Almond Crumble Blueberry Pie

Flaky crust, fresh blueberries, and an almond paste crumble topping. This almond crumble blueberry pie may just be the perfect pie for summer.  (Or make with frozen blueberries and enjoy year round!)

Yesterday, I shared my no-fail pie crust recipe.  Today, I’ll share what to put into that crust.  The short answer is: anything!  The crust works equally well for no-bake cream pies (like the banana cream pie I shared for Pi Day) and baked fruit pies, like the blueberry pie below.

The crust recipe will suit all your various pie baking needs (and yes, sometimes baking  a pie is indeed a need).

But out of all the choices, this almond crumble blueberry pie, topped with a crumble made from butter, flour, and almond paste, is my favorite pie.

I think I’d go even further to say that this my all-time favorite dessert.  If I was on some sort of magical dessert desert island and had to choose one dessert to have for the rest of my life, it would be this pie.

I can’t believe it has taken me four years to share this recipe on here – I have made it with the intent to share it no less than six times, as evidenced by the six different series of intact pie pictures sitting in my “food to blog” folder.

So why not share it sooner?  I’ve been waiting to get a picture of an individual slice of pie… except every time I make this, it’s devoured before I have a chance!  Sad but true: I have never had one single leftover slice of pie to use for a picture.

I decided enough was enough and made this almond crumble blueberry pie again just to take pictures.  No slices of pie were consumed before the pictures were done!

How to Make Almond Crumble Blueberry Pie

Blueberries are my favorite fruit, so I load the pie up with lots and lots of blueberries.  I also add even more whole blueberries after boiling down the first several cups.  This helps to ensure that the pie has more actual whole blueberries than just blueberry goop.

The pie is sweet, but not cloyingly-so — like a fresh summer blueberry, with a little extra punch.  And the best part of this pie: an almond crumble topping.

I don’t love double-crust pies (think traditional apple pie), because the top and the bottom of the pie have the exact same flavor.  It’s like a sandwich of pie crust (although when you put it that way, it sounds pretty good!).

Lattice pies are by far the most visually appealing, and I generally go that route for cherry or rhubarb pies because they’re beautiful.  But crumble topped pies are the tastiest, by far, a sentiment echoed by everyone else with whom I have shared this pie.

The almond paste introduces a new flavor (almond! my favorite!), but it’s subtle enough that it doesn’t distract from the fresh summer blueberries (or frozen, making this a great year round pie). It just adds a little something extra, and the crunchy crumble texture is the perfect contrast to the soft blueberries.

If you can’t find almond paste, you can sub in a tube of marzipan as well.  Either way, just break it up into little crumbly bits before mixing in with the butter and flour.  Scatter it on top of the blueberries, and pop the whole thing into the oven.  Bake until golden brown on top and the filling is bubbling up around the edges of the crumble top.

Of course, a fresh fruit pie is practically begging for a scoop of ice cream.  Vanilla is the obvious choice, but I vote you get a little meta and top your almond crumble blueberry pie with a big scoop of blueberry pie ice cream.  Too much blueberry pie?  No such thing.

Print Recipe

Yield: Serves 10

Almond Crumble Blueberry Pie

Total Time: 2 hours

Flaky crust, fresh blueberries, and an almond paste crumble topping. The perfect pie has arrived, just in time for blueberry season.

Ingredients:

• 1 no fail pie crust, unbaked
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 40 ounces blueberries (if using frozen, do not thaw)
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 2/3 cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour, divided
• 6 ounces almond paste, crumbled into small pieces
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and chilled
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Start by rolling out your pie dough to a 12-inch round.  Transfer to a 9-inch diameter pie plate.  Trim the edges and crimp decoratively.  Transfer the pie dough in the dish to the freezer while preparing the filling.
2. Whisk together 3/4 cup of the sugar and cornstarch in a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Stir in roughly 30 ounces (a little under 7 cups) of the blueberries and the lemon juice.  Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, until the mixture starts to bubble and thicken, stirring frequently.  Remove the filling from heat, gently stir in the remaining 10 ounces of blueberries, and chill the filling until cool.
3. To prepare the crumble, combine 2/3 cup of the flour, the almond paste, butter, and salt in a bowl.  Cut the butter and almond paste into the flour using a pastry blender or two forks (alternatively, pulse in a food processor until the mixture begins to clump together).  Transfer this mixture to a bowl and chill for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the pie dish from the freezer while preheating the oven to 400 °F.  Allow the pie crust to sit for 10 minutes before filling, so that it is still very cold but no longer frozen.
5. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and flour along the crust.  This will help soak up any excess juice and form a little protective barrier to prevent a soggy crust.  Spread the blueberry filling evenly in the crust, and sprinkle the crumble topping over the top, breaking apart any large clumps with your fingers.
6. Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes, until the crust and topping are golden and the blueberry filling bubbles.  If the crust and topping are browning too quickly, tent the entire pie with aluminum foil around 35 minutes.  Transfer pie to a cooling rack and cool completely before serving.

Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit