Women's Week Bilberry Pie

mustikkapiirakka / blåbärspaj

We're in the middle of Women's Week, (naistenviikko / fruntimmersveckan), which is what we call July 18th to 24th, when a lot of ladies with popular names celebrate their name day (including me, if only for my middle name). Scandinavians tend to acknowledge name days, usually with baked goods of some sort, and for my family (I share my middle name with my mom and grandmother) the tradition is to bake a bilberry pie from bilberries picked on our summer island - if there are any, which is the subject of much fretting during the preceding weeks.


Not this year though, as I got the first pie baked almost two weeks ago. This is, in fact, the third one I've had since - the summer's been both warm and rainy so far, so it's an excellent year for bilberries. I think English speakers could probably debate the pieness of this particular dish; it might be more of an, erm, double-sided... crisp? To be honest, the crumbles, cobblers, slumps and grunts kind of blur together for me. Anyway, the dough is incredibly simple, just the kind of thing to throw together in a poorly equipped cabin (although for gas ovens, heat it to 250°C and then turn down to 225), and while it might not be the neatest of desserts to eat, it's very very good. Especially with a bit of cream.


The recipe is my mother's, and I think she got it from her mother, although it's not My Grandmother's Bilberry Pie which uses a different kind of dough. (Actually, I think the original uses only flour, whereas I went for part rolled oats for more texture.) If you can't get hold of bilberries, blueberries would probably work, although they're a bit bland in comparison.

Bilberry Pie
75 g (2½ oz) cold butter
200 ml (7 fl oz) flour
100 ml (3½ fl oz) rolled oats
50 ml (generous 3 tbsp) soft brown sugar (fariinisokeri / farinsocker)

500 ml / 2 cups bilberries
1½ tbsp sugar
½ tbsp potato flour

Mix together the dry ingredients for the pie crust. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. With your fingertips, press half of this "dough" into the bottom of a 10-inch pan (don't bother with getting crust on the edges).

Mix together bilberries, sugar and potato flour and spread onto the pie. Crumble the rest of the flour mixture on top and bake at 225°C (~450°F) for about 25 minutes, until the topping goes light brown and the filling beneath it is bubbly. Let cool for a while, but it is extremely good when still a bit warm.