Peaches and Cream Pie

This is actually the only picture of the recipe that I have. You’re going to have to excuse me, I’d never made piecrust in my life before and I was quite stressed out about the entire thing. Before I knew it, I had the pie in the oven and nary a picture in sight. You think I would have learned my lesson from that and at least taken a picture of it when it was sliced. Sorry all, but if you’re looking for a blogger who has any type of common sense, you’re reading the wrong blog.

I swear I still make tasty baked goods however. And apparently, despite my fear of popping oil and aversion to touching raw meat with my bare hands, I’m a pretty decent cook. Or so my family says. They could just be lying to me. I’d like to think they’re not.

Anyways, back to this pie. I made this pie while I was in DC with the rest of my family helping Helen move. Another reason why it doesn’t have any pictures of it sliced is because it disappeared too quickly. So quickly that I was planning on saving a slice for my college roommate that there was none left when I wanted to pack up a slice into Tupperware.

Not that I’m exactly complaining. My roommate sort of did. She loves peaches. But I suppose anybody would love peaches when they’re baked like this. Warm, cinnamon, with a creamy and smooth custard enveloping them. Encased of course by a rich, flaky, buttery crust. It makes me wish that I had a slice sitting in front of me right now.

Alas, this pie was made a month ago. Back when I wasn’t back at school yet and had tons of time to just stand at a counter and roll, and fold, and roll.

Next recipe I promise will be one done in my brand new kitchen (well new to me but technically old since I’m only renting the place) in my quaint little college town! You’ll finally get to see how a real college student foodie eats and cooks in little time and even less kitchen tools!

For now however, I leave you with something even better than prepackaged curries, frozen dumplings, and the occasional homemade goodie – peaches and cream pie.

peaches and cream pie

Pie is definitely one of my favorite desserts. There’s something so quintessentially American about it that it just seems to make you feel happy and cozy eating it. This recipe actually comes together very quickly once you have the dough made – the filling is ridiculously simple. This was my first time making a lattice crust and I think it shows. Next time, I would make the crust thinner and the little pieces for the lattice thinner also. All in all though, I think this recipe proves that if you are a piecrust novice, you have nothing to fear. Sure, there’ll be some kinks to work through, but at the end of the day, you’ll have pie. And that’s something worth smiling about.

Also, here is a great handy dandy step by step (with pictures!!!) guide on how to make a lattice: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_make_a_lattice_top_for_a_pie_crust/

Pie crust recipe from smitten kitchen and filling recipe from baked and wired

Ingredients

Crust

2 ½ cups flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) very cold unsalted butter

Filling

5 fresh peaches, peeled and each cut into 6 slices
¾ cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
1⁄8 teaspoon salt
½ cup heavy cream
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk – save the white for pie assembly!
Cinnamon to taste

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f.

Piecrust:

Fill a liquid measuring cup with about one cup of water or so and then add in a few ice cubes. Put aside. In a large bowl, whisk together 2 ½ cups flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cut up the butter into ½ inch cubes.

Spring the butter cubes over the flour and work it into the dough. I used a fork here because as a poor college student, I have not yet invested in a $10-$15 gadget – I use that money on soy chair lattes. If you have one, do use it. A fork works just fine however, or at least it did for me. Continue to work through it, redistributing and stuff until everything has been worked upon evenly. Once the butter pieces are about the size of small peas, stop – despite its ununiformity.

Then drizzle in about half of your water into this mixture. Gather the dough together with a spatula of some sort. I ended up adding a bit more water until it all sort of came together. Make sure to add the water slowly and as needed though. Then gather into your hands and make sure it all sticks together including the leftover lumps. I had to squish it a round a bit to get it to all stick together - remember, add water when you feel like it is not sufficiently sticky, but not too much!

Divide the dough in half, wrap in saran wrap and flatten them into discs. Not too flat though. Set aside into the fridge for at least one hour. It would be better at two though!

Filling:

Whisk together the sugar, flour, salt, cream, whole egg, and egg yolk. Told you - way easy.

Assembly:

Roll out one pack of the dough so that it fits into your pie pan.

Arrange the peaches in the crust. Pour the cream mixture over the peaches until it is almost to the top of the crust. Not all of the liquid may be needed. Then sprinkle with cinnamon!

Arrange the lattice according to that handy dandy guide I gave above.

Stick into oven for one hour and wait for tasty deliciousness on a fork. Here you can choose to serve it either with ice cream or without. In case you couldn't tell by my last post, I am a huge fan of ice cream over warm desserts.