{"id":26644,"date":"2022-08-01T01:10:41","date_gmt":"2022-08-01T05:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/?p=26644"},"modified":"2022-07-19T17:43:00","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T21:43:00","slug":"the-kitchen-witch-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2022\/08\/01\/the-kitchen-witch-42\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kitchen Witch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blueberry Pie<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

 <\/p>\n

Nothing says summer more than blueberry pie! Whether you\u2019re using fresh blueberries picked from your own patch or from a blueberry farm or blueberries bought at a farmer\u2019s market or blueberries frozen from an earlier picking session, this is probably one of the quintessential pies of summertime. Perfect with vanilla ice cream, it\u2019s a treat that everyone loves.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I have made blueberry pie several times in my life. Usually I just make my standard pie crust \u2013 the simple one I have memorized and have made hundreds of times \u2013 and simply mix fresh blueberries with sugar and flour and then bake until the crust is a lovely golden brown. It\u2019s so easy and uncomplicated that I never found the need for a recipe. But recently, looking through my personal recipe notebook, I found a recipe for blueberry pie pulled out of some magazine \u2013 probably The Lady\u2019s Home Journal <\/i>\u2013 to which I had a subscription for many years \u2013 it was one of my favorite magazines. I especially loved the column \u201cCan This Marriage Be Saved?\u201d I never missed reading that! I was very sad when the magazine went under in 2014. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But this recipe might have been from some other magazine \u2013 I had subscriptions to several woman\u2019s magazines back in the day \u2013 Better Homes and Gardens, McCall\u2019s, Woman\u2019s Day,<\/i> as well as the fashion magazines I loved \u2013 Vogue, Elle <\/i>and Bazaar \u2013 <\/i>and of course I could have torn it out of a magazine at a doctor\u2019s office or something \u2013 you never know. All I have is the page from the magazine and no other information. Nowadays I would have noted the source of the recipe but I didn\u2019t bother with that kind of thing back then! Here it is:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

When I read the recipe, I thought, well, this is different! First off, I have been making pie crust for well over forty years but I have never heard of adding an egg, much less vinegar to the pastry mix! I had lunch with my mother and my sister and I mentioned this and my mother said she had heard of adding vinegar but not an egg \u2013 of course, we all knew about egg-washes to make a pie crust look shiny. But this was something else \u2013 the egg was being added to the pastry mix itself. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Well \u2013 I\u2019ll try anything \u2013 so I did. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Preheat your oven to 425?. If you\u2019re like me, if you don\u2019t do this before you start, you\u2019ll have a pie ready to bake and a cold oven. So I always preheat the oven before I do anything at all. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The first part of making the pie crust was the same as usual \u2013 sifting the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and then cutting the shortening \u2013 I used cold butter \u2013 into the flour mixture. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

After the shortening is properly cut in \u2013 it should look like small peas \u2013 then you want to add the liquid portion of the recipe. Usually, this is just very cold water. But here is where this recipe was different from what I usually did. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

First I beat an egg in a small bowl. I whipped it up real frothy and nice. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Then I mixed in a tablespoon of white vinegar to the beaten egg in the bowl.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

And then I added three tablespoons of very cold water. I usually put a bottle of spring water into the freezer before starting the pie crust to ensure that it\u2019s cold enough.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

This is what the egg-vinegar-water mixture looked like:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Slowly add this mixture to the flour-shortening mixture, blending it well with a fork, until the dough will hold together. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

With your hands, form the dough into two balls.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

On a floured surface, roll out the larger of the two balls into a pastry round that\u2019s about 1 \u00bd inch larger than an upside-down 9-inch pie plate. Carefully guide the dough into the pie plate so that it\u2019s evenly distributed. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I was using frozen blueberries, so I had previously thawed them and drained them. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I put the drained blueberries in a bowl. In the past, I would have just added sugar \u2013 or maybe some honey \u2013 for sweetening and a dusting of flour or corn starch to create a nice \u201cgravy\u201d before putting the berries into the prepared bottom crust. But again, the recipe told me to do something a little bit different \u2013 take another culinary path to deliciousness. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Not only was I going to be adding sugar for sweetness and flour for the gravy, but I was going to be adding lemon peel for zest and cinnamon for zing. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

