Blueberry Peach Pie

Blueberries are abundant right now.  We've been picking them for the last couple of weeks. (Or, I really should say Don has been picking them.)  The freezer is bursting at the seams with our new crop. But we've been eating our share of the fresh berries as well.  A blueberry pie is always a welcome dessert and using the fresh berries makes them taste even better.  What I didn't know was how delicious blueberries and peaches could be when combined in a pie.  

We've also been blessed this year with fat, juicy Ontario peaches.  I don't know if it was a particularly good year for peaches but these are wonderful.  We've been eating them all the month of August as they've been on sale each week.   Each time I bite into a peach, juice starts running down my chin and I've started eating them with my head over the kitchen sink trying to avoid a change of clothing.  Yes, my t-shirts are full of peach juice.  Thankfully, that washes out better than blueberry juice.  

As I was in the midst of this blueberry and peach festival, I saw a television show about pies where one of the bakers had combined huckleberries and peaches together.   It looked good so I thought I'd give it a try with blueberries and peaches as I had both on hand.  I suppose people have been combining blueberries and peaches for years but I hadn't, so I was up to the challenge.  

Because I'd never made a Blueberry Peach Pie before, I had a look on the internet to see what others were putting in their pies.  I found some people used spices such as cinnamon and allspice and even nutmeg.  I decided against using the spices because I wanted to taste the lovely peaches and I was afraid the spices would mask their flavour.  There also seemed to be too much sugar in most pies--up to a full cup in a nine inch pie!  That seemed way too much, especially for sweet fresh fruit.  So I decided I'd plunge ahead and make the pie my own way and see what happened.

The next day I got busy making my new pie and oh, YUM!  Why hadn't I made Blueberry Peach Pie before?  Don and I finished off a 9-inch pie in two days!  I was so busy eating it I almost forgot to take a picture of the cut pie.  I promised Nan Gill a slice and had to make another pie because the two "greedy guts" had eaten the whole pie themselves.  Nan didn't mind because she now had a whole pie instead of a slice.

Here's my Blueberry Peach Pie. I went with a ½ cup sugar but I could have used even a little less as the peaches were so sweet. But sugar amounts are a matter of taste.  I think if I was using frozen berries and peaches the half cup would have been perfect.  Frozen fruits are not as sweet as fresh. 


Blueberry Peach Pie
3 cups fresh blueberries
2 cups fresh peach slices, about 3 medium large peaches 
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons minute tapioca
1 tablespoon butter, optional
1 9-inch unbaked double pie crust, homemade or purchased
 Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Have the pie crust rolled out and fitted into a 9-inch pie plate.  

Mix the berries and peaches together in a large bowl.  Mix in the sugar and tapioca.  Pile the mixture into the prepared pie crust.  Dot with butter if you wish and cover the filling with the top crust.  Seal the edges and crimp.  Cut a few slits in the top crust to allow the steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.  Lower the heat to 375 degrees and bake an additional 20-25 minutes or until the middle of the pie is bubbling.  If your crust starts to brown or burn cover with foil.  

Remove the pie from the oven and cool before cutting (if you can wait).   You can serve the pie warm but if you serve it hot you'll burn your tongue and then you won't be able to taste the pie.  A scoop of ice cream would be so nice with the pie but we didn't have any in the freezer so we ate ours "à la naked" and didn't mind one bit.

Makes 6-8 servings. 

 Mix the blueberries, peaches, sugar and minute tapioca together.

The sugar and tapioca should be well distributed throughout the fruit.

 Pile the filling into the pie crust.  Dot with butter if you wish. 

Cover the filling with the top pastry, seal and crimp the edges.  

Bake in the preheated 400 degree oven for 25 minutes then lower the temperature to 375 degrees and bake an additional 20-25 minutes.  The middle of the pie should be bubbling.  This insures the tapioca has been thoroughly cooked.  

The pie crust should be a golden colour.  If it starts browning too quickly cover the edges with foil.

Oozing with blueberries and peaches, this pie is a taste delight for the mouth.

Here's a piece of Blueberry Peach Pie, just for you!