When I was growing up in Russia, open face pies were very popular, they were made in large square pans and filled with anything from fish and potatoes to berries and nuts. Tvorog, or farmers cheese, was often added to both doughs and fillings because folks firmly believed in its health benefits – easy digestibility and high protein content. I re-created one of my favorite dessert pies from my childhood to fit a regular Western pie dish. Majority of the sweetness in this recipe comes from the berries, there is only 1/3 cup (5 tablespoons) of sweetener in the whole pie, and even 4 tablespoons works well. It firms up very nicely after a night in the fridge, and is very easy to slice.
HOW TO MAKE BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM PIE
Ingredients
DOUGH:
1 stick (113g) butter, cold
1.5 cup (200g) all-purpose spelt flour (or any all-purpose flour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (140g) farmers cheese (how to make live farmers cheese)
1 egg
FILLING:
1 1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup sugar or honey
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups blueberries
Instructions
Make dough:
Cut butter into small pieces. In a large bowl, whisk flour with salt. Toss butter with flour to coat.
Cut butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives until it resembles large crumbs.
Add farmers cheese (tvorog), and continue cutting until larger chunks begin to form.
Add egg. Knead into a tight dough ball, sprinkling with more flour as you knead.
Flour work surface well, roll the dough out to match your pie pan (I use a Sur La Table pan), pinch the edges down, and transfer the dough into the pie pan. Smooth the sides to contour pie pan.
Place a pie weight on top of the dough (or parchment paper with a handful of dried beans).
Bake in a pre-heated to 350ºF (180ºC) oven for 15 minutes (until the sides puff up).
While the pie is baking, assemble the filling: combine all the ingredients but blueberries in a bowl, and mix well.
Gently fold in blueberries with a soft spatula.
Put the filling into the slightly cooled pie crust, and bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 40-45 minutes.
BLUEBERRY SOUR CREAM PIE
- DOUGH:
- 1 stick (113g) butter, cold
- 1.5 cup (200g) all-purpose spelt flour (or any all-purpose flour)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (140g) farmers cheese ([url href=”https://www.beetsandbones.com/how-to-make-live-tvorog/” target=”_blank”]how to make live farmers cheese[/url])
- 1 egg
- FILLING:
- 1 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1/3 cup sugar or honey
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 cups blueberries
- Make dough:
- Cut butter into small pieces. In a large bowl, whisk flour with salt. Toss butter with flour to coat.
- Cut butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or two knives until it resembles large crumbs.
- Add farmers cheese (tvorog), and continue cutting until larger chunks begin to form.
- Add egg. Knead into a tight dough ball, sprinkling with more flour as you knead.
- Flour work surface well, roll the dough out to match your pie pan (I use a Sur La Table pan), pinch the edges down, and transfer the dough into the pie pan. Smooth the sides to contour pie pan.
- Place a pie weight on top of the dough (or parchment paper with a handful of dried beans).
- Bake in a pre-heated to 350ºF (180ºC) oven for 15 minutes (until the sides puff up).
- While the pie is baking, assemble the filling: combine all the ingredients but blueberries in a bowl, and mix well.
- Gently fold in blueberries with a soft spatula.
- Put the filling into the slightly cooled pie crust, and bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 40-45 minutes.
- Cool completely before serving. It’s even better chill it overnight for get firm consistency.
2 comments
My son in law works on a blueberry farm all year thank you for the recipe
How fun! If I was working at a blueberry farm, I’d be eating more than working 🙂