Award-Winning Maple Blueberry Pie
Paul Arguin, an epidemiologist, relaxes by making pie. This one, with its generous amount of fruit and sweetness from maple syrup, won the blueberry-division prize in the 2017 National Pie Championships. A few tricks raise it above other blueberry pies. One is the crust, which has a touch of cinnamon and maple sugar, and uses cider vinegar and just a little shortening for structure. Dr. Arguin cooks the filling in a sous-vide machine, which keeps the berries whole but tender. For the top crust, he borrows an idea from cake makers who work with fondant. Four planks of dough are pressed into an inexpensive silicone mat molded to look like wood grain, then peeled off and set on top of the pie. Home cooks without fancy equipment, take heart. The berries can be cooked slowly on the stove, and four strips of plain dough for the top crust work just as well. Kim Severson
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