Sunday, June 19, 2011

Peaches 2 Ways: Peach Crisp & Rustic Peach Pie

I bought a bulk amount of peaches this week.  I just couldn't resist their sweetness and the way the just melted in your mouth.  I did the only logical thing to do when one has too many peaches, added butter or bourbon (or both) and baked something delicious!  I have two recipes to share today.  The first I would recommend for a weeknight and the second I would recommend for the weekend. 

First up, peach crisp.


I wish you could at least smell this crisp's amazingness.
 I combined two recipes for this.  I found one for bouron peach hand pies at  Smitten Kitchen and one for apple crisp in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything.  I adapted the filling from the first recipe and used the crisp from the second. 

Ingredients:
for the filling
5-6 peaches, peeled, chopped, and pitted
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp bourbon
for the crisp
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
5 tbs cold butter, cut into bits
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup flour (either all-purpose or wheat)
dash salt

How to do:
Preheat the oven to 400. 
In a small bowl, combine the peaches with the sugar, vanilla, and bourbon.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, oats, flour, and salt.  I did this by hand, working the softened butter in with the other ingredients.  This can also be done with a food processor, a fork, or a pastry blender.  I went old school and used my clean hands. 

Pour the peaches in a greased (or buttered) 9 inch pie pan. Crumble the topping over the peach mixture and bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. 

Next up, Rustic Peach Pie!

I feel like the word "rustic" perfectly describes this pie.
This recipe came directly from Hungry Girl Por Vida.  The pie crust she used was from Martha Stewart.  I'm pretty sure 99% of the pies I found online used Martha's recipe.  She clearly knows her sh*t. 

I made this pie for my dad today and served with vanilla ice cream, it was the perfect Father's Day gift!  It didn't look all that beautiful, but luckily dads don't care about that kind of stuff.

Ingredients:
for the crust:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 sticks butter, cut into cubes
1/4 - 1/2 cup ice water
for the filling:
5-6 peaches, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean or 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp cornstarch

How to do:
Crust first.  Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt.  Chop the butter into cubes.  Mix the butter into the flour mixture with your clean hands until it resembles a crumbly mixture.  This takes a little while, so be patient.  To be honest, it was kind of relaxing and the mixture was so much softer than I expected.  Try to enjoy this step!  Next, add about 1/4 cup of the ice water and start forming the crust.  Add more water as needed until the crust is easy to work with.*  Form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. 
Mixture second.  In a bowl combine the vanilla bean paste and the sugar to make vanilla sugar.  Whisk in the cornstarch.  Mix in the peaches.  Let this mixture set aside while the crust is still chilling. 
Pie.  Roll the crust out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or if you're out, spray the baking sheet with Pam).  Pour the peach mixture into the center of the crust.  Bring the sides of the crust up around the mixture, leaving the middle exposed.  Sprinkle sugar on top. 
Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown. 

*I did not use enough water because I was afraid of it being runny and my crust came out drier than I would have liked.  It looked similar to a biscuit but tasted like pie crust.  Next time, I'll use more water.

I hope you try one of these recipes during the summer while peaches are in season. They are both very good and pretty simple and best when served to your family! 

And as my final thought, vanilla bean paste shuts it down.  Buy some soon!

Enjoy!

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