to form large chunks. Refrigerate until ready to use.

  2. To assemble the pie, pour the blueberry mixture into the blind baked pie crust. Top with the crumble mixture spreading evenly.
  3. Bake on the foil lined baking sheet at 375 degrees for 1 hour. After 30 minutes, cover the pie with foil if starts to brown too quickly.

  4. Once the filling bubbles and the pie is golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature.

  5. Store leftovers in the refrigerator.
Recipe Notes

* The apple helps thicken the filling so it stays together when sliced.

* Use our favorite Perfect Pie Crust Recipe in 3-easy steps or your favorite recipe. You can also use a pre-made frozen crust.

* Filling inspired by a recipe from a July 2011 Bon Appetit Magazine

 

Here are a few more of our favorite blueberry desserts that you might like:

 

Easy Blueberry Crumb Bars ~ there’s nothing like sweet summer blueberries baked in a simple crust to excite the taste buds!  This simple, easy dessert is saturated with intense blueberry flavor and hints of bright, fresh lemon.

 

 

Blueberry Breakfast Cake – perfect for breakfast, brunch or a light dessert. This luscious cake is a deliciously moist, lightly sweet “coffee” cake bursting with juicy ripe blueberries and a hint of lemon.

 

 

Delightfully tender Blueberry Buttermilk Biscuits served with a warm homemade Blueberry Sauce.

Blueberry desserts are some of the best ever!  If you’re looking for a little more inspiration, check out this Low Carb No-Bake Blueberry Cheesecake Pie ~ from All Day I Dream About Food!  I really want to make these little Blueberry Lemon Hand Pies ~ from Sugary Sweets, and this super popular Blueberry Zucchini Snack Cake ~ from The View from Great Island.  And don’t forget to try this Frozen Blueberry Coconut Yogurt Pie ~ from She Wears Many Hats – it looks dreamy!

Hope you have a wonderful week.  It’s been crazy hot and humid here in Virginia.  Hope the weather is better in your hometown.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Tricia

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104 Comments

  1. Jeanette says

    I made this yesterday for Canadian Thanksgiving. My daughter requested this type of pie with a crumble topping as she doesn’t love pastry. We all loved it. I made it gluten free as two of the group has celiac disease. It worked wonderful. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.

    reply to this comment >

  3. Peg Bingham says

    5 stars
    Fabulous! We just had pie-palooza for Father’s Day. I made 5 and we voted. This was the clear winner! The blind-baking instructions seemed very long but worked perfectly with an all-ready crust. The filling was great and will make a fine crisp. Keeper.

    reply to this comment >

  4. Lama K says

    I have never made a pie in my life and decided this recipe would be my first. It came out phenomenal. This is what I did differently:

    1) I didn’t use a food processor to make the crumble and instead just used my hands and it worked.
    2) I used pie dough for the top as well as the crumble.

    The only thing I would do differently is use less sugar in the blueberry mix. I guess my blueberries were already sweet.

    Great recipe!!

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      Hi Susan – I have not tried frozen berries since fresh are always available. My only concern would be that it will be way to juicy. I’m always afraid to experiment and try something not tested during the holidays. If I have to have it, I don’t mess with it. If you use frozen berries, I would thaw them first in a strainer to get rid of the extra liquid. Good luck and hope it turns out for you! Happy holidays Susan 🙂

      reply to this comment >

  7. Mary Zoppa says

    I made the crust using your recipe, and then the pie. It was by far, the most time and labor intensive recipe I have ever made in 30 years. The recipe says 20 mins prep time. It doesn’t count the minimum time in the fridge before rolling, ( at least an hour-up to 3 days )or the 30 mins in the fridge before pre-baking. The crust was good, but for the work it should have been the best crust in the world, and it wasn’t. The extra work of grating an apple and zesting a lemon-letting the berries sit; it was a good pie but not the best I have ever eaten. I won’t be making this again

