Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Blueberry Ice Cream Pie

Blueberry season is in full force in Oregon this month. I also happened to find this recipe in the June 2011 edition of Better Homes & Gardens. I've heard from a lot of different people that blueberries don't make for a very good pie. But when I saw that ice cream was involved, I went for it. (Take that, blueberry haters!) The end result: I liked the crust the best. The nutmeg addition kind of creeped out my taste buds and the pie recipe had waaaaaaaaay too many steps of freezing and re-freezing. However, my parents both liked it so feel free to copy the recipe and try it for yourself - especially if you like blueberries.

Crust:
1 1/2 cups slivered almonds (I only had 1 cup almonds so I substituted 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs. You can never go wrong with graham crackers.)
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter melted


In a food processor, combine almonds, brown sugar, (graham crackers), and salt. Pulse until ground.


Place crumbs into a bowl and add melted butter. Stir.

Using your fingers, press crust mixture into 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-12 minutes. (I baked my crust for 5 minutes because the almond slivers I used were pre-toasted.)


Stick in freezer overnight. (Seriously, BHG? I don't want to wait all night. I stuck mine in the freezer while I made everything else. 30 minutes - 1 hour is fine.)

Blueberry Sauce:
3 cups fresh blueberries, washed and rinsed
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp corn starch
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (I just sprinkled ground nutmeg.)
1 Tbsp water


In medium/large pot/skillet/pan, combine berries, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir well.


Add lemon zest, juice, water and nutmeg. Keep stirring until sauce is lightly thickened and corn starch is cooked. Simmer for an additional minute while berries pop and give off juice. (I had some issues with this part. Corn starch is not new to my cooking ritual and yet I could never get this sauce to thicken. I kept adding more corn starch until I decided it could "thicken up" in the freezer.)


Set aside to cool. Keep in fridge until completely chilled. (This is important!)

Assemble Pie:
1 qt homemade ice cream (Who has that laying around? Not me. I bought some Breyer's Vanilla - Homemade Flavor and it was perfect.)
3/4 cup blueberry sauce
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp sugar
2 cups fresh blueberries, washed, rinsed and dried.

Place ice cream into a massive mixing bowl and allow it to soften. (I mixed mine up using the KitchenAid so it looked homemade.)


Spoon half of ice cream into frozen crust.


Spoon 3/4 cup blueberry sauce on top of ice cream. (I stuck my pie into the freezer after this step so the sauce could harden some more. 30 minutes is long enough.)


Spoon rest of ice cream over blueberry sauce. Place in freezer until serving pie.


Whisk together sour cream, heavy cream and sugar.


Spread this cream mixture over the pie along with leftover (heated) blueberry sauce and fresh berries when you eat it. Yuuuuuum.


Make sure you share your treat with others so you don't feel guilty for eating an entire pie by yourself.

No comments:

Post a Comment