Oh My Vegan Blueberry Pie with Perfect Double Crust Dough (and eight paws!)

In baking, like everything else in life, weather, moods and trips to the store dictate whether pie is in order. I'm that person who sees pies in grocery store cases and thinks: what a shame, why don't people bake their own pies anymore? Then crave pie all the way home. It's been humid and unbearable one day, dry and breezy the next so far this summer with very little rain. 

Hot days of summer or not--I was baking a pie this week. 

I don't know why I've always felt baking a pie is an all day affair. It never is. Pie memories I have are of a pastry cutter and my mother with a large bowl of flour and clumps of butter rolling about in pieces, seeping through the thin wires of the cutter, and of me asking for raw bits of dough to nibble on while she continues to roll through the process of butter, dough, shortening. Then her with a large wooden rolling pin (the same one I still use today), shaping a circle out onto the kitchen counter with a few flings of flour tossed over and under the dough before being carefully flattened into the vintage Corning Ware blue cornflower pie plate (the exact same pie plate I use to today). Then she'd take gobs of whatever fresh fruit was available at the store for filling and copious amounts of sugar. Peach pies more often than not, but for me--berries always in summer. It never seemed to be a big deal for her to just magically throw together a pie. 

The pies were always scrumptious. 

There are a few schools of thought out there as to whether pie crust is a butter only affair or a shortening AND butter affair. I am of the latter in terms of preference.

Nothing fancy. Use whatever design you'd like to vent the pie during baking.

Giving into my craving for pie the entire pie process comes together and bakes in about an hour and a half. The "half hour" set aside for mandatory cooling period for the dough. Eating of said pie commences after a good hour or two of cooling with a dallop of vegan vanilla ice cream: a la mode. Or saved for the next morning. . . for breakfast. (The best way to eat pie if you ask me.)  

This is actually my second berry pie I've baked in two days. 

And aside from pies: here's the newest member of the family. 

This is our last addition to the family what with all the aging we have left in front of us . . we are now two dogs, two humans and four hearts. She is a little under weight and has much growing to go. She is super smart. Her sister loves her, but is a bit too big to have "full access" for play time (because her paw literally covers the little one's head entirely). Supervised play only for the time being. 

She fell asleep on the exam table at her first vet appointment while getting her booster shots. 

Awww. 

The first day we ALL met her! Smallest. Sweetest. Big Sissy loves her, too. 

Now.

Yup. It's a whole new world around here.

Vegan Blueberry Pie

Perfect Double Crust Pie Dough

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (10 1/2 ounces by weight)

7 T. cold vegan butter 

1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

8 T. ice cold water

In a large bowl, sift together the flour and salt. Then cube the ice cold butter and shortening and using a pastry blender, work the dough until the butter and shortening are in small pieces--some larger pieces are okay--actually are fine! Then begin adding the water one tablespoon at a time, tossing the dough around with a spoon to incorporate the water. Begin to work the dough into a ball carefully with your hand--but don't "over handle" the dough--you want to be able to form a ball. Then divide the ball in half. Flatten each half into a disc, then wrap in plastic and place in fridge for 30-45 minutes. 

Meanwhile, make the filling:

6-7 cups frozen blueberries (*I only had four cups of blueberries on hand, so added frozen black and red raspberries to offset the amount--it works out fine--but I did buy more blueberries for next time)

1/4 t. ground cinnamon

2 T. corn starch

2 T. all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

juice of whole lemon

Preheat oven to 425. Prepare a 9" pie plate for baking. Toss all filling ingredients together in a bowl. Roll out pie dough on well-floured surface to a 10" in diameter circle--or wide enough to cover the base of the pie plate with a bit of overhang. Place dough in pie plate, pressing it in to fit bottom and come up the sides. *You don't want the crust too thin--about a 1/4" works well. Add the filling. Repeat with other half of dough and then place on top of filling. Fold the dough around the edges under and using your finger and thumb, pinch the crust closed. For the top of the pie, use whatever "venting" system you'd like. I just used a knife and cut out my own decorations, well. . . triangles. 