The blueberries before I mixed everything in. The smell of the freshly grated lemon peel and the cinnamon was fabulous! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

After the berries were thoroughly mixed with the sugar, the flour and the seasoning, I poured them into the bottom crust. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

I dotted the blueberries with pats of butter. It was a hot day so they were really soft and more like lumps of butter than pats. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Then I rolled out the top crust and covered the pie. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

So here\u2019s the fun part. I think this is what attracted me to this pie in the first place \u2013 the opening in the middle of the pie, so you can see those glistening blueberries surrounded by golden crust. I mean \u2013 that\u2019s a county fair prize winner right there, amirite? And it\u2019s wicked easy to do! Take your knife and if you\u2019re a kitchen witch like I am, it\u2019ll be one that you do ritual with as well as cutting up your fruits and vegetables! Make an X in the middle of the pie crust.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

Now carefully fold back the triangles of the crust so that there is a square opening in the middle of the pie. Isn\u2019t that cool? <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

The only thing left to do is sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar and then pop it into the oven and let it bake!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

After 40 minutes or so \u2013 the blueberry filling should be bubbling and the crust should be golden \u2013 the pie will be done. It\u2019ll smell like summertime!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n

And what\u2019s a slice of blueberry pie without a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of it?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

**<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

About the Author:<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Polly MacDavid<\/b>\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan but she gets along with a few of the masculine deities. She loves to cook and she is a Bills fan. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

