Peach and Almond Custard Pie

For me, summer means peach everything. They're my favorite fruit to bake with and my favorite thing to bake is pie. I had some peaches in the crisper drawer and my go-to peach dessert, my mom's peach pie, on my mind...and then my husband and I started wondering what other types of peach pies there were that I hadn't tried yet.

The answer to that, my friends, is peach custard pie. And it is just as amazing as it sounds. Flaky pastry, juicy peaches, a custard spiked with almond extract, because I just can't have a peach pie without almond. So in that respect it tastes quite a bit like the pie I talked about here years ago, but custardy! I think it might be a new favorite here. 

The original recipe calls for thyme in the custard and cinnamon in the crust. I love them both separately, but together? I'll definitely be trying this one in the future; I'm intrigued by the combination. But for this pie, I wanted the familiar pairing of peach and almond. It was simple and delicious.

The only other change I would make is to cut the peaches in smaller, bite-size pieces. The slices look beautiful, but they weren't very easy to eat. My pie took a whole lot longer to bake than the recipe called for, but my crust didn't burn and the custard didn't separate, so although I was worried, there was no reason to be. It turned out perfectly!

Peach and Almond Custard Pie

makes 1 9" pie

A side note about the crust: I happened to have exactly 1/4 cup buttermilk in my refrigerator to make this, but if you don't have any on hand, use whatever crust you are comfortable with, or the crust recipe included in my previous peach pie post. This was delicious and fairly easy to work with for an all butter pastry, but I'm not sure I would have known there was buttermilk in it if I didn't know about it already.

Crust:

1/2 c. butter, cubed

1 1/4 c. flour

1/4 t. salt

1 T. sugar

1/4 c. buttermilk

Filling:

2 eggs

1 1/4 c. milk (I used half and half)

3 T. flour

1/4 t. almond extract

3/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. dark brown sugar

1/4 t. salt

3 c. sliced (or chopped) peaches

For pastry: Combine flour, salt and sugar. Cut in butter with pastry blender until crumbly. Slowly add buttermilk, tossing with spoon after each addition, until dough comes together. ( I didn't even need the whole 1/4 cup, maybe about half of that.) Wrap dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour. 

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out dough on lightly floured work surface to 1/4" thickness. Roll dough onto rolling pin and transfer to pie plate. Fold edges under and crimp as desired. In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs, milk, flour, extract, sugars and salt until smooth. Place peaches in crust and pour custard over. Place on baking sheet and bake 40 minutes to 1 hour 10 minutes (that's really how long my pie was in the oven before the custard finally looked set. I was a little nervous...) or until pie is only slightly jiggly in center and feels firm to touch. Let stand at least 30 minutes before serving. Cover and chill if you don't eat it all in one sitting. (We were tempted.)

French Silk Pie

 

Everyone needs a show-stopper in their repertoire. This one is mine. Or maybe I should say, it's my mom's. She's known for this pie (and a few other desserts I'll share in the future) and I'm so happy I can call it my own. I've watched her make it hundreds of times, but I've only made it twice. But I feel like I can take ownership now. This pie is me. It's part of my history. I love this pie because it reminds me of my mom and because it's delicious, but also because I like to be known as a girl who can make a pie like this....

 

Two-Layer Key Lime Pie

 

This is the pie you need in your refrigerator this summer. A slice of this is kind of like jumping into a cold swimming pool. The freshness is immediate and it engulfs you. It takes your breath away. This recipe calls for  a lot of limes. A total of nearly a cup of lime juice. I think I used about 7-8 limes which would have been a small fortune in produce, had I not seen them for something like 2 dollars a dozen at a local flea market. I snapped them up with this exact pie in mind.

 

  

The inspiration for Key Lime Pie came from a visit to Chicago in May. We were there to visit one of my brothers and his family one last time before they moved to Boston. One night he had a craving for key lime pie. I didn't know this about him. It's kind of a funny feeling, discovering something about a family member. It's like you're meeting them for the first time. This was never a dessert that my mom made, so he must have developed a taste for it later in life. That's one of the weird things about living so far away from my family--so far away from my siblings, in particular. We grew up together, but spent our adult lives far apart; still close in spirit, but I miss knowing little things like this.....my brother loves key lime pie. And now, so do I.

