Blueberry Pie with Crumb Topping
A luscious blueberry pie with hints of lemon and a buttery, crisp crumb topping.
Ingredients
Blueberry Filling
- 4 cups blueberries, fresh washed and dried thoroughly
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- ¼ cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
Lard Pie Crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup lard
- 2-4 tablespoons water
Crumb Topping
- 1-½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1-½ sticks unsalted butter cold and cut into small pieces
Instructions
Blueberry Pie
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Mix the blueberries, 1/2 cup of sugar, the flour, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a large bowl.
- Carefully ease pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate, making sure not to stretch the dough at all, or it will shrink as the pie bakes. With a sharp knife, cut the excess dough off at the edge of the pie plate.
- Spoon the blueberry mixture into the pie shell, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula to be sure you have all the juices.
- Crimp the edges of the pie crust with your fingers.
- Spoon half of the crumb topping mixture on top of the blueberries, covering the entire pan.
- Set the pie pan on the parchment-lined baking pan.
- Bake at 400 degrees F. for 45 minutes on the middle rack until the filling is very bubbly and the crust is nicely browned. (I like to check my pie 10 minutes or so prior to make sure the crust isn't too brown. If it is, cover the top loosely with foil for the rest of the baking time.)
Crumb Topping
- In a bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup light-brown sugar, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and cinnamon.
- Cut 1 1/2 sticks chilled unsalted butter into pieces. With a pastry cutter (or your hands), work in butter pieces, until small clumps form.
- Divide mixture in half; use half for the blueberry pie and freeze the other half in a plastic storage bag for your next pie.
Lard Pie Crust
- Mix flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Cut in lard with a pastry cutter until small (pea-size) particles are obtained.
- Spring with water a little bit at a time. Mix with a fork until the flour is moist. (My mom's recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of water but I have found I need to use up to 4 tablespoons to make sure the flour mixture is moist enough to hold together for rolling.)
- Press into a ball and turn out onto a floured board. Roll out with a rolling pin. (Try not to use too much extra flour because it makes the crust tough.)
- Roll out at least an inch or so bigger than around your 9-inch pie pan.
- Put pastry into pan and try not to stretch it out because this will cause shrinkage when baking
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!