Baking on Friday: Blueberry Pies for Two

In case you missed it, I have a sponsored giveaway going on over the weekend from Canvaspop. Click right here to read all about it.

This morning I walked with my friend Sue. The weather was a little iffy. We were in the sunshine on our hill, but when I looked down into the valley, it appeared socked in with heavy clouds. The weather report listed a 90% chance of rain. Even the hour by hour had it starting around 11:00 a.m., and so I put on my rain gear. When I got down to the Fanno Creek Trail to meet Sue, it was lovely. I stripped off my rainpaints and we walked without the insurance they provide. The weather was perfect for our walk, and true to form, the universe was smiling on us. As I was driving home just after 11:00 a.m., the rain started to fall.

We lucked out once again, and we saw some great stuff along the way. Sue has very sharp eyes when it comes to wildlife, and she spotted this red wing blackbird just a few feet off the trail. He sang his best song for us, and even permitted me to take a picture of his handsome self.

Also, we saw this little shrub blooming away when we had walked the full distance and turned around. Pretty, huh? No idea what it is.

This next image isn't great, but Sue (again) spotted a pair of Great Blue Herons in flight. They landed in a big fir tree high overhead. It's something we don't often see. Usually, you will find the blue herons standing ankle deep in water somewhere. 

I stopped at the grocery store on the way home because we are in danger of running out of ice cream. And goodness knows, I was in dire need of replenishing the calories I'd burned while we walked this morning. When I got home I wanted to ice my knee, but I took the time to make the pie crust for my planned baking extravaganza: Blueberry Pies for Two, baked in widemouth mason jar lids.

I'm using a recipe from Christina Lane's book

She has a video on her blog where you can find the recipe for this. In her video, she encourages you to use your fingers to blend the butter into the flour. I tried it her way, and it worked really well for this small amount of pie dough. That needed to rest for a half hour, and so I iced my knee while I waited for that.

When time was up, I was ready to continue on. In her video, she's using peaches. I used one half cup of frozen blueberries in accordance with the recipe in the book.

Once I had the filling made, I rolled out my dough. For the bottom crust, I cut a circle about one-half inch larger than my lids.

Then I put half the filling in each:

And then made a top crust circle the same size as the lids and pressed the top and bottom crust together at the edges.

I cut vents in the top, brushed them with egg yolk, as she recommended, and then dusted them with sanding sugar. I agree with Christina, the sanding sugar makes a pretty pie. Also, I like the little crunch it gives. And besides...sugar. Need I say more?

Then I baked them in my toaster oven. I watched mine pretty carefully. Sometimes things cook a lot faster in a toaster oven. 

Mine took about 30 minutes, and then I called it quits. They were starting to get pretty brown, and I was taking no chances on burning my beautiful little pies. Are these the cutest things you've ever seen?

Hey! I thought I was the cutest thing you'd ever seen.

Okay, second to my little cat, they are the cutest things I've ever seen. 

So there they are. We'll eat them for dessert tonight, and I'll report back on how they turned out. And now you know for sure why I needed to stop for ice cream.

So I still need to take a shower after my walk this morning, and then I'm going to try to finish up the machine stitching on the latest block for Lisa's retirement quilt. I left it here the other day, and I haven't taken it any farther. I'd like to have it all finished before the weekend is over.

Gracie is still at the vet. They gave her dinner last night, then removed her food so that she fasted overnight in preparation for her sedation this morning. They were going to lance and clean the abscess on her back, and we expect to be able to pick her up later on this afternoon. I've told Smitty he's going to have to start looking for a job so that he can pay Gracie's vet bill. I've suggested pole dancing at the Kitty Kat Lounge.