Apple and Blueberry Pie Recipe

Summer desserts are very often about ice cream and similar frozen dishes, coveted in order to cool us down in warm temperatures. They are also, however, about celebrating fresh, seasonal fruits of Summer, a group of which apples and blueberries are most definitely members. Blueberries are of course also extremely nutritious.

This simple, yet delicious, apple and blueberry pie can be served hot but is best enjoyed in Summer when left to cool and served with freshly whipped cream.

The ingredient quantities quoted here will be sufficient to make a pie which will provide four small servings.

Pie Filling Ingredients

2 large Bramley apples

1 5oz tub of blueberries

1 piece of fresh or frozen lemon

2 tsp caster sugar

2 fl oz cold water

Stewing the Fruits

The apples should be cored, peeled and chopped in to approximately one inch cubes. They should be added to a large pot with the water, sugar and lemon. Freezing pieces of fresh lemon provides a steady supply of lemon juice and serves a double puepose in drinks of colling them and providing the desired flavour.

The pot should be put on to a high heat until the water starts to boil. The heat should then be reduced and the apples simmered for around ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until they just start to break down. The blueberries should then be added and the mixture very carefully stirred. After a couple of minutes, the heat should be turned off, the lid placed on the pot and the fruit left to cool.

Dessert is very often considered to be the least healthy part of any meal. This is chiefly because desserts are associated with sweetness and sugar.

Making dessert from fresh fruit, however, means that very often the sweetness can be enjoyed without the need for an excessive amount of sugar and that nutrition need not be sacrificed for taste.

There are some people who scoff at making a pie for dessert with puff pastry. They believe that puff pastry is suited only to such as meat pies and not to sweet ingredients. The reality is, however, that puff pastry is regularly used in preparing desserts and does serve the purpose extremely well in many instances.

The first step in assembling the pie is to place the cooled apples and blueberries in to a 9" x 5" pie dish. The puff pastryshould then be rolled out, placed carefully on top and a knife used to slice away the excess paste from the edges. The edges of the pie should then be crimped between thumb and forefinger and the pie should be glazed with a little bit of milk or egg-wash. It should then be placed in to an oven preheated to 400F/200C for thirty-five to forty minutes, until the pastry is golden.

When the pie is ready, it should be removed from the oven and allowed to cool, before being served with freshly whipped cream and a little sprig of basil to garnish.