Bake for 20 minutes at 425. Then turn oven down to 350 and bake for an additional 40 minutes or until crust begins to brown. 

Allow to pie to cool for at least an hour before slicing. Store in fridge. 

Vegan Apple Streusel Pie Cookie Bars (and the "parking lot" incident)

This looks like apple pie. It tastes like apple pie. The topping is streusel. The middle is, of course,  filled with a staggering amount of sliced granny smith apples and a whole lot of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and what have you. And it was heavenly. The trick is to "chill" the finished pie. This requires planning as you may want to make it the day before you are planning to serve.

As the pie bakes, the apples shrink, the streusel topping gets crackly and yummy. With the thick pie dough to hold the pie up, once the dough is chilled, you slice the pie and serve on a plate as 

apple-pie-cookie bars. No fork required. One solid slice that stays stacked and solid after sliced. Skinny slices work--not your "normal pie thick" slices--to really get the true cookie experience.

(*Note: As you can see, I baked my pie in a pie shell, however, to get the true "bar cookie" effect, you may swap out the round shell for a square 8" pan.)

The parking lot incident is told after the recipe so as not waste anyone's time.

Here's how the "pie-became-cookie" recipe happened. 

Vegan Summer "Berry Good" Pie According to Fannie Farmer (A Tale of Two Cities for Me This Summer)

Pies don't last long in this house. It's a tradition for me to bake at least three or four pies during the summer. But given we've had some really steamy, icky-raining, crappy summer days here in St. Louis this year so far, this is my first pie. But oh, what a pie! It's a three berry pie: blueberries, blackberries and raspberries all done according to the Fannie Farmer Baking Book by Marion Cunningham. (One of my most treasured cookbooks--and is to be saved first should, godforbid, anything happen to this house.) 

As pies go, if you don't attempt to learn anything else in baking, learning a pie dough recipe by heart will add years to your life and the life of your loved ones. Abiding by the directions from Fannie Farmer, "Pie dough should be made by hand in order to achieve the greatest flakiness. Other methods, using the food processor or blender, overblend the fat and flour and end up making a good, crumbly tart pastry instead of a flake pie crust." Truer words were never said. So here is the memorized pie dough recipe I have used:

2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon table salt

3/4 cup vegan shortening

6-7 tablespoons ice cold water

Add flour and salt to medium bowl, then add shortening in pieces, mix together with your hands until a fine crumb forms. And in this case, the mixture should look like what Fannie Farmer says: bread crumbs. Then, add the ice cold water one tablespoon at a time until you can pinch the mixture together and it holds. Split the dough in half, shape into a flat disc, wrap in plastic and chill in fridge for about 30 minutes. (Fannie Farmer says the chilling part is not necessary, and it really isn't despite what you've read. I just like the way the dough handles after a brief chill--my rolling pin experience involves less cursing as well.)

And for the filling, keep it simple: 

5 cups of whatever fruit you'd like

3/4 cup sugar

4 tablespoons all-purpose flour or cornstarch

juice of half a lemon

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vegan butter

Toss this all together and pour into your pie shell.

Bake at 425 for 30 minutes, then turn oven down to 350, bake 25 minutes more. Cool the pie.

Ta-da: Pie!

Vegan Black Raspberry Cobbler with Biscuit Thick Crust (Heirloom Amish Recipe. . . and your mother was right: Always. Wear. Sunscreen!)

This week: bake, eat, bake some more, run, garden, pet the dogs and bake again--oh and attend a medical procedure for DH. This cobbler is a result of what happens with a black raspberry patch that's gone amok and a whole lot of stress on the side. The cobbler is an old recipe from one of my mother's Amish cookbooks. Growing up in Indiana, many of our summer trips involved a visit to Amish country. Mom was into the Amish. Though I don't think she'd trade her modern conveniences like electricity (powering her sunlamps!) for the whole "Amish" way. Ever. 

