Mint Blueberry Pie with Butter Almond Crust

I (Sierra) have an obsession with making pies, I do not know were this passion came from but all I want to do is create different and unique flavored pies! I would love to buy a food cart and walk around selling pies to create an income for myself. The only problem is that I would need a license, where I live is not very walkable, and I doubt that my pies are as wonderful as they could be in the future. Maybe one day you will encounter me selling unique flavored pies on the streets of a large city. Until then I shall continue to be a "pie maker".

All Butter Crust with Almonds:
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour because it is what I had on hand)
1/2 cup finely ground blanched almonds or almond flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter (cut into 1/2 inch cubes & frozen)
1 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon brown sugar
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water

Combine the flour, almond flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is course with pea sized clumps of butter. Add the water 1 Tbsp at a time while pulsing the mixture until it begins to clump together and hold.
Remove the dough and gently shape into two discs. Do not over-knead the dough. There will be small pieces of butter in the dough, which creates the flaky crust. Sprinkle a little flour over the discs and wrap them in plastic wrap or in an airtight container. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Remove one of the dough discs from the fridge and let sit out for 5-10 minutes to soften. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin over a lightly floured surface to a 12 inch circle about 1/8 of an inch thick. Place the dough into a 9-inch pie pan and gently press the dough to line the bottom and sides of the pan. You can trim the extra dough that will hang over the edge.

Mint Blueberry Filling:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

3 pints of blueberries (I used frozen because the fresh were very expensive)- you do not have to thaw them.
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg 
3 tsp minced mint or peppermint
1 tsp instant tapioca
1/2 cup flour

Place 1 pint of blueberries in a large sauce pan along with the lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, mint, and tapioca. Place on medium heat until the mixture is a dark violet color or until the mixture bubbles. Continuously stir the mixture, then add the flour and stir for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the other 2 pints of blueberries. Spoon the filling into the unbaked pie shell. I decided to mince about 1/2 tsp of mint to scatter over the top of the pie once the filling was spooned in - since it was my first time making a pie with mint in it I wanted to be sure nothing would over power the minty flavor.

Remove the other disc of crust from the fridge and allow to soften for about 5 minutes, then roll out the dough. I chose to do a lattice crust since the pie contains quite a bit of liquid. To do this you cut the crust into long 1/2 inch strips. Then you place about 4 of the strips across the pie, leaving 1/2 inch spaces between each strip. Next you take a strip and weave in through the others in the other direction (over and under pattern) and you do this with about 3 more strips, then crimp the edges and you are done!
In my opinion the lattice pattern creates the most beautiful and professional looking pies and the juices from the pie will not bubble out with this technique.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the crust begins to brown.
Allow to cool and then refrigerate.
Both the filling and the crust have a really nice flavor, the mint is a nice, light touch to the pie. Next time I will consider adding even more mint to give it a stronger flavor. I would consider this pie a success! Tres magnifique!