Blueberry-Rhubarb Crumb Pie, or How One Recipe Begets Another
For Thanksgiving 2019, I sent out a Google Form to our kids and their significant others that asked:
1. It’s not Thanksgiving if we don’t have ____________.
2. My favorite kind of pie is ____________.
It looks like someone’s been sneaking bit of pie from the edges!
It was going to be the first time Daniel’s girlfriend, Greta, was spending Thanksgiving with us, so I wanted to be sure to make her choice of Dutch apple pie (as well as her request for mashed potatoes, but that’s another post). But that’s never been a request before in our family! So I began my research and found some guidelines for the apple filling, but then I decided to try using the topping I had made when testing the blueberry crisp recipe* for The Berkshire Farm Table Cookbook. Everyone agreed that was an inspired idea!
Fast-forward to May 2020, when rhubarb appears in the stores, and blueberries are arriving from the south. Although I do love strawberry-rhubarb pie, blueberries are perhaps the most favored fruit in our house, and so I decided to make a Dutch blueberry-rhubarb pie.
And that’s how one recipe (blueberry crisp) begets another (Dutch apple pie), begets another (Dutch blueberry-rhubarb pie).
In the recipe below, I’m not giving a crust recipe because I used the tutorial my friend Alana Chernila posted on her blog which can be found here. Her recipe is for a two-crusted pie, but you can freeze the second half for another time. Of course, if you have a favorite crust recipe, feel free to use it.
I also do not give the exact formula for the crisp topping, which is in The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook, since I don’t have permission to publish that. You should, of course, go buy this book (links on the companion website, Berkshires and Beyond) if you haven’t already, not only for the amazing recipes, but also for the beautiful profiles of farms and farmers, and the stunning photography. Or you could, of course, use your favorite topping from a fruit crisp.
*The testing for the blueberry crisp is a story in itself. The first time I tested the recipe, it was good, but not great. I had brought it in to work, and no one was wowed by it. Elisa Spungen Bildner, one of the authors, and I went back and forth on this recipe. The final time I tested it – the last recipe test I did for this book, I think – I suddenly realized there was a typo: 2 pt. blueberries had somewhere in transcription become 2 qt. which totally threw the proportions off! With 2 pints of blueberries, it was perfect!
Blueberry-Rhubarb Crumb Pie
1 single pie crust (recipe and tutorial for a double crust here)
Your favorite topping for a 9-x-9-inch fruit crisp
Fruit filling:
3 cups rhubarb, ends trimmed and cut into ½ to 1-inch pieces
2 cups blueberries
¾ cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
2 Tablespoons instant tapioca
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon Penzey’s pie spice, or ¼ teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, cold, cut into 8 pieces
Make the crust as directed, or use your favorite pie crust recipe for a single crust pie. (If the recipe is for a double crust pie, you can freeze half the dough for another time.) Roll out the crust and line a 9-inch pie plate. For this recipe I prefer a slightly deeper one. Place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Mix the ingredients for your topping according to your recipe. (NB: The blueberry crisp topping from The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook recommends a brand of granola that has whole almonds, and if you use that brand, on a pie, it’s good to chop the almonds before adding.)
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Combine the rhubarb, blueberries, sugar, flour, tapioca, salt, pie spice or spices, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix gently to combine. Take the pie crust from the refrigerator and place on a foil-lined half sheet pan, just in case there are any drips.
Place the fruit mixture in the crust. Scatter the butter pieces over the fruit.
Spread the crumb topping over the whole pie. Place in the oven, and immediately turn the heat down to 350°F. Bake for one hour. Allow to cool fully before serving.