A huge black raspberry crop showed up in our yard this summer. (I have the remnants from the thorns all over my upper arm to prove it--a small price to pay for enjoying these delicious fruits.) We had no trouble devouring them. On my last trip down the hill, I had harvested about four cups of berries. I knew immediately they'd be made into a cobbler (one of DH's favorites). Problem was, I didn't know which recipe I'd use. About ten years ago, I had used this same Amish recipe, but with the traditional butter/fat/and a TON of sugar--the recipe called for. Not this time. I whole-grained the crust up and then cut back on the sugar and of course, used vegan butter. The result was pure heaven. You should check to be sure you have some vegan ice cream on hand. Pretty much mandatory for finishing this dish.

Vegan Sour Cherry Pie with Flaky All-Butter Crust (Knitted Cuteness: Snowmen, Gnomes and Stars. Is This Supposed to Happen with A Broken Ankle?)

Consider baking a pie for someone for Christmas. I did. Except I decided I needed my pie earlier and I baked this pie for myself on Thanksgiving. I ate most of it myself, too. I had never tried an all-butter (vegan butter) pie crust before. But my taste buds were not disappointed. The recipe could not have been easier--once you make your dough (time to throw together: about five minutes), chill the dough (a half hour), drain the cherries, reserving some juice, then add a little of this and a pinch of that (another five minutes), then roll the dough and place in pie plate and add the cherries (about five more minutes), and bake (forty-five minutes)--you'll be greeted with an amazingly delicious cherry pie extravaganza. 

Peach Praline Pecan Streusel Pie: Serious Pie for Serious Peaches (. . .The Story of My "Fall" and Pictures of Things Outside)

I don't think it'd be a stretch to say I love peaches. Even after the whole peach growing, peach harvesting and peach jam making I did a few weeks back, I'm still bringing home peaches from the store. Just. In. Case. In case of what exactly, I couldn't say. This pie is a bit of a multi-stepper, but in a painless way. You make your pie dough (or godforbid, use store bought if you must), mix up the streusel (storing the extra you'll have for muffins or better yet, another pie!), peel and slice up the peaches, assemble pie, bake, cool and eat. So easy. If you want to skip ahead and not read my story about my falling, that's fine. 

Vegan Blueberry Abundance Pie (Knitting Times Three, Sewing Lap Duvets and Waiting for My First Tomato!)

I have a thing for pie. I've thought about opening a shop for yarn and pies. But then I'd never want to come home, and that could be a problem. This weekend I made what I thought was a fairly "large" pie--five cups of blueberries! The pie is gone as of this morning around ten when I lost all self control. 

I have an urge to make another of the exact proportion. 

Vegan Apple Hand Pies with Brown Butter (The Best Snowiest Sunday Ever and Granny Square Hat-Makin')

Being snow bound is the best. Baking when you're snow bound is even better. Not to be trite, but here's the skinny on the day's events: cozy warm fireplace, the dogs, me crocheting a granny square hat, husband reading, a pot of veggie soup on the stove simmering all day, a fresh-baked loaf of ciabatta bread to accompany said soup: yesterday had to be one of the bestest Sundays ever. Then I whipped up these hand pies for dessert, and I'm not ashamed to say, my Yankee-self cherished every snowy moment of it all. More snow please! And how about like two weeks of summer, then fall. 

Apple Tart Cherry Crostata (The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook. . . And Showing Off the Mitts!)

Never in my life have I craved a pie as much as this. And being alone in this world of pie, I was left to my own devices as I went about my merry crostata-baking way. (Because it would have been too much bother to lift dough into a pie plate, pinch the border, bake the shell, fill the shell, bake again. You get my point.)

