Filing

2 cups farm blueberries
2 cups almond / coconut milk
3 Tbsp coconut sugar
1 cup soaked tapioca pearls
1/2 cup chopped roasted pecans
Juice of 1 lemon
Zest of 1 lemon
Vanilla pod

Directions

Dough

Mix the GF (gluten free) flour, xanthan gum and sea salt. Add small pieces of cold butter and lemon zest and knead it into the dough. Add the egg and cold water as needed to make sure the dough is uniformly mixed and not sticking to your fingers any longer. Make 2 balls (1 slightly bigger than the other – for the pie base) and leave them in the fridge for 20-30 min.

Remove from the fridge and spread each dough ball on the flour dusted surface into the thin circular layer and first one place on the bottom of the oiled and flour dusted pie pan, and the second one keep to top your pie at the end.

Filling

Warm up the milk, coconut sugar and add the soaked tapioca pearls stirring continuously. When thicker, add lemon juice & lemon zest, crushed blueberries and stir until all combined (a few minutes). Add vanilla pod or vanilla extract and let it cool down. Taste to adjust acidity and sweetness.

Assembly

place the dough on the bottom of the oiled and four dusted pan, sprinkle over chopped pecans and 1 Tbsp of coconut sugar, than pour the blueberry filling over. Top it with the second dough sheet and may moisten the top of your pie by brushing it with egg , or egg yolk.

Bake it at 400F x 30-40 minutes until you see the edges of the pie turn golden brown. Cool it down, than place in the fridge for a few hrs. And it is ready for you to enjoy it.

Benefits

Blueberries: are very good for the nervous system and for brain health! There is exciting new evidence that blueberries can improve memory, and postponing the onset of other cognitive problems frequently associated with aging.

Berries in general are considered low in terms of their glycemic index (GI). GI is a common way of identifying the potential impact of a food on our blood sugar level once we’ve consumed and digested that food. In general, foods with a GI of 50 or below are considered “low” in terms of their glycemic index value. A recent study that included blueberries as a low-GI fruit has found that blueberries, along with other berries, clearly have a favorable impact on blood sugar regulation in persons already diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Participants in the study who consumed at last 3 servings of low-GI fruits per day (including blueberries) saw significant improvement in their regulation of blood sugar over a three-month period of time. (Their blood levels of glycosylated hemoglobin, or HgA1C were used as the standard of measurement in this study.) It’s great to see blueberries providing these clear health benefits for blood sugar regulation!

If you want to maximize your antioxidant benefits from blueberries, go organic! A recent study has directly compared the total antioxidant capacity of organically grown versus non-organically grown highbush blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L., var. Bluecrop) and found some very impressive results for the organically grown berries. Organically grown blueberries turned out to have significantly higher concentrations of total phenol antioxidants and total anthocyanin antioxidants than conventionally grown blueberries, as well as significantly higher total antioxidant capacity. Numerous specific antioxidant anthocyanins were measured in the study, including delphinidins, malvidins, and petunidins. The antioxidant flavonoid quercetin was also measured.