Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie

For the pie crust:
Cut the cold butter into small cubes and pop them straight in the freezer for 30 minutes. The colder the ingredients, the more the pastry is flaky!

Add the flour, salt and baking powder to a food processor with the blade attachment. Add the cold cream cheese and pulse for around 10-15 seconds, or until it resembles coarse sand. Add the butter and pulse again until none of the butter pieces are bigger then a pea.

Add the cold water and white wine vinegar and continue pulsing, in short blasts, until no large pieces of butter remain and a dough forms.

Put dough onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it out until it’s just a little bigger than your 9-inch pie dish. Line the dish with the pastry and prick the bottom of the pastry several times with a fork. Then push the chopped pecans into the surface. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

For the blueberry filling:
Whisk together the cornflour (cornstarch) and water in a small saucepan. Add the salt and 160g (just over ⅔ cup) of the caster (superfine) sugar, the golden syrup (or light corn syrup), and all of the blueberries. Bring to the boil over a medium heat and cook for 6 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Remove from the heat and stir in the lemon juice.

Set aside to cool to room temperature. The filling will continue to thicken as it cools.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3. Line the pie crust loosely with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Blind-bake the pie crust for 8 minutes. Remove the baking beans and parchment and return crust to the oven for a further 15-20 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Allow to cool completely.

To make the cream cheese whipped cream, beat the cream cheese with the icing (confectioners’) sugar until fluffy but do not over-beat.

In a separate bowl, whip the cream with the remaining caster (superfine) sugar until soft peaks form.

Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture, then spoon it into the cooled pie crust and smooth the top. Top with the blueberry mixture and refrigerate until chilled and fully set.