Peach Pie

Every year my mom and I make a trip out to Burg's Corner in Stonewall, TX to buy a half-bushel of peaches. It's kind of ridiculous because we never eat them all and end up giving most of them away. But the trip is always highly enjoyable, and it usually ends with a scoop of vanilla ice cream topped with peaches (didn't happen this time because I over did it earlier in the day with an organic canary melon... YUM!).

Like my last pie, I decided to use the ingredients available to me in my kitchen and make a peach pie. This time, I was going to make the ENTIRE crust from scratch, using the same dough recipe and I would also roll out the dough with a rolling pin. I also took inspiration from Pie Therapy again, making a few changes, like using less sugar.

Peach Pie

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Dough Recipe (make more if necessary... I had some leftover from the last recipe):
Cut 1 stick of butter into 1.5 cups of flour. Add 1/2 t. salt if butter is unsalted. Slowly work in 3-5 T. of ice water until desired consistency is reached. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and place in greased pie dish. Cut off extra dough to use for top crust. You may either make a woven top or a decorative one (pictured above).

Filling:
Blanche, peel, and slice (removing pits and red centers of) 10-12 small peaches (should yield about 5 cups). Pour on 1/8 t. almond extract and squeeze on half of a key lime.

Mix with:
1/2 cup sugar (the original recipe calls for 3/4 cup, which I think is excessive)
3 T. flour (I might've accidentally used 4... I got distracted and lost count)
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. salt

Pour into crust and top with dough styling of your choice. Bake for 40 minutes or until crust is brown on the edges.

What I would do differently:
-Try using ginger to give it an extra kick (however, the flavor of the peaches was already amazing).
-The original recipe says to "Dot with 2 T. butter", which I didn't really understand, but now I know it's to give the crust a more golden-brown/toasted look and texture.

I think the next pie will be a chocolate pie of some sorts. I also have a lot of winter squash in my house, so I might try that...

Strawberry Blackberry Pie

Now is as good a time as any to start the blogging.

The other day, I watched the movie "Waitress", and enjoyed it immensely. There are several times in the movie where it could've taken a very cheesy turn, but the plot, the characters, and the humor are all done very well.

The best part?

PIE! Lots and lots of pie!

It was a lazy Sunday evening, we had two frozen Whole Foods pie crusts and a ton of strawberries and blackberries that were starting to turn. I determined that pie-making was in order. I Googled "strawberry blackberry pie" and came across the blog "Pie Therapy". The recipe was very simple, but I was a bit daunted by the fact that I'd have to make a top crust. I've never made pastry dough before. I also went to the grocery store looking for tapioca and couldn't find it anywhere (frankly, I didn't know what I was looking for and when I asked one of the HEB employees where it was, he pointed me to the water aisle... asshole!). When I got home, I found out that tapioca is used as a substitute for cornstarch, of which we had plenty. I also didn't feel like busting out the rolling pin, so I spread out the dough for the top crust with my hands across a large plate. It worked out pretty well. Check it out:




Strawberry Blackberry Pie

Preheat oven to 375*F.

Crust:
1 store bought crust (I like the Whole Foods frozen crusts; you can also double the crust recipe below to have a fully homemade crust on the top and bottom)

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick of butter
1/3 cup of ice water in a pouring cup (NOT ALL OF IT WILL BE USED!)

Mix together flour and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture is nice and crumbly. Pour in ice water a tiny amount at a time, working the mixture into a dough with your hand. When enough water has been put in (1/4 cup will probably be all you need) to reach dough-like consistency, roll the dough out on a flat surface.

Filling:
3 cups strawberries, rinsed and sliced
1 cup blackberries, rinsed and drained on paper towels
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch or tapioca
(for kicks, I threw in a tablespoon of Ficoco, a chocolate fig spread; fun, but unnecessary)

Place strawberries and blackberries in a large bowl. In a separate container, mix together sugar and cornstarch. Mix in with berries until sugar and starch become gel-like. Pour filling into pie crust and cover with dough for top crust. If dough is leftover (which there will be, trust me), use it to make a fun shape for the top of your pie.

Bake for 45 minutes. Serve hot. Store leftovers in the fridge and reheat with toaster oven or microwave.

What I'll do differently next time:
-Use less sugar. It's very sweet and not very tart, so less sugar would be helpful.
-Use a rolling pin to flatten out the dough. Also, make a double recipe of the dough for a homemade top and bottom crust.