Pie day! (two months and one day late)

Today we decided to challenge ourselves and make two pies!  We made a white peach pie with crumble on top, and a beautiful lemon meringue with NO wilting (I'm still not sure what that means but it apparently happens to meringue and it's bad).

They turned out absolutely perfectly, even though we used white peaches instead of yellow and had a near catastrophe with the egg whites.  But everything was salvaged and in the process (after cracking and separating one too many eggs) I discovered that an egg yolk fits almost perfectly into a Tablespoon!

Since we used our second pie crust to make the lemon meringue, we didn't use the egg wash and instead used a crumble on top.

Also, as Becky shared with me, the fastest way to peel peaches is to dip them in boiling water for 30 seconds, plunge them into ice-water, and the peels slide right off!

Peach Pie
(originally from Annie's Eats)

PIE CRUST

1¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. sugar
¼ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 tbsp. very cold water

Combine the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Mix briefly to blend.  Add in the butter pieces and mix on medium-low speed to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse sand and the largest butter pieces are not much bigger than peas.  Mix in the cold water on low speed just until the dough comes together.  Roll into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.


CRUMBLE
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, diced

In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar and flour. Mix in butter with a fork or food processor just until the topping is crumbly. Top your pie before baking.



PIE INGREDIENTS
Two rounds all-butter pie dough (enough for 1 double crust pie)
2¼ lbs. ripe peaches (about 10-12 medium peaches)
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. cornstarch
Dash of grated nutmeg
1 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 tbsp. cold butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp. water, for egg wash

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 425˚ F and place a baking sheet on the lowest oven rack to catch dripping juices.  Roll out half of the pie dough to approximately 12-inches round so that it fully lines a 9-inch pie plate with some overhang.  Transfer the lined pie plate to the refrigerator until ready to use.  Meanwhile, prep the filling.  Peel the peaches and slice them to ¼-inch thick slices.**  In a large bowl, combine the peach slices with the sugar, flour, cornstarch, and nutmeg.  Toss to coat.  Add in the lemon juice and rum and stir once more until well combined.

Remove the lined pie plate from the refrigerator and pour in the peach filling in an even layer.  Dot the top of the peaches with the pieces of cold butter.  Roll out the remaining pie dough to a 12-inch round.  Cut into strips with a pastry cutter or paring knife and weave together to form a lattice top.  (See this post for step-by-step photos and instructions.)  Trim away excess dough and crimp the edges together.  Lightly brush the top and edges of the pie dough with the egg wash.

Bake for 20 minutes, then decrease the oven temperature to 350˚ F and continue baking until the pie is golden brown and the juices are bubbling, about 30-40 minutes more.  (Check on the pie a few times during baking.  If it is browning too quickly, tent loosely with foil and continue baking as directed.)  Remove the finished pie to a wire rack and let cool until just warm, about 2 hours.  Slice and serve.



Lemon Meringue Pie
(originally from Betty Crocker)


Filling
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 1/2 cups water
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/2 cup lemon juice

Meringue
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat oven to 475°F. With floured rolling pin, roll pastry into round 2 inches larger than upside-down 9-inch glass pie plate (we used the pastry recipe from the peach pie). Fold pastry into fourths; place in pie plate. Unfold and ease into plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side. Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inch from rim of pie plate. Fold and roll pastry under, even with plate; flute as desired. Prick bottom and side of pastry thoroughly with fork. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown; cool on cooling rack.

2. Reduce oven temperature to 400°F. In small bowl, beat egg yolks with fork. In 2-quart saucepan, mix sugar and cornstarch; gradually stir in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil and stir 1 minute.

3. Immediately stir at least half of hot mixture into egg yolks; stir back into hot mixture in saucepan. Boil and stir 2 minutes; remove from heat. Stir in butter, lemon peel, lemon juice and food color. Pour into pie crust.

4. In medium bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar with electric mixer on high speed until foamy. Beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff and glossy. Do not underbeat. Beat in vanilla. Spoon onto hot pie filling. Spread over filling, carefully sealing meringue to edge of crust to prevent shrinking or weeping.  Make peaks or swirls in meringue if desired.

5. Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until meringue is light brown. Cool away from draft 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate cooled pie until serving. Store in refrigerator.

Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars

Yes, they really are as good as they sound. Slightly hard to divvy up afterwards, because they were so sticky  but after the first few were out of the pan, the rest slid out pretty well!

Pumpkin Bonanza Week

This week we made pumpkin scones with a spiced glaze, and pumpkin oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!  The scones were delicious, but the cookies may be my new favorite thing ever.  They were so easy to make, and turned out perfectly.  And how could they not with those ingredients????


Pumpkin Scones
(originally from RecipeGirl)



SCONES:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup canned pure (unsweetened) pumpkin
3 tablespoons half and half cream
1 large egg
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes

PLAIN GLAZE:
1/2 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
1 tablespoon milk (any kind)

SPICED ICING:
3/4 cup powdered sugar (sifted)
1 to 2 tablespoons milk (any kind)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
pinch of ground cloves

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Give it a light dusting of flour on top of that.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (through ginger).

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together pumpkin, half and half and egg.

4. Use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut butter into the dry ingredients. Continue cutting until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. (You may also use a food processor for this step. Pulse until the mixture resembles fine crumbs).

5. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients, then form the dough into a ball. The dough will be wet, but if it seems super sticky... just go ahead and sprinkle a little more flour into the dough until it's easier to handle. Remember, you want it to be somewhat sticky, and that's okay- but you also don't want it to stick to the baking sheet. Pat out dough onto the lightly floured baking sheet and form it into a 1-inch thick rectangle that is about 9-inches long and 3-inches wide. Use a large knife or a pizza cutter to slice the dough twice through the width, making three equal squares. Cut through the three squares diagonally so that you have 6 triangular slices of dough. Gently pull the triangles apart, leaving about 1/2-inch space between each one.

6. Bake 14 to 16 minutes on prepared baking sheet. Scones should begin to turn light brown.

7. While scones are cooling, prepare plain glaze by whisking ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix until smooth.

8. When scones are cool, use a knife to cut them apart and then pull them apart so that they are ready for glazing. Use a brush to paint a coating of the glaze over the top of each scone.

9. As the white glaze firms up, prepare spiced icing by whisking the ingredients in another medium bowl until smooth. Drizzle this thicker icing over each scone (or brush it on) and allow the icing to dry before serving.

Amazed we got to make any scones after not being able to resist eating the dough.

What could be better than liquid sugar and spice ?

Answer: sugar and spice with pumpkin.

Moist, yet firm.

And now for the cookies!!!!


Pumpkin oatmeal cookies
(originally from PickyCook.com)

2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/3 cups old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter - softened
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
combination of cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling on the tops of the dough.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with silpat or parchment paper.

Combine flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a bowl.

Cream butter, honey and sugars in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla - mix well.

Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not over mix. Chill dough for 30 minutes.

With a small scoop - drop cookie dough onto baking sheets. They should be a rounded tablespoon size. Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake 14 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for a couple minutes and then transfer to wire cooling rack.  Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Cookie cakes work too, as you can see!