During our week-long road trip to Maine, we enjoyed the most amazing blueberry pie at one of the local lobster shacks. I tried recreating that slice of heaven here.
A few weeks ago, my family and I took a much-needed vacation to the New England area. Neither my husband nor I had been to Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont, so we took a road trip up there. In all, we drove through 12 different states.
One mandatory stop that we made was to a little lobster place called The Lobster Shack at Two Lights. My husband had done some research for the best lobster roll in Maine, and this little restaurant consistently appeared in the top 10 lists. Sadly, we had to wait 45 minutes in line before it was our turn to order, but boy was it worth it!
While we were ordering our food, we also decided to order a slice of their Maine blueberry pie. Holy cannoli – that pie was good! The crust was not too hard and not too crumbly, and the fresh Maine blueberries were so juicy and had just the right amount of sweetness. It had a gorgeously crisp crumble topping and was served with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. I knew that I had to recreate this when I got home.
Unfortunately, I was going to have a hard time finding wild Maine blueberries back home, so I used organic blueberries from the grocery store as an alternative. While my blueberries were a lot bigger and less flavorful than the Maine ones, this pie turned out really good. The one edit I made to the original recipe was to use Vermont maple sugar in the crumb rather than granulated sugar. I loved that substitution, as I firmly believe it made the pie “pop” more with an extra layer of flavor.
While Addie couldn’t taste the maple sugar, she also wasn’t as big of a fan of the pie (she’s just not a pie girl). My husband, however, loved the pie and said it was almost as good as the one in Maine. I’ll take that as a win!
Husband’s rating: 4.5 out of 5
Addie’s rating: 3.5 out of 5
My rating: 4.5 out of 5
Blueberry crumb pie
Ingredients
Single crust
- 1 and ¼ cups (150 grams) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 10 Tablespoons unsalted butter cold and cut into cubes
- 2-4 Tablespoons ice cold water
Crumb topping
- 1 cup (4 ounces) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (4 ounces) granulated sugar I used maple sugar
- ¾ cup (4 ounces) brown sugar packed
- pinch salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ cup (8 Tablespoons / 1 stick) unsalted butter melted
Filling
- 5 cups fresh blueberries
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- pinch salt
- ¼ cup corn starch
- 1 lemon zested and juiced
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
Instructions
Make the crust
- In a food processor or in a large bowl if mixing by hand, pulse together the flour and salt (mix with a spatula if making the crust by hand). Add in the butter and pulse (or use two forks or a pastry cutter if you don't have a food processor). Slowly drizzle in the ice cold water, one Tablespoon at a time, and pulse (or knead) until a dough comes together. Your dough should be pliable but not wet.
- Press the dough into a flat disc and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour, preferably 2 or more.
Make the crumb topping
- In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt.
- Drizzle in the melted butter and mix well until your mixture resembles wet sand (you may get some large crumb pieces, and that's OK). Place the bowl in the refrigerator to chill out while you make the filling.
Make the filling
- In a large bowl, gently mix together the blueberries, sugar, salt, corn starch, lemon zest, lemon juice and the flour. Be careful not to break any of the blueberries. Allow it to sit for a few minutes to marinate.
Assemble the pie
- Preheat your oven to 400°F. Place a pie pan on a baking tray and set aside.
- Remove your pie crust from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a large circle, one that is about 1-2 inchs wider in diameter than your pie plate.
- Place the crust into your pie plate and tuck the overlapped crust under itself. Flute the edges (optional) or trim the excess off.
- Pour in the blueberry filling but be careful NOT to add the extra liquid that has been sitting in your bowl. If you do, it could make your crust very soggy. Smooth out the top of the filling as best as you can with a spatula.
- Add the chilled crumble on top. It's OK if it doesn't fully cover the surface. You want to have large and small crumbs all over the surface.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling (I baked for an additional 25 minutes). If your top starts to burn or get too dark, you can place a sheet of aluminum foil on top while the pie is baking in the oven.
- Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool before serving. This is best eaten with a giant scoop of ice cream or with fresh whipped cream.