BLUEBERRY PIE/COBBLER

 Today you are in for a treat! I have two recipes in one for you. If you want to make a blueberry pie you can do that. If you prefer a blueberry cobbler, you got it, you can make that. It is also a day to show how you can turn something good out of something bad.

It all started the other morning when Wayne told me that he had not closed the freezer door completely the night before when he got some sherbet so some of the things were thawed when he realized that morning what had happened. Not everything in the freezer had thawed which was good. The main thing that had thawed were fresh fruit I had frozen and the sherbet, of course. Fortunately we have a half-size chest freezer in the garage, so it was just a matter of carrying the items downstair to the garage and the other freezer. When I was carrying the gallon bag of blueberries down the stairs, I realized I was dripping berry juice all down the stairs. This was all bad.

But the something good was Sunday when I was looking for a recipe to make to take to Hillcrest Thrift Shop the next morning for the volunteers, I only looked for recipes using blueberries and a lot of blueberries at that.

Most of the recipe just used a cup which was not going to make a dent in my gallon bag of blueberries. Finally I found a recipe for Blueberry Cobbler that sounded good, but it called for canned blueberry pie filling. That would defeat my purpose! As I looked further, I found a recipe for Fresh Blueberry Pie and guess what? It called for 5 cups of fresh blueberries. Eureka! (which mean "I have found it.")

So I set out to make a blueberry pie but instead of putting the blueberry mixture in a pie shell, I would go back to the other recipe and make a cobbler. It worked fantastically! Everyone raved about it at the shop the next morning! It really did taste delicious. SOOOOO you have the choice now to make a pie or a cobbler! I will leave it up to you.

BLUEBERRY PIE/COBBLER

3/4     cup sugar

3        tablespoons cornstarch

1/8     teaspoon salt

1/4     cup cold water

5        cups fresh blueberries, divided (I used fresh blueberries that I had frozen.)

1        tablespoon butter

1        tablespoon lemon juice

     *     *     *     * 

(1 pastry shell ( 9 inches) baked - if making a pie)

     *     *     *     *

1/2     cup butter, softened

3        ounces cream cheese, softened

2        teaspoons vanilla extract

1        yellow cake mix with no pudding added (I used a sugar-free yellow cake mix.)

In a saucepan combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt with a whisk till smooth.

Over medium heat, add the water and

stir til smooth. 

Add 3 cups blueberries and bring mixture to a boil.

Cook and stir for 2 minutes or

until thickened and bubbly. Remove from the heat.

Add the butter, lemon juice, and remaining 2 cups of berries and

stir until butter is melted. Cool. 

If you are making a pie, pour cooled mixture into a pastry shell that you baked and allowed to cool. Refrigerate until serving.

For the cobbler,

Grease or spray a 9 x 13 - inch baking dish.

Pour the pie filling into a  dish. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 5 - 7 minutes or until heated through. You can simply pour the pie filling you made into the greased pan without cooling it. I placed the filled pan in the oven while it was preheating and I was mixing up the dough for the cobbler so it would stay hot.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla til smooth. Empty the dry cake mix in another bowl and

cut in the cream cheese mixture using a big fork until crumbly.

Sprinkle the crumbly mixture over the hot pie filling

and bake 25 to 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown. 

You can add some ice cream if you like or it can be enjoyed cold just by itself. (The way the volunteers enjoyed it at the thrift shop.)