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      Thanks for the feedback Mary but I cannot imagine why the crust was labor intensive. I’ve also been baking for more than 40 years and find this crust super simple. The time it takes to prepare the crust is less than 20 minutes for me. Most crust recipes need time to sit in the refrigerator before rolling. I love that this can be made well ahead of time. Sorry it didn’t meet your expectations. I also don’t think that grating a half an apple is a lot of work. It takes about 2 minutes to grate the apple and zesting lemons is also super easy. It adds a lot to the flavor, in my opinion. The berries sit while you prepare the topping, so it’s not really adding time to the preparation. Again I’m sorry you found that this pie did not meet your expectations but appreciate that you took the time to try it and provide feedback. Our readers will appreciate you documenting your experience.

      reply to this comment >

  8. Jess says

    Looks amazing! Can’t wait to make this pie. I think the instructions for the blind baked pie crust are a little confusing. It sounds like we should blind bake the crust on a baking sheet and not in a pie dish. Maybe it’s just me.

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      Hi Lise – yes you can bake it anyway you want. The reason for blind-baking a crust is to help it stay more crisp when adding fruit fillings. It will still be delicious if you don’t do this step. If you par-bake, pre-bake or blind-bake the crust, it must have something inside or the crust will slump down into the pan as it bakes. It’s really not a big deal and the beans or weights can be used again and again. Hope this helps and good luck.

      reply to this comment >

  11. George says

    Made this pie last night, nobody in the family particularly likes blueberries, but your pictures looked so delicious it enticed to me try. Glad I did, it was really delicious (served with the requisite vanilla ice cream)! I’ll bbe looking through your other desert recipes and giving them a go as well.

    reply to this comment >

  12. Allie.w says

    My brother has been asking for a blueberry pie since last year. So after some research I decided, this is the one! I can’t tell you how much fun I’ve had making this pie. I’ve never made a pie before and I had to make it in what I call ‘a bachelors kitchen’ so I had to improvise a lot of tools and really slow down to make sure everything came together well. Honestly, I don’t know how it turned out yet, it’s still in the oven, but I wanted to thank you for the experience. ☺️

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      Haha Liz – I’ve been making pies since I was 10 years old but I still learn something new every time I make one. We are students of our craft! I hope you’ll try this pie. It’s not overly sweet so it may not hurt to bump up the sugar to 3/4 cup from 2/3 cup. The crumble top is sweet and of course ice cream adds an amazing taste and texture to the pie. Enjoy!

      reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      I’m not sure Cheree – I haven’t tried freezing this pie. I would think it would be okay to freeze the entire pie before baking. If you bake then freeze I think the crumble top may be soggy. Please let me know if you give it a try and I’ll share with our readers. Thanks for stopping by – great question!

      reply to this comment >

  17. Trish says

    Is it still necessary to pre bake the crust if you use a different crust recipe or a boughten crust? My fruit pie recipes all go into an unbaked crust and bake crust and filling together. Just don’t want to mess this up! Yours looks perfect!

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      Hi Trish – There’re different schools of thought on the pre-baked crust issue. I do not pre-bake crusts for double crust pies, like apple, peach, etc. It always turns out fine. When I can pre-bake I always do, to help keep the crust crispy and less soggy. That being said, I really don’t have problems with soggy crust. If you want my opinion, I say pre-bake the crust at least a little bit if you can. Hope this helps and is not too vague 🙂 Thank you so much for reading and commenting and I know you will love this pie! It’s a keeper.

      reply to this comment >

  19. Rebecca says

    Made this today and it was super delicious… Def not as pretty. I felt like the crust wasn’t large enough so next time I would make more of that. But everything else was great! I haven’t cut into it yet but will tomorrow.

    reply to this comment >

  20. Brigitte says

    Just wondering if you have frozen the whole pie before baking and then baked it from the freezer. I like to stock pile pies when the berries are in season. This pie looks absolutely yummy!

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      I have not tried freezing this pie Brigitte. But my grandmother often made pies and froze them unbaked with great success. I think using frozen berries would be just fine if you don’t want to freeze the entire pre-made pie. Thank you so much for commenting – I hope you love it as much as we do!

      reply to this comment >

  22. Velva says

    We share the same fun and passion for picking summer fruits. This season I picked about 12lbs of summer blueberries- Strawberries a few weeks earlier.

    Your blueberry pie looks amazing. No doubt tastes amazing. Thanks for sharing!

