Perfect Peach Pie

No summer is complete without a straight-up peach pie.

Perfect Peach Pie
ingredients:
pastry dough sufficient for two pie crusts
about 12 peaches, peeled, pitted, & sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
4 T. arrowroot starch
1/2 t. cinnamon

Mix all the filling in a large bowl. Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Pour filling in. Roll out upper crust, place on top, cut vent, and crimp to seal edges. Bake at 425F for 25 min, then reduce heat to 350F and bake for another 40-50 min, until crust is golden and fruit goo starts splashing out of the crust vent.

Current Pie Tally: 94

Apples are In

Our second trip to my mother's beach cottage this summer warranted this Apple Crumb Pie. I don't like to show up empty-handed. I used Gingergold apples from the farmer's market and it came out great. For the recipe, click here. I made my own standby pie crust rather than using the one in the recipe. I did pre-bake the crust. The other substitution is that I used 3T of fresh orange juice instead of the 1T fresh lemon juice and 2T apple cider. Also, I did not cook the apple filling separately as the recipe suggests. Instead, I threw everything into the pie raw and baked it for about 1.5 hours instead of 40 minutes.

In other farmer's market apple news, I've entered a pie contest on September 16. I might make two pies if they'll allow it - one sweet and one savory. Otherwise, I'll have to decide between a daring entry like Apple Shallot Pie and a traditonal two-crust Apple Pie or Apple Crumb Pie. "A panel of distinguished judges, including Takoma Park Mayor Bruce Williams, will judge the pies based on creativity, appearance, taste and texture. Prizes will be awarded..." If you live nearby, come on out to cheer me on. Judging is at 10:30am. Slices will be sold for charity afterwards.

Current Pie Tally: 93

"Thanks for Babysitting" Pie

This Cherry Blackberry Pie was a "thank you" for my mom. She watched my son for a week, so my husband and I could go gallivanting around Europe. It tasted like summer and fulfilled all of my expectations. I even got to try out mom's new food processor, which made me a touch jealous. I think it's nicer than my own - larger capacity and very strong motor. Without further ado, here is the recipe:

Cherry Blackberry Pie

ingredients:
pastry dough sufficient for two pie crusts
1 large bag of cherries, pitted and halved
2 pints of blackberries
1 cup sugar
1/4 c. quick-cooking tapioca

Mix all the filling in a large bowl. Squish it up with your hands to get the cherry-berry juices flowing. Roll out bottom crust and place in pie dish. Pour filling in. Roll out upper crust, place on top, cut vent, and crimp to seal edges. Bake at 425F for 25 min, then reduce heat to 350F and bake for another 50-60 min, until crust is golden and fruit goo starts splashing out of the crust vent.

Current Pie Tally: 92

Soupy Vacation Pie

I threw this Rhubarb Custard Pie together with all of the leftover rhubarb I had in the fridge. In retrospect, I should have been more meticulous about measuring the amount of rhubarb that went into the pie. I definitely added more than 4 c. As a result, the proportions of the pie were off and it didn't set properly. It's possible that leaving it in the oven a bit longer might have also solved the problem. At any rate, it tasted delicious, but the texture left something to be desired. The recipe can be found here. Bake at 400F for 50-60 min. (I took this one out of the oven after 48 min, which was a mistake).

Current Pie Tally: 91