Whatever you call it . . . crostata, galette, rustic pie or rustic tart. Just don't call me late for dinner.
These types of pies are all the rage right now, but did you know I invented this type of pie?
Way back in 1960-something?
I was going to try to make myself sound younger than I am and say 1980-something, but figured someone would call me out for that! With the internet, you just can't lie about your age like you used to.
I remember sitting in my mom's kitchen when I was a kid and when she was done making a pie she would hand me the scraps of pie dough that were left over. You know, the pieces that she had trimmed off the pie after she had crimped it together.
I would smash them into a ball with my grubby little fingers and then roll them out again into a circle with a juice glass and make my own mini, made just for me, resemblance of a pie.
I'd cut up some apple slices and place them in the middle of the dough and then crunch up the edges as far as I could get them. There was always more pie filling than pie dough, so the dough rarely, if ever, met in the middle.
Imagine my surprise, when years (many, many years) later I realized that I had been making crostatas all along. Who knew I was on the cutting edge of pie making way back then.
I'm just a beacon of trendiness, I tell you.
The other day I was hanging out at my local farm market and noticed they had a ton of blueberries.
Just begging to be made into a pie.
Please throw me in the oven and make the juices run out of me, they seemed to say!
I bought a few pints (one for the pie and one for the ride home) and started dreaming of cooking those little suckers!
BTW, the farm market does not give you the cute little blue containers, they dump them in a bag for you??? Just saying, when I'm paying that much for fresh blueberries, can't you give a girl a cardboard carton?
OK, back to the recipe:
Blueberry Crostata Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 pint fresh blueberries approx. 2 cups
- ¼ cup granulated sugar plus a little more for sprinkling
- 1 ½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon butter cut into pieces
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 store bought refrigerated pie crust (like Pillsbury)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Unroll pie crust and place on a baking sheet. You can use a Silpat or parchment paper, but I just put it straight onto the baking sheet and it did fine (no greasing of pan required).
- In a medium sized bowl, toss together the blueberries, cornstarch, sugar and lemon juice.
- Spoon mixture into the middle of the crust leaving about 2" around the edge.
- Fold the edges over in a haphazard way (neatness does not count here). You want fruit in the middle to show.
- Cut the butter up into 6-8 chunks and place on top of the blueberries.
- Whisk up the egg and water in a small bowl. Brush this onto the crust and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake 20-23 minutes until the crust is a nice golden brown.
- Once cooled, you can move it onto a serving plate or be all fancy and serve straight from the baking sheet.
- This is especially yummy with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of your slice.
Nutrition
NOTE: Of course you can make your own pie crust if you want to get all hoity-toity on me. And actually I normally do make my own, but it's summer and if the name of the game is to make a FAST and EASY pie that you can make and devour QUICKLY, then just go for the store bought stuff.
Other recipes you may enjoy:
Handmade Apple Hand Pies
Best Soft & Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
Moist And Delicious Banana Bread Recipe
Crockpot Baked Apple Recipes
(This post contains some affiliate links for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.)
Joan
I love this! I’ve made it 4 times in the past 2 weeks. The only change I made was to add the lemon peel shredded on a micro plane! DELICIOUS!!!!!
Pam Kessler
That sounds yummy! I'm going to try adding that this weekend when I make another one!
Earl Ann Bumpus
This is DELICIOUS! I used Monk Fruit sweetner instead of sugar...great!
Pam Kessler
Thank you for the feedback! I've never tried the monk sweetener before, but sounds like a great alternative!
jodi
Turned put wonderfully. I brushed crust with cream instead of egg and sprinkled the top with cinnamon sugar before popping it in the oven
Marcy
Love this! So easy, definitely a go to for enticing new friends!
Denise
Was wondering if you could skip the egg wash on the crust ? My husband is allergic to eggs?
Marsha
You can just cream, milk or even evaporated milk.
Kathy
We’re trying to get my 90 year old father to put on some weight. I made this and he practically wiped it out himself! I did add the zest of the lemon to the filling (because everything is better with a little zest!)
Raye
Is it OK to use frozen blueberries in this recipe?
Jaime
I made this tonight and it was amazing! I added free form heart cutouts on top using the second crust in the box. YUM YUM YUM and so pretty! Not too sweet, just right! Thank you for sharing the recipe
Pam Kessler
I am so glad you liked it! The heart cutouts sounds like a cute addition!
Kate
We have turned to this recipe regularly over the past year or so. It makes our little family happy. Thanks for sharing!
Pam
Thank you! I'm so glad your family likes it!!!
Heather
Thanks for the lovely, doable, idea! I know that fresh for baking is better than frozen...but unfortunately I have a bag of frozen blueberries that was half-thawed. Do you think that they might work in this recipe? Thanks, again.
Pam
I'm so sorry, I just saw your comment. Your blueberries are probably long gone by now, but yes, you could use frozen.
Mickie Ayer
Okay...this is getting closer to something I can make . A home made top and bottom crust pie scares me (and when guests see it it scares them!). I'm determined to learn how to make a pie crust this winter along with yeast bread...think I'm being to ambitious? But since winter is still a ways off and the fruit is coming on I'm off to the store for frozen crusts ~ thanks for the inspiration!!!
Pam
If you want to try your own, just Google some pie crust recipes, they are so, so simple to make. They typically are just flour, salt, butter and ice cold water. It's just the rolling out of the crust that I don't enjoy. That is why this time of year I just go for the refrigerated pie crusts. Less floury mess to clean up later.
Linda @ Itsy Bits And Pieces
That looks so delicious...and your story brought back memories of baking the the pie crust scraps my mom would give me...