Huckleberry Pie

There’s some discussion out there as to what a huckleberry is. There are the red ones, which I guess would be red huckleberries, then the blue ones—but there are a few different types of blue ones. There are low bush blue ones and high bush blue ones, ones with dusty skins and ones with deep purple translucent skins. I’ve been told that they are all officially called “blueberries,” but when I referred to them as that recently online, someone told me that they are actually huckleberries. Regardless of what you want to call them, I think they are absolutely one of the best things that grows on this earth! :)

Whatever you want to call them, please call me if you have some.

So, for the record, this pie is for the wild huckleberries that one picks in the Northwest (and also Montana, British Columbia, California, and elsewhere I’m sure), either low bush or high bush. We pick ours in the Cascades every year—it’s become a tradition now. Usually we make huckleberry milkshakes and then freeze some, but this year we got a request for a pie, and so I made it. Usually I feel like making a pie with fresh, hard-earned berries is somehow not their best use, like all those berries! In one pie!

Yeah the views are great and all, but LOOK AT ALL THESE BERRIES! Suzanne Brydges surveys her domain at Stevens Pass.

But I made it and honestly it felt like the most indulgent treat possible. We licked the plates!

One for me, one for me.

I researched several recipes online but there aren’t too many, and many had lemon or other flavors. I’m not a fan of tapioca in my pies, and I wanted pure huckleberry, all of their tartness and flavor to shine through, so I just sort of made it up and it was absolutely perfect, in my mind, to what I like a pie to be—good flavor, not too sweet, buttery, flaky crust.

Like blue gold…

Now, I don’t mind a runny pie—I like the middle to make a sauce for my ice cream. If you have the foresight or the patience to let this pie sit for 3 hours, it will set up a bit more, but I have never been able to wait long enough for that. I like it warm! If you like a thick pie, I recommend letting it cool for several hours, or finding a recipe that uses tapioca for more of that gel-type pie filling consistency. I prefer mine more runny, naturally textured, and au natural, like this one. It just might have to become a tradition!

INGREDIENTS:

—5-6 cups wild blue huckleberries (fresh or frozen) (sub frozen wild blueberries if you don’t have enough)

—1 cup sugar

—3 T butter, cut into 6 pieces

—3 T flour

—3 T cornstarch

—one egg white, beaten with 1 T water

—double crust pie dough, chilled; I only use all-butter pie doughs, and this is my go-to recipe here (leave it to Martha)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees; if you have a pizza or baking stone, put that in the oven to preheat as well. If you don’t have a stone, you can use an empty baking sheet or skip the heated bottom if you’d like (I find that it helps to crisp the bottom of the pie quickly to have a preheated surface underneath it for the first 15 minutes of baking but it’s not necessary).

Gently toss the berries with the sugar, flour, and cornstarch in a large bowl, coating each berry with the mixture. Set aside.

Roll out one half or one crust of the pie dough to 1/8 inch thick, and drape it gently into the pie pan. Brush the bottom circle of the pie dough lightly with part of the egg wash (this helps prevent soggy bottoms). Place the pan back into the fridge while you prepare the rest of the dough.

Roll the remaining dough out to 1/8” thick. Gently pour the berry mixture into the bottom pie dough in the pan, and try to evenly distribute any remaining flour/sugar/cornstarch evenly over the berries. Dot the butter pieces over the berries evenly, and drape the second dough over the top of the pie, cutting any excess dough (make pie crust cookies with the excess dough by brushing with egg wash, sprinkling with cinnamon and sugar and baking for 15 minutes!) and crimping the edges of the pie.

Brush the top and crimped edges of the pie lightly with egg wash, and use a knife to cut small slits in the top of the pie in several places for the steam to escape.

Bake the pie on the prepared stone or sheet (optional) for 15 minutes at 425, then remove the stone or sheet and turn the oven heat down to 375; continue baking the pie for 30-40 more minutes until the top is golden brown and the berry juices are bubbling. Let cool as long as you can stand it. Slice and enjoy! Leftovers keep fine covered on the counter for a day, and then in the fridge for another day or two (if they are still around!).

In hot pursuit of the goods…..