 

This is another new recipe for me. Again, it's from Bon Appetit, the R.S.V.P. section, which I've noticed, many of these post recipes have come from. This is the part of the magazine where they publish recipes from restaurants requested by readers. I don't know what that says about me. Am I the kind of person who wants to have what someone else has? Am I the kind of cook who aspires to cook restaurant food? Maybe. All I know is that some recipes call to me louder than others. I can taste them in my mind and I just KNOW that the result will be amazing. Sometimes they meet my expectations, and sometimes they don't, but fortunately for us, this was one of those times when my imagination and expectation were both satisfied.

  

One of the unique things about this pie is the crust; it is a graham cracker crust with crushed granola mixed in with melted butter. It's not fancy schmancy granola. Just plain jane sweet oats hiding in the cereal aisle. It's so good in this. It's a nuttier taste than the cracker crumbs would be by themselves and it gives the crust more texture, which, you should know by now, is one of my things.  

 

The other part of this pie that makes it unique is the layering. It has a lime baked custard layer, and then it's topped with a lime cream cheese layer, and as heavy and cloying as that might sound to you (but then to me, it sounds like heaven) believe me when I tell you this is the lightest, most refreshing cream pie I have ever eaten. You remember at the beginning of this story when I told you how you need this pie? You need this because it tastes like paradise, for starters. But you also need this pie because it's a dessert that spends minimal time in the oven, most of the time in the refrigerator, and not nearly enough time on your tongue. It could be my favorite summer pie.....so far, anyway.

 

  

 

Two-Layer Key Lime Pie
from Bon Appetit
Serves 8

A small note about assembling the pie. I piped the whipped cream around the edge because I thought it would look pretty and also, the recipe instructs you to do this. You could also pipe/spread the cream over the whole surface of the pie; this would slightly mellow the citrus punch this pie hides behind it's sweet, demure appearance.

Crust:
3/4 c. granola (with no raisins or other dried fruit)
3/4 c. graham cracker crumbs (from about 6 whole graham crackers)
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
3 T. sugar

Baked Layer:
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 c. Key lime juice or lime juice
3 large egg yolks

Chilled Layer:
8 oz. package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
1/4 c. Key lime juice or lime juice
2 T. sugar
1 t. vanilla extract

Sweetened whipped cream

For crust: Pre-heat oven to 340 degrees. Using on/off turns, blend granola in processor until coarsely ground. Transfer granola to medium bowl. Mix in graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, and sugar. Press crumb mixture over bottom and up sides of 9" deep-dish glass pie dish. Bake until crust is golden brown, about 8 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees. Remove crust from oven and cool completely.
For baked layer: Whisk condensed milk, lime juice, and egg yolks in medium bowl to blend. Pour into pie crust. Bake until custard is set, about 25 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
For chilled layer: Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, condensed milk, lime juice, sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Pour over cooled baked layer, smooth top. Cover and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated.) Pipe sweetened whipped cream decoratively around edge of pie. Cut into wedges and serve.

Blueberry Pie

You can never have enough pie. It's true. There are so many kinds, so many different techniques; I have to try them all. So, in the past two weeks, I have baked two berry pies. I was required to make a black raspberry pie--our berry bushes were dripping with them and I couldn't let them go to waste. So I made muffins with them, too. But I'll save that post for another day.

Today I wanted to share the beautiful simplicity of a good blueberry pie. I hadn't made one before, but it seemed appropriate for the Fourth of July. And my mom was here to help out and she makes the best pie crust I've ever had. Seriously. If you put a pie in front of me and it doesn't have her crust on it, I won't eat it. That's how biased I am. Thankfully, she taught me everything she knows about the art of pie dough and now I can have a pie whenever I want. Which is often, since it's my favorite dessert. Well, that and cheesecake, but one dessert at a time.

The trick to making a good crust is not to overwork it. Just like a quick bread or a cake, overworked pie dough gets tough. It's important not to stir too much, if you're making it by hand. Just toss and fluff the flour as you add the water until the dough comes together on its own. The other important thing is to have a really good filling. As good as pie crust is, it needs to complement the ingredients inside. Which brings me to the blueberries. I was a little concerned that it wouldn't set up and berry juice would leak all over the oven. The recipe I used included flour as a thickener, surely not enough to soak up all the juices. As it turns out, it was perfect. A hint of cinnamon, a sprinkle of lemon juice and lots of blueberries. The texture of the filling was absolutely lush. The berries were soft, without being mushy and the flavor was rich and just sweet enough. It was the best berry pie I'd ever made and I'll definitely be making one again. Just with a different recipe. I won't know until I try them ALL if this is as good as it gets. But it's a good place to start.

