Peach Pie

Pie and I have not always been the best of friends. After my last relative success, I decided that the stress to fun ratio for pie was too high. So I faced the fact that it's my weak spot and I gave up trying. I don't regret a lot in my life, but that was indeed a poor decision.



Pie is a really interesting concept. There are a million different ways to vary the preparation: one crust or 2, the type of fat used in the crust, and the type of thickener and fruit(s) used in the filling, for example. All resulting in relatively similar final products. I've come to realize that making a good pie is about finding the right combination of all these variables in any given situation, which takes a lot of patience. I had assumed that because I made a few pies that I wasn't happy with in the past, that I wasn't good at pie, but that's not true at all. I just had to try. A lot.

I've been hearing a lot about pie this summer. Maybe I'm just more aware of it this year, but everywhere I turn-- blogs, podcasts, restaurants-- all have pie on the brain. The biggest thing I've learned from all of this is that there's no "right" way to make pie. It all comes down to personal preference and practice, practice, practice. Armed with this knowledge and surrounded by gorgeous California fruit, I was overcome with the burning desire to make a peach pie. So I summoned all my courage and did just that.



For the top crust, I used a technique I saw in a magazine once: use a circular cookie cutter to cut rounds of dough and arrange them in concentric circles around the top of the pie. This trick is key if you're a total klutz like me when it comes to handling and shaping pie dough. I used quick-cooking tapioca as the thickener, which worked great but left little tapioca pearls inside the pie which was a bit strange. Next time I'll use tapioca flour.

This was most definitely the tastiest and best-looking pie I've made so far. I'm hooked now. Can't wait to try again, and again, and again. It's almost apple time!

Double Pie Crust
Adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Williams Sonoma
Makes 2 9-inch pie crusts

Note: all divided
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
16 tbsp. cold, unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into small pieces
6 tbsp. ice water
1 egg, beaten

1. To make the first crust, combine the half of the flour, half the sugar and half the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix briefly to blend. Add in half of 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 half of the cold water on low speed just until the dough comes together.

2. Shape the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. (This dough can be frozen for up to 2 months.)

3. Repeat the process with the remaining ingredients (except the egg, you'll use that later) to make the 2nd crust. While the dough is chilling, make the pie filling.

Peach Pie Filling
Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
Makes filling for 1 9-inch pie

2 pounds of peaches (6-10 peaches, depending on size)
Juice of 1 lime
About 1/2 cup sugar (more if the peaches aren't quite ripe)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon or apple pie spice
2 tbsp instant tapioca or tapioca flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into bits

1. Preheat oven to 450F.

2. Peel the peaches: Bring a pot of water to a boil and drop the peaches into it, a couple at a time, for 10-30 seconds, until the skin begins to loosen. Plunge into a bowl of ice water. Slip the skins off, using a paring knife to ease the process. Pit, slice, and toss with the lime juice.

3. Mix together the dry ingredients and toss the peaches with this mixture.

Peach Pie
A Playing House original method

1. Remove one of the crusts from the refrigerator. Working quickly, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface, flouring more as needed to prevent the dough from sticking as you work.
When the dough is large enough to fit a 9-inch pie dish, transfer the crust to the dish. Use whichever method feels the most comfortable to transfer the dough: slide it, drape it over your rolling pin, pick it up and drop it. Just make sure it's intact when it arrives!

2. Shape or flute the edges of the crust if you'd like.

3. Drain any excess juice that has collected from your peaches, then pour the peach mixture on top of the pie crust. Stud the peaches evenly with the small butter bits.

4. Remove the other crust from the refrigerator and roll it out. Don't worry about making it perfectly round, we're going to butcher this one. Take a cookie cutter (the one I used was 2 inches round with fluted edges) and cut out circles of dough. Place a circle in the middle and build a spiral of circles until the whole pie is covered. You may need to gather dough scraps and re-roll the crust to get enough.

5. Lightly beat an egg with a splash of water. Using a pastry brush, paint the entire crust with egg wash. Sprinkle with granulated or turbinado sugar if desired.

6. If you have a pie crust shield, place it on your pie now. If not, go buy one! Kidding. Make a makeshift crust shield using aluminum foil and place it on the pie.

7. Bake the pie at 450F for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350 and bake until golden brown, 40-50 minutes more. Do not underbake.

8. Remove pie from oven and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Printable Recipe

Grandma Ida's Orange Cake

Let me tell you about one of the most meaningful, touching gifts I've ever gotten.



Recently, my mother-in-law put together a very special recipe book for me. It's a handmade collection of recipes from her mother, who passed away right around the time I met Andy. On the cover is a picture of my adolescent husband and his grandmother, and inside are photocopies of pastry recipes in Grandma Ida's own handwriting. I never got to meet Grandma Ida, but she now lives on in my kitchen.



This recipe in particular stood out among the rest because of a little comment that Grandma Ida wrote in at the end: (tastes good). She was right.



Grandma Ida's Orange Cake
A Playing House Original
Printable Recipe

For the cake:
1/2 c vegetable shortening
1 c sugar
2 large eggs
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp orange rind
3/4 c sour cream

For the glaze:
1/2 c freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 c sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine shortening and sugar until well blended. Add eggs and mix to combine. Sift flour and baking soda together and add to sugar mixture.

3. Stir in orange rind and sour cream, and pour mixture into a well-greased bundt (or other circular) pan.

4. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. While the cake is still warm, invert onto a cake plate. Combine orange juice and sugar until sugar dissolves (microwave for a bit if needed) and pour over the warm cake. Enjoy!

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Heat of summer got ya down? Have an insatiable need for cookies but don't want to turn the oven on? I'm here to save the day.



