Get a load of this stunner. If summer were a pie…
The blueberry flavor is optimized and heightened by combining whole berries with a blueberry puree and finished with a touch of lemon. All poured into a graham cracker crust and topped with a heavenly alloy of sweetened cream cheese and whipped cream. And all of it is chilled so yeah, imagine that. I don’t typically go bananas for dessert but this one is so perfect in every way I made an exception.
I agree with the good people at Cook’s that this is all about fresh berries; frozen will not be the same. The good news is that even mediocre fruit will shine here due to the puree.
There is nothing about the recipe that requires advanced skills except the piping of the topping but, honestly, it’s not required. You can just spread it on top and no one will care. I’ve seen comments from others who have made it saying you don’t have to puree the berries separately and then strain, but merely mash them up as they cook. One cook even said they’ve made this successfully with peaches (and wouldn’t peaches and blueberries be a fun combo??).
Note the chill time of 4 hours minimum/24 hours max. It was great the first night but I had another piece the next night (24 hours +) and it was just as good. It will not last another day so don’t ask me how well it keeps beyond that.
Gorgeous photo by my friend, ace photographer Angela Garbot. Great as her pie pics are she will enhance other important parts of your life.
Ingredients
- Crust
- 12 whole graham crackers (6.5 oz) broken into pieces
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Pinch table salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- Filling
- 1/2 cup (3.5 oz.) sugar
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 1-1/2 lbs. (about 4-3/4 cups) fresh blueberries
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Topping
- 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup (sugar)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy cream, chilled
Instructions
For the crust:
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees. Process cracker pieces in food processor until finely ground, about 30 seconds. Add sugar and salt and pulse to combined, about 3 pulses. Add melted butter and pulse until combined, about 8 pulses. Transfer crumbs to 9" pie plate. Using bottom of dray measuring cup, press crumbs into bottom and up sides of plate. Bake until crust is fragrant and beginning to brown, 16-18 minutes. Transfer plate to wire rack.
For the filling:
- Meanwhile, whisk sugar, cornstarch and salt in medium saucepan until no lumps of cornstarch remain. Process 2 cups blueberries in clean, dry workbowl until smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Strain puree through fine-mesh strainer into sugar mixture in saucepan, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible (this will take some effort); discard solids. Whisk puree into sugar mixture until combined.
- Bring puree mixture to simmer over medium heat, whisking frequently. Continue to cook, whisking constantly, until whisk leaves trail that slowly fills in, about 1 minute longer. Off heat, whisk in lemon juice. Reserve 2 tablespoons puree for piping. Stir remaining blueberries into remaining puree in saucepan. Spread filling evenly over bottom of pie crust (crust does not need to be completely cool).
For the topping:
- Using stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip cream cheese, sugar and vanilla on medium-high speed until very smooth, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. With mixer running, slowly our in cream and whip until stiff peaks form, 1-3 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed.
- Fit large pastry bag with large closed star tip. Using small spatula (or butter knife), apply 3 vertical stripes of reserved puree up sides of pastry bag. Fill pastry bag with topping. Pipe rosettes (spiraling from inside out) in concentric circles over surface of pie, covering filling. Pipe stars in any gaps between rosettes. Refrigerate pie for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Serve.
Photo: Angela Garbot Photography
i just made it and had a problem with the topping. when i started slowly adding the cream to the cream cheese, it never got stiff peaks, even after 4 minutes of trying, it became a liquid. Also, what do you mean when you say ”process blueberries”. Do you mean put in food processor, smash up or what?