Frozen blueberries are baked into a tangy, cream cheese pie crust to make this delicious blueberry cream cheese pie. In addition to adding a unique flavor to this blueberry pie recipe, the cream cheese makes the pie dough easier to work with, helping keep its shape in the recipe—jump to the recipe.
Blueberry Pie Recipe
It’s crazy to me that it’s mid-September and it’s cold and rainy in Portland already (I am literally wearing a beanie as I type this). But here I am still, presenting you guys with a summery blueberry pie recipe. To be fair, I made this pie with the blueberries leftover from my copycat Levain Bakery Blueberry Muffins from earlier in the summer—I remember that it was 80 degrees out, the sun was shining, and I was bitter about being stuck inside baking the same recipe over and over again until I was pleased with the results. And even though I made about seven batches of muffins, I still ended up with a bunch of blueberries left over! I ended up freezing those suckers and promptly forgetting about them until now.
Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie
At #casahummingbirdhigh, we never have room in our freezer—I’m always sticking leftover ingredients and desserts in there, as well as hoarding Trader Joe’s orange chicken and packs of butter from my friends over at Vermont Creamery. Finally, after our freezer exploded open, Erlend demanded that I clear it out. I came across some blocks of frozen cream cheese and the forgotten bag of blueberries and thought it would be best to kill two birds with one stone in the form of a blueberry cream cheese pie.
Blueberry Pie with Frozen Blueberries
The only thing is, I kinda hate making pie with frozen fruit. Frozen fruit can be unpredictable to work with since they lose more juice and liquid during the baking process. This can lead to soggy bottomed pies. My solution has always been to cook the frozen fruit in with some sugar and cornstarch before baking it into the pie. Cooking it on the range allows you to “control” how much juice will release from the fruit, as well as thicken it to the perfect consistency for pie. Just be sure to use a heavy-bottomed sauce pot and keep stirring to make sure that the fruit doesn’t scorch or burn!
Easy Blueberry Pie Recipe
With the filling sorted, I decided to make one of my favorite pie crust recipe to encase it with: Rose Levy Berenbaum’s cream cheese pie crust recipe. I first discovered it by way of this Food52 article and was intrigued by its promise to be forgiving—specifically, the cream cheese in the crust makes it easier to roll out (since cream cheese takes longer to get melty than butter) and it allegedly doesn’t shrink in the oven. And although there is SOME shrinkage in the oven (you can see my pie crust shrank), it definitely keeps its shape better than an all-butter crust would.
My favorite thing about Rose’s recipe though, is the pie crust’s cream cheese flavor. I’ve always been a lover of the flavor combination of blueberries and cream cheese (dare I say that it’s my favorite breakfast muffin recipe, even exceeding my love for my copycat Levain muffins?), and I’m happy to report that the cream cheese is definitely noticeable and adds a nice tang to the blueberry pie. Enjoy!
Best Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie Recipe Tips
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- #weeknightbaking tip: Because this recipe requires several time-consuming steps—like cooking down the fruit, and waiting for the pie dough to chill before rolling it out—I recommend spreading its steps out over a few days. The pie filling can be made up to 3 days in advanced; store it in an airtight container in the fridge. Similarly, the pie dough can be made up to 2 days in advance. Any longer, and the dough will start to take on a gray-ish tinge in the fridge. It’s still tasty, but less appetizing-looking. If you’re planning on making the pie all in one day, I recommend making the dough and placing it in the freezer to chill as you make the filling; by the time you’re done making the filling, the dough will be ready to work with!
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- According to Food52, the cream cheese crust can be baked immediately after rolling out—provided that the dough is still cool. I definitely still would recommend freezing the whole assembled pie overnight before baking, especially if you’re opting for a fancyish design like mine. If you don’t want to wait overnight, plan ahead—you’ll still need to freeze it for at least 2 hours before baking.
- For my pie lid, I used these cookie cutters to stamp out the circles (I thought maybe they’d look like blueberries? I don’t know if it worked though). I rolled out the dough for the lid, froze it for 15 minutes, stamped out the shapes, froze it once more for another 15 minutes, then nestled it on top of the filling. Depending on how cold your kitchen is/how quickly you work, you might not need to freeze the lid a second time.
Get the Recipe: Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie
Ingredients
For the Cream Cheese Pie Crust
- 1 cup 8 ounces cold unsalted butter
- 6 ounces cold cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 cup ice
- 2 2/3 cups 12 ounces all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
For the Frozen Blueberry Pie Filling
- 4 1/2 cups around 18 ounces frozen blueberries, divided into 4 cup and 1/2 cup portions
- 1/4 cup 1.75 ounces granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup 1 ounce cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
- a pinch of kosher salt
Assembly
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
For the Cream Cheese Pie Crust
- Slice the butter and the cream cheese into 1-inch cubes and place them in a small bowl. Freeze while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
- In a small liquid measuring cup, whisk together the water and vinegar. Add the ice and whisk. Refrigerate while you prep the rest of the ingredients.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat on low until just combined, about 15 seconds. Add the chilled butter and cream cheese all at once and beat on low until the mixture has the texture of coarse meal, with pea sized pieces of butter and cream cheese throughout, about 3 minutes.
- Remove the ice water mixture from the refrigerator. With the mixer on low, slowly stream in the liquid mixture. Beat on low for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the dough clumps around the paddle and/or sides of the bowl.
- Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured counter with a rubber spatula. Quickly knead the dough into a rough ball. Divide the dough in half with a bench scraper and shape each half into a rough ball. Wrap each portion tightly in plastic wrap and flatten into a small disc. Chill in the freezer for 1 hour before using; if making the next day, refrigerate instead. The dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, and in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- For the Frozen Blueberry Pie Filling
- In a medium, heavy-bottomed sauce pan, combine 4 cups of the blueberries, the sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt. Cook over medium heat, using a wooden spoon or a heatproof rubber spatula to toss the berries frequently and smash them slightly. Cook for 15 minutes, until thick and jammy. Remove from the heat and immediately add the remaining 1/2 cup of blueberries, stirring to combine.
Assembly
- Use a rolling pin to roll out one disc of the chilled dough on a lightly floured counter and use it to line a 9-inch pie plate. Scoop the pie filling into the pie crust and use a rubber spatula to spread it into an even layer. Refrigerate while you work on the top crust.
- Roll out and shape the second disc of chilled dough into the pie lid style of your choice. Remove the pie from the refrigerator and arrange the lid on top of the filling, crimping the edges of the top crust to the bottom crust as necessary.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and freeze overnight. The assembled pie can stay in the freezer for up to 3 months. To store for longer, tightly wrap the entire frozen pie in two layers of plastic wrap and then a layer of aluminum foil.
Baking
- Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 375 (F). Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and water to make an egg wash. Remove the frozen pie from the freezer, discard the plastic wrap, and place the pie in the center of the prepared sheet pan. Working quickly, use a pastry brush to coat the entire surface of the pie with a thin layer of egg wash.
- Bake for 60 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the fruit juices are bubbling slowly in the center of the pie. Check the pie 45 minutes into its Bake Time—if the crust is browning too quickly, loosely cover the top of the pie with a sheet of foil.
- Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature. The pie can be stored at room temperature, under a cake dome or a large bowl turned upside down, for up to 1 day. After that, cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 more days.