To be fair, these no-bake cookies, a family recipe from my friend Bonnie, do require a bit of stove time. So they don't avoid artificial heat sources completely. However, they're quite a crowd-pleaser and an easy way to get a sweet fix. Plus, they have oats in them, so they're healthy. Bonus!

No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Bonnie
Printable Recipe

2 c sugar
1/2 c milk
1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 c cocoa powder
3 c dry quick cook oats
1/2 c peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

1. Combine first four ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil hard (bubbles that you can't stir down) for one minute. Remove from heat. Stir in remaining ingredients.

2. Drop quickly onto waxed paper, by heaping teaspoons. Refrigerate to harden.

Watermelon Chips

It's no secret that we like to play with our food in our house. Out of morbid curiosity, we decided to see what would happen if we put watermelon in our food dehydrator. I didn't have high hopes for this. I mean, come on, it's watermelon!



But it turns out that I was pleasantly surprised. Now, obviously, it's not nearly as amazing as biting into fresh watermelon. But it's certainly a valid snack in its own right. The texture is almost like a chip. A bit softer in places, and a bit chewy in places, but mostly crisp, in a good way. The flavor reminded me of watermelon Jolly Ranchers or other fake watermelon-y candy.

All in all, this was definitely one of our more successful food dehydrator experiments so far. Do you have a food dehydrator? What's your favorite thing to suck the moisture out of?

Watermelon Chips: A Photo Tutorial
An original Playing House recipe

1/2 medium watermelon
Food dehydrator

First do this:


Then do this:


Wait about 12 hours, then flip the slices over. Wait 10-12 more hours. While you're waiting, feel free to do this:



Next time you peek, you should have watermelon chips that look like that top picture up there. Enjoy!

A Day in My Life

For a glimpse into my new Bay Area life, pop over to EAD Living for a Day in the Life of Amy I. While you're there, take a look around-- my lovely fellow columnists at EADL have each written a "Day in the Life" post too. I've loved the personal little peek into the lives of such interesting women.



Now if I could just find a few quiet moments to go grocery shopping...

Cherry Brown Butter Bars

Every now and then, I'll get really excited and hyper and tell you that a recipe is the best thing I've made in a long time. These Cherry Brown Butter Bars? The best thing I've made in a very, very, very long time.



It doesn't hurt that I had some gorgeous California cherries to work with. But the cherries are only one part of what makes this rich, buttery bar cookie so good. It's that elusive custardy quality that I've never seen in a bar or cookie before, but appears so magically here with very little effort. It's sort of like a clafoutis with a cookie crust that you can pick up and eat with your hands.

Use any fruit here, but if you can find fresh Bing cherries, and have a pitter on hand, don't miss out on the original!

Cherry Brown Butter Bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Makes 16 bars
Printable Recipe

Crust:
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Pinch of salt

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
1 pound sweet cherries, which will yield 12 ounces of pitted cherries (or 12 ounces of the berry of your choice)

1. Make crust: Preheat over to 375°F. Cut two 12-inch lengths of parchment paper and trim each to fit the 8-inch width of an 8×8-inch square baking pan. Press it into the bottom and sides of your pan in one direction, then use the second sheet to line the rest of the pan, perpendicular to the first sheet.

2. Using rubber spatula or fork, mix melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in medium bowl. Add flour and salt and stir until incorporated. Transfer dough to your prepared pan, and use your fingertips to press the dough evenly across the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust until golden, about 18 minutes (it will puff slightly while baking). Transfer crust to rack and cool in pan. Maintain oven temperature.

3. Make the filling: Cook butter in heavy small saucepan (a lighter-colored one will make it easier to see the color changing, which happens quickly) over medium heat until deep nutty brown (do not burn), stirring often and watching carefully, about six minutes. Immediately pour browned butter into glass measuring cup to cool slightly.

4. Whisk sugar, eggs, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add flour and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk browned butter into sugar-egg mixture; whisk until well blended.

5. Arrange pitted cherries, or the berries of your choice, in bottom of cooled crust. Carefully pour browned butter mixture evenly over the fruit. Bake bars until filling is puffed and golden and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Cool bars completely in pan on rack.

6. Use the parchment paper overhang to carefully remove cooled bars from pan and place them on a cutting board and cut them into squares with a very sharp knife. The cherries, if they fall over your slicing lines, will want to give you trouble but if you saw a sharp knife into them slowly before pressing down, they’ll cut neatly and with minimum carnage.

Pasta Salad with Tomatoes & Corn

This is one of those dishes that tastes like summer in a bowl. Fresh tomatoes, fresh corn, fresh basil, and a healthy dose of garlic all make this my new favorite thing to eat.



I like this recipe because it's versatile. Although the recipe is perfect as written, you can use virtually any type of oil, vinegar, herbs, veggies, and pasta shape all to make it your own. It's also ideal as a side dish or a main course for lunch or dinner. I'm planning on using this as a jumping-off point to make lunches to take to work with me this week. I'll let you know how it goes!

Take heed with the red wine vinegar. The flavor can be a bit overpowering if you're not a fan of strong, tangy flavors. If you feel like it may be too much, start with 4 tablespoons and add more if needed.

Pasta Salad with Tomatoes & Corn
Adapted from Bon Appetit
Printable Recipe
Serves 4-6

5 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
2 large garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (cut from 3 ears) or frozen, thawed
1 1/4 pounds plum tomatoes, chopped
8 ounces penne pasta, freshly cooked
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Whisk 4 tablespoons oil, vinegar, basil and garlic in large bowl to blend.

2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add corn; sauté 3 minutes. Add corn to dressing in bowl.

3. Add tomatoes, pasta and cheese to bowl and toss to blend. Season salad with salt and pepper.