    Velva

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      Oh we do share a passion! Nice to hear from you Velva – hope you’re enjoying your summer and your fresh picked fruits! I’m going back in the morning to pick more black raspberries and to see if those blackberries are ripe 🙂 Have a wonderful 4th!

      reply to this comment >

  23. Mandy says

    Tricia, what an incredible pie! I absolutely love blueberries – I make quite a pig of myself when they in the house – I would thoroughly enjoy a large piece of your gorgeous pie.
    Have a great day.
    🙂 Mandy xo

    reply to this comment >

  24. Betty says

    This pie is a masterpiece- love that crumble crust! I’d have never thought of adding the apple to help thicken the pie, but it sounds like a great idea. Summer fruits are glorious, aren’t they? I have brand new blueberry bushes, and I hope I’ll be able to eventually get some berries from them. When we were visiting in Chicago last summer, we took a little (big, actually)berry picking trip to Michigan, where there seemed to be a pick-your-own blueberry farm at every turn. It’s so hard to stop picking when you keep seeing gorgeous berries that just have to come home with you! 🙂

    reply to this comment >

  34. Dom says

    LOVE the way the berries are packed in there… LOVE the colour of the pie… how is that colour even real?… and I LOVE the crumble topping. Sometimes you can have too much pastry (really Dom?) and so a little crumble is a good thing!… plenty of cream right?

    reply to this comment >

  35. Denise Walden Cooper says

    This pie looks incredible. Being a pie maker myself, Im looking forward to following your blog. I have a question. Have you ever considered using leaf lard in your pie crusts instead of vegetable shortening? The FDA is considering banning trans fats because of concerns over health risks of hydrogenated oils and organically sourced leaf lard is a fantastic substitute. Up until recently, I, too, used vegetable shortening, but leaf lard took my pie making to a whole new level. I use half european butter and half leaf lard in my crust. Your pie crust will taste amazing and will be flakier than ever. I’ve mail ordered leaf lard in the past from Fannie and Flo, but Ive recently found two butchers at my local farmer’s market that will supply it as well. Organically sourced leaf lard is essential since toxins are stored in fat cells. Anyway, just a thought…again Im looking forward to following your blog, happy baking!

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      Hi Denise – thanks for commenting. I have considered it and have researched leaf lard in the past. I would love to try it someday – I just haven’t had a big need since I don’t seem to make as many pies these days. Thanks for the info.

      reply to this comment >

  38. Becky Green says

    The weather here isn’t much better Tricia! I think it’s the “dog days” set in… UGH! LOL But, your pie looks HEAVENLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOOOOVE Blueberries too! Your pictures look AMAZING ALSO!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 😉

    reply to this comment >

  40. Chris Scheuer says

    You should be titled The Queen of Pie Makers, Tricia. This is a gorgeous pie, I can never get them to look as pretty as yours. I’m curious to know what the grated apple does. Is that what makes the pie set up so nice? I know cornstarch is a thickener and you have that too.

    I have my own blueberry bushes and they’re now 3 years old and are loaded with berries. I think a pie is the perfect way to celebrate! Although I think the birds must be making blueberry pies too as they are definitely helping themselves quite bountifully to my prized berries.

    reply to this comment >

    • Tricia Buice says

      You are too kind Chris. Your recipes always look amazing and so well composed. I read someone a long time ago, that adding a little grated apple to a pie like this will help the filling set up better. This pie will run all over the place if cut when it’s hot, but cooling to room temperature makes all the difference. I think the apple helped because it stayed together without being stiff. I only used 1/2 of a small apple but it seemed just enough. The leftover pie refrigerated well (according to my son) and I’ll let you know about freezing. My traveling husband is traveling so I hid a few pieces for him in the freezer. Thanks!

      reply to this comment >

  42. Monica says

    Tricia, I didn’t “know” you back in your amazing pie-making year but I have seen and drooled over many of those pies. Clearly, you are *the* pie expert. This could not look more enticing! I can picture you out in the summer just gardening, picking fresh fruit like this on a nearby farm, and then heading home to make an incredible meal that would include a pie like this. What a lucky household! : ) Hope you had a great Father’s Day weekend.

    reply to this comment >

  43. Beth says

    Great story about the firetruck parked outside your house! A pie a week is a great habit to get into for practice making pastry.
    And this recipe looks amazing – hope I get a chance to try it this summer too!

    reply to this comment >

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