Bluebarb Pie

This bluebarb pie recipe will make any pie lover happy, whether served warm or with ice cream or even as breakfast. The blueberry and rhubarb pie recipe is extremely easy to assemble and is one of the best-tasting pies I can remember making in a long while. The pie wasn’t overly sweet. It actually had the perfect balance of sweetness and tartness. The rhubarb, which I thought would be tart, was barely detectable and paired beautifully with the blueberries and the crumble. The fruit filling had a pleasant, cooked-down, almost jam-like texture and the crumble was decadent with just the right sweetness and crunch and an almost undetectable hint of cinnamon. This was my first attempt at using fresh rhubarb and it won’t be my last.

I was in sort of a time crunch to make this pie so when I was at the store picking up ingredients I bought a 2-pack of 9-inch frozen pie shells and doubled the recipe to make 2 pies. I would recommend using a shallow versus a deep-dish pie plate for this recipe. In the end, when the pie is baked and the fruit is cooked down, the ratio of fruit to crumble is about equal. (I imagine if you wanted more fruit, you could always double the fruit mixture but keep the crumble the same and use a deeper pie dish and longer cooking time.) After I added the crumble, the pie took another 23 minutes for the topping to reach a golden brown. I saw the fruit juices bubbling and I knew it was ready to pull out of the oven. The pie wasn’t liquidy at all and needed very little cooling time, if any, before serving.

The family I delivered the warm pie to was extremely grateful and raved about how much they enjoyed it. My husband also really enjoyed the pie warm with ice cream and also at room temperature for breakfast with coffee. One of the best pies I have ever tasted. This recipe is a gem!

This bluebarb pie was delicious. It’s a perfect combination of sweet and tart. I used the dried blueberries, which added another dimension to the flavor. Unlike traditional rhubarb pie, this pie was not soupy at all. The filling set up perfectly. The baking time was perfect, too. I didn’t need any visual clues, nor did I need to cover the edge of the crust to prevent excess browning. I let the pie cool completely before serving it.

This bluebarb pie will make a nice change from your standard strawberry rhubarb pie for summer. The pie isn’t overly sweet and the addition of the chopped nuts in the crumble was welcome.

With the dried berries, the filling thickened nicely and the crumbly topping was nicely browned. The bottom crust didn’t even get soggy. The pie was pretty much done after 35 minutes baking. Since we took the pie with us to a family dinner, it was allowed to cool completely and was served at room temperature with softly whipped chai spiced cream. The only thing I noticed is that the blueberry flavor did overshadow the rhubarb a bit. Verdict? It must have been good as only the pie plate made it home.

I adored the flavors in this blueberry and rhubarb pie. I am immediately drawn to fruit pies, no matter what time of year it is, as fruit pies really highlight the ripest and best fruit of the season (not to mention they are easy to put together!). The fruit pairings you normally see with tasty spring rhubarb are raspberries or strawberries, but boy did I LOVE the combination here with blueberries.

The touch of ground cinnamon was lovely for a touch of warmth, and yes, I did use the 1/3 cup dried wild blueberries. The dried fruit really did add a pop of blueberry flavor that was really intense. The timing of the pie in the oven was perfect; it achieved a nice, flaky, lightly browned crust without me having to cover it with foil at any point and the fruit was bubbly and the rhubarb tender. I served my pie warm with a dollop of mascarpone cheese.

Initially I passed on making this bluebarb pie because to me, there is no better match than strawberry and rhubarb together. Or, for that matter, just plain old rhubarb. But it’s really difficult to achieve a crisp-bottomed crust when you are making a double-crusted pie, so I was intrigued by the combination of pie and crumble, the best of both worlds. I decided to give this a try.

Turns out this blueberry and rhubarb pie is nearly as good as strawberry-rhubarb. The combination of crisp pastry, sweet and tart fruit, and the decidedly different crisp topping won me over. I didn’t use the optional dried blueberries because I wanted to make sure the rhubarb came through.

I shared this pie with my neighbor and asked for her evaluation. Mind you, she told me that her favorite was strawberry-rhubarb, too, so she was skeptical. She gave it a 9. Here’s to open minds!