Blueberry Pie
 from Betty Crocker's Cookbook
Serves 8

Pastry for Two Crust 9'' Pie
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/2 t. cinnamon, if desired
6 c. blueberries
1 T. lemon juice
1 T. butter

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Make pastry (see previous post for ingredients and steps). Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon in large bowl. Stir in berries. Turn into pastry-lined pie plate Sprinkle any remaining sugar mixture over berry mixture. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Cut butter into small pieces; sprinkle over blueberries. Cover with top pastry, flute and cut vents in top. Cover edges with strips of aluminum foil to prevent excess browning; remove during last 15 minutes of baking. Bake 35-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juice begins to bubble through slits. Cool on wire rack at least 2 hours.

First Berry Pie of the Summer

It's summer in northeastern Ohio. It feels like it. The sun is shimmering, the humidity is rising and the air is heavy with a breeze that could have come out of an oven. Some would say this is the time to get out of the house. Go out to eat. But for me, summer is just another reason to stay in.... in the kitchen, that is. I'm all for being outside. Bring on the picnics and the grilled everything, but I'll be bringing homemade pie with me. Any objections? I didn't think so.

Summer means fresh fruit pies for me, (along with grilled burgers, crunchy salads and ice cream) so I would like to share a recipe I tried for Razzle Dazzle Berry Pie from Bon Appetit. It calls for raspberries and blackberries, but I just used the black raspberries from the bushes in our back yard. The filling is simply berries, sugar, orange juice concentrate and some cornstarch to thicken. The end result was delicious-- like homemade jam delicious. It tastes like summertime and it looks like home to me. I use a pastry recipe with shortening; that's what my mom uses and how she taught me to make pie. I'd like to use butter in pastry because I love the taste, but this pie crust is so delicious and so reliable, I haven't experimented with any others....yet. I have plenty of recipes to try out and I want to share them all. Just thinking about all the possibilities excites me and I hope this blog will inspire you to create, to play with flavors and to discover all the many ways they can sing.

Pie Crust (9" double crust)

2 2/3 c. flour

1 t. salt

1 c. shortening

7-8 T. cold water

Combine flour and salt in medium mixing bowl. Cut in shortening until it is the size of peas. One tablespoon at a time, sprinkle in water, stirring lightly with a wooden spoon after each, until dough comes together. Pat into a ball and divide in half. Proceed with filling.

Razzle Dazzle Berry Pie from Bon Appetit, July 2006

Filling:

1/2 c. plus 1 T. sugar

1/4 c. cornstarch

1/4 c. water

1/4 c. frozen orange juice concentrate

3 c. fresh/ frozen and thawed raspberries (12 oz.)

2 c. fresh/ frozen and thawed blackberries (8 oz.)

1 T. milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix 1/2 c. sugar and cornstarch in medium skillet. Add water and stir over medium-high heat until mixture thickens and begins to boil. Remove from heat and stir in orange juice concentrate. Add berries and stir to coat. Roll out one portion of pie dough to about 10-11" round. Roll dough around rolling pin and transfer to 9" pie plate. Pour berry filling in. Roll out rest of dough and cover filling in same manner. Trim edge of pastry, if needed and crimp decoratively. Cut in some vents for steam to escape and line crust with three strips of foil to prevent over-browning. Brush top of pie with milk, if desired. Place pie on lined baking sheet to catch any drips, then bake until juices are bubbling and crust is golden brown, about 1 hour and 45 minutes. (Maybe this baking time is for frozen berries? I don't think mine took this long. I made this before I knew I would be sharing it with the world, or I would have paid more attention to details like this. The pie should be done when the juices bubble and the crust is browned to your liking.) Remove foil strips for last 15 minutes of baking to brown edges. Cool pie on a rack at least 1 hour before serving with vanilla ice cream.

*Some of the directions for baking and assembling are my own additions. The original recipe calls for a butter crust, freezing it briefly and then cutting it into a lattice pattern. I prefer more crust on my pie, and it's much simpler to do.