She blogs at\u00a0<\/span>silverapplequeen.wordpress.com<\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span>. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery. <\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blueberry Pie   Nothing says summer more than blueberry pie! Whether you\u2019re using fresh blueberries picked from your own patch or from a blueberry farm or blueberries bought at a farmer\u2019s market or blueberries frozen from an earlier picking session, this is probably one of the quintessential pies of summertime. Perfect with vanilla ice cream, it\u2019s a treat that everyone loves. I have made blueberry pie several times in my life. Usually I just make my standard pie crust \u2013 the simple one I have memorized and have made hundreds of times \u2013 and simply mix fresh blueberries with sugar and flour and then bake until the crust is a lovely golden brown. It\u2019s so easy and uncomplicated that I never found the need for a recipe. But recently, looking through my personal recipe notebook, I found a recipe for blueberry pie pulled out of some magazine \u2013 probably The Lady\u2019s Home Journal \u2013 to which I had a subscription for many years \u2013 it was one of my favorite magazines. I especially loved the column \u201cCan This Marriage Be Saved?\u201d I never missed reading that! I was very sad when the magazine went under in 2014. But this recipe might have been from some other magazine \u2013 I had subscriptions to several woman\u2019s magazines back in the day \u2013 Better Homes and Gardens, McCall\u2019s, Woman\u2019s Day, as well as the fashion magazines I loved \u2013 Vogue, Elle and Bazaar \u2013 and of course I could have torn it out of a magazine at a doctor\u2019s office or something \u2013 you never know. All I have is the page from the magazine and no other information. Nowadays I would have noted the source of the recipe but I didn\u2019t bother with that kind of thing back then! Here it is: When I read the recipe, I thought, well, this is different! First off, I have been making pie crust for well over forty years but I have never heard of adding an egg, much less vinegar to the pastry mix! I had lunch with my mother and my sister and I mentioned this and my mother said she had heard of adding vinegar but not an egg \u2013 of course, we all knew about egg-washes to make a pie crust look shiny. But this was something else \u2013 the egg was being added to the pastry mix itself. Well \u2013 I\u2019ll try anything \u2013 so I did. Preheat your oven to 425?. If you\u2019re like me, if you don\u2019t do this before you start, you\u2019ll have a pie ready to bake and a cold oven. So I always preheat the oven before I do anything at all. The first part of making the pie crust was the same as usual \u2013 sifting the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and then cutting the shortening \u2013 I used cold butter \u2013 into the flour mixture. After the shortening is properly cut in \u2013 it should look like small peas \u2013 then you want to add the liquid portion of the recipe. Usually, this is just very cold water. But here is where this recipe was different from what I usually did. First I beat an egg in a small bowl. I whipped it up real frothy and nice. Then I mixed in a tablespoon of white vinegar to the beaten egg in the bowl. And then I added three tablespoons of very cold water. I usually put a bottle of spring water into the freezer before starting the pie crust to ensure that it\u2019s cold enough. This is what the egg-vinegar-water mixture looked like: Slowly add this mixture to the flour-shortening mixture, blending it well with a fork, until the dough will hold together. With your hands, form the dough into two balls. On a floured surface, roll out the larger of the two balls into a pastry round that\u2019s about 1 \u00bd inch larger than an upside-down 9-inch pie plate. Carefully guide the dough into the pie plate so that it\u2019s evenly distributed. I was using frozen blueberries, so I had previously thawed them and drained them. I put the drained blueberries in a bowl. In the past, I would have just added sugar \u2013 or maybe some honey \u2013 for sweetening and a dusting of flour or corn starch to create a nice \u201cgravy\u201d before putting the berries into the prepared bottom crust. But again, the recipe told me to do something a little bit different \u2013 take another culinary path to deliciousness. Not only was I going to be adding sugar for sweetness and flour for the gravy, but I was going to be adding lemon peel for zest and cinnamon for zing. The blueberries before I mixed everything in. The smell of the freshly grated lemon peel and the cinnamon was fabulous! After the berries were thoroughly mixed with the sugar, the flour and the seasoning, I poured them into the bottom crust. I dotted the blueberries with pats of butter. It was a hot day so they were really soft and more like lumps of butter than pats. Then I rolled out the top crust and covered the pie. So here\u2019s the fun part. I think this is what attracted me to this pie in the first place \u2013 the opening in the middle of the pie, so you can see those glistening blueberries surrounded by golden crust. I mean \u2013 that\u2019s a county fair prize winner right there, amirite? And it\u2019s wicked easy to do! Take your knife and if you\u2019re a kitchen witch like I am, it\u2019ll be one that you do ritual with as well as cutting up your fruits and vegetables! Make an X in the middle of the pie crust. Now carefully fold back the triangles of the crust so that there is a square opening in the middle of the pie. Isn\u2019t that cool? The only thing left to do is sprinkle the top of the pie with sugar and then pop it into the oven and let it bake! After 40 minutes or so \u2013 the blueberry filling should be bubbling and the crust should be golden \u2013 the pie will be done. It\u2019ll smell like summertime! And what\u2019s a slice of blueberry pie without a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of it? ** About the Author: Polly MacDavid\u00a0lives in Buffalo, New York at the moment but that could easily change, since she is a gypsy at heart. Like a gypsy, she is attracted to the divinatory arts, as well as camp fires and dancing barefoot. She has three cats who all help her with her magic. Her philosophy about religion and magic is that it must be thoroughly based in science and logic. She is Dianic Wiccan but she gets along with a few of the masculine deities. She loves to cook and she is a Bills fan. She blogs at\u00a0silverapplequeen.wordpress.com. She writes about general life, politics and poetry. She is writing a novel about sex, drugs and recovery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":3,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10006],"tags":[11151,10024,13871,10025,10027,13870,13226,10661,13264,11634,13102,10550,10030,10551,10026],"class_list":["post-26644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crafting-articles","tag-bake","tag-baking","tag-blueberry-pie","tag-cooking","tag-delicious","tag-dessert","tag-foodie","tag-hearth","tag-kitchen-witch","tag-oven","tag-pie","tag-recipe","tag-recipes","tag-yum","tag-yummy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26670,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26644\/revisions\/26670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}