Bang Bang Blueberry Pie

My little sister, Anna, is a tiny bit obsessed with Chicago. I’m not sure how many times she has visited, exactly, though I know she’ll be making another voyage soon. For the past couple years, she’s been talking about a pie she saw featured on TV from a Chicago bakery called Bang Bang Pie Shop. What’s so intriguing about this pie is that it has both fresh and cooked berries.

Since my sister turned 23 this past week, I decided I’d give this pie a try. I did a quick search and found this video online, which shows the shop, and, lo and behold, [former] owner, Megan Miller, making the very blueberry pie in question! If I wasn’t due to give birth any day now, I might have decided to tag along with my sister to Chicago after seeing the video. The exposed brick is adorable, and who doesn’t love pie? Bang Bang, you’re on my “to visit” list, that’s for sure.

In preparation for the birthday pie, I went blueberry picking with both my sisters and my niece and nephew on July 4th. I chose my berries carefully, while Anna employed child labor to fill her bucket in half the time, but with many subpar berries. I’m convinced the real reason child labor laws got passed is because 2-year-olds make absolutely terrible workers. There’s no quality control! It’s anarchy.

Now, I have heard tell that Bang Bang uses leaf lard in their pie crusts. I wasn’t willing to track some down, so I stuck with my go-to all-butter pie crust, but opted to use Plugrá European butter because I wanted nothing but the best for my sissy. The pie crust has to be blind baked, because the filling is actually made on the stovetop. Unfortunately, my first pie crust shrunk dramatically in the oven, so I had to make a second crust. Not to worry; my husband and I broke up pieces of the first pie crust and mixed them with some leftover blackberry sauce I made a few weeks ago. It was makeshift bowl-pie! Waste not, want not, right?

I didn’t have time to control all the variables in a scientific way, but I believe the biggest factors that affected the shrinkage were the type of pie pan I used and also my pie weights. The first pie crust was baked in a Pyrex glass pie dish, and I used ceramic pie weights that I’ve had sitting around for a couple years. The pie weights only covered the bottom of the crust, and the sides slid down the smooth surface of the glass. With the second crust, I opted for a metal pie tin and filled the thing almost all the way up with dried beans. The beans pressed against the sides of the crust and helped secure it into place. Two thumbs up.

In the video about Bang Bang’s pie, they mention that the filling is comprised of blueberries, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar, and red wine. I thought it was curious that they didn’t mention using a thickening agent (e.g. flour, cornstarch, or tapioca starch). Based on my own experience with sauces and pie fillings, I decided to add some cornstarch to ensure a stable filling, and I do not regret that decision! I’ve never had a pie filling come out so perfect and un-runny. Stovetop pie filling is where it’s at. You can totally control the consistency, and I am allabout control when it comes to dessert (and other areas of my life).

The crust was looking crispy and brown, the filling tasted bangin‘ (pun most definitely intended), so all I had to do was entrust that the fresh berries that go on the bottom and top of the pie wouldn’t muck things up. Luckily, the blueberries we picked were some of the best berries I’ve ever had. It’s always a crapshoot with storebought berries; they can be super tart, and it’s kind of frowned upon to sample out of the plastic cartons at the grocery store. At the blueberry patch, I was able to pop a few berries straight off the bush, so I had a pretty good feeling about them.

Luckily, by the time we cut into the pie the next day, everything was wonderful. We all left with our lips and teeth stained slightly blue, and my sister suggested that perhaps they get actors to eat blueberry pie before scenes where they have to play dead. I’m sure they use makeup, but I really think actors should start petitioning for the blueberry pie method. It is way more delicious.