Apple, Cranberry, Pear and Fig Pie with Crunchy Almond Topping (And Some Instant Gratification Knitting)

I know there's been this whole "fruit-for-dessert" thing here for several posts (mixed in with real life drama). I really don't have any explanation for this fruit obsession other than to say, it's what I've wanted. The Husband mentioned that it might be nice to throw in a chocolate dessert--then added, You'll have an apple pie for Thanksgiving. . . you always do. And just who does he imagine will be baking said pie? I mean, I'm not one to complain about my baking tasks. In fact rarely do I complain of being shackled to the kitchen. (Shackled might be too strong.) But the time of year being what it is: dark and more dark, sometimes my mood sways to things outside of the kitchen domain. I am sure I could handle juggling my cookie cravings next (oh there will be cookies) a chocolate dessert AND an apple pie all before Thursday. I know I can. My kitchen is my sanctuary. It has helped me cope during all of this "stuff" we've had to manage through. And are still managing through. 

When I'd settled on the next fruit dessert I wanted to try, I pulled out from my disaster-zone-baking-storage-cabinet an old ten-inch springform pan covered in stains, fingerprints and streaks of burned residue. It was my mother's. Leftover from her kitchen. It's funny to remember her this way--this baking way--so close to Thanksgiving. Her last years were not spent in the kitchen. At least not as much as she'd have liked. It would be hard to tell when exactly this pan was last used. I called my sister and told her what I'd found. Memories were shared.Then I got to baking my dessert.

Vegan Apple Pandowdy (The Vintage Un-Pie)

I had little time, lots of apples (still) and a craving for something in pastry crust. Isn't this how most amazing desserts happen? Couple things struck me about the name "pandowdy" when I first stumbled across it. First thing was where in the heck did this name come from? Well actually I didn't spend much time thinking about this--I craved dessert, not a dissertation. But in the off chance you're curious about the origin of the old pandowdy, I "discuss" more fully below. But not in length, 'kay? Second thing was a southern declaration I'd heard first after moving to Missouri when I was in high school: Boy Howdy! Strange little thing to remember. It seems to fit nicely with "pandowdy". 

Rustic Peach Apple Galette (Roll It. Pile It. Fold It. Bake It.)

The hands-on time for this dessert is under fifteen minutes. The result is unabashedly sublime. To gild the lily, a scoop of vanilla bean coconut ice cream served in a bowl with a slab of the galette, and all will be right with the world. I've noticed the supermarket slowly receiving "not-quite-seasonal-for-Missouri" produce. Last week there were the bing cherries and Georgia peaches. The cherries really tempted me. I cannot resist them once the full line of cherries arrive. But even I have standards. It's far too early for a decent cherry. But the peaches. . . they were in perfect condition. They had that peachy aroma. Plus they were displayed in individually slotted spaces in cardboard boxes. As if the shipping box was specifically designed just for the semi-long trip they had getting to Missouri from Georgia. I came home with two pounds. My impulse control was low, what can I say. 

Blackberry Lavender Double-Crust Pie (Moon Gardening)

I spent the weekend eating pie. It was a good weekend. In between my pie lust, I planted all of my "above ground" vegetables. That's a moon-planting rule of thumb: plant above ground crops when the moon is waxing, that is--during the phase of the New Moon up to the Full Moon. (Insert song here: Fifth Dimension, Age of Acquarius.)

It's been a busy past two weeks. What with my library presentations, gardening, general lawn maintenance (then periods of "recovery" afterward), a plant sale here, a visit to a lavender farm there, all the other time in between: cooking, playing scrabble, knitting, guitar practicing, cookbook buying. . . time has simply gotten away from me.

Tart Cherry Pie for Our Vegan Thanksgiving (Retail Confidential And Why I'm Thankful)

Our Thanksgiving is a quiet one. We like it that way. We've both suffered through enough horrors of "Thanking with Others" to last us a lifetime. I grew up with quiet holidays. Dr. Thyme grew up with chaotic holidays. When we first met and I had the pleasure of being introduced to his clan, I was mostly in shock and as a result, it induced a case of agoraphobia that has lingered with me to this day. I don't totally blame his family for this, I could just as easily lay blame with the many years I'd spent in retail.

Yesterday I baked all day. I made two pies: a pumpkin (for Dr. Thyme) and a tart cherry (for me).