Peachy Keen

There's something wonderful about a peach picked fresh from a tree, sun kissed and blushing pink; it's summer embodied and package to fit in the palm of your hand. I was spoiled growing up and had three peach trees in my small back yard that would give my family several bushels of fruit each year. But while we ate fresh peaches and canned our peaches, we never did bake any of them. Now flash forward many years later and I just made my first peach pie last weekend.

As desserts go, pies are something wonderfully warm, straightforward, and simply good. There's an elegant to its elements: the crust, a filling, and topping. And I'm very fond of fruit pies in general. I usually make at least one apple pie during the holidays and a couple berry pies in the spring and summer, if there's occasion. But a peach pie was never on my baking radar probably because I never found a recipe I was tempted to make—I've made my fair share of peach cobblers, though.



But that all changed when I grabbed a couple food magazines, Bon Appétit and Gourmet to be precise, from the airport newsstand for light reading on my flight to Washington DC. Bon Appétit's July issue article on "Luscious Fruit Pies" proved too must to resist; I wanted to make every one of their summer pies: Summer Peach Pie, Triple-Cherry Pie, and Wild Blueberry Pie.

Of the three, the peach pie was the most intriguing with its vanilla sugar and cardamom; it didn't seem like an ordinary peach pie—and it wasn't. The spiked sugar and intense spice added a noticeable warmth and pleasant complexity to the peach filling; although if I were to make the pie again, I would cut the cardamom in half, a scant 1/2 teaspoon as oppose to a scant 1-teaspoon. I felt the whole teaspoon created a spicy depth that sacrificed some clean sweet flavor I would have preferred more of. And while the recipe suggested keeping the skins on, I peel them off my peaches—I'm a purist in that way—but I might experiment with leaving them on the next time.


SUMMER PEACH PIE WITH VANILLA AND CARDAMOM

Makes 8 servings.

INGREDIENTS
2/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon (scant) ground cardamom
3 3/4 pounds firm but ripe unpeeled peaches, halved, pitted, each half cut into 4 slices (about 10 cups)

2 Best-Ever Pie Crust dough disks
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Whipping cream (for glaze)
Vanilla ice cream

PREPARATION
Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 400°F. Combine 2/3 cup sugar and vanilla bean in processor; blend until vanilla bean is very finely minced. Sift vanilla sugar through strainer into large bowl; discard any large bits in strainer. Mix flour and cardamom into vanilla sugar. Add peaches to flour-sugar mixture and toss gently to coat.

Roll out 1 pie crust disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Trim dough overhang to 1/2 inch. Spoon peach mixture into crust; dot with butter. Roll out second pie crust disk on lightly floured surface to 12-inch round. Drape dough over peach filling; trim overhang to 1 1/2 inches. Fold top and bottom edges under, pressing together to seal. Crimp edges decoratively. Using small sharp knife, cut 2-inch-long X in center of top crust to allow steam to escape. Brush crust lightly with whipping cream; sprinkle with remaining 2 teaspoons sugar.

Place pie on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until crust is golden, peaches are tender, and juices bubble thickly through cut in top crust, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool until lukewarm, about 2 hours.

Serve pie lukewarm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.

Bon Appétit, July 2007
Jeanne Thiel Kelley

Turkey Day Apple Cranberry Pie

It was a quiet Thanksgiving with friends for me. On the buffet table was turkey with all the traditional trimmings—yams, mash potatoes, stuffing, and green beans. And since it was Thanksgiving, I really tucked in; I pushed aside any concerns about calories, piled my plate high, and went back for seconds without any guilt

For my part, I brought an apple pie to the meal. I can enjoy a good piece of pie anytime, but I only seem to bake pies between Thanksgiving and Christmas; although I might make the odd berry pie in the suumer. And my pie baking during the holiday season always includes a least one apple pie. This year tried a new recipe from Food & Wine for a double-crust apple cranberry pie. I added a few squirts of fresh squeezed orange juice to the sliced apples, but otherwise I followed the directions below. The cranberries made the pie somewhat tart. While I didn't mind, I could see that others might prefer a sweeter apple pie with a more traditional warm spice flavor.

APPLE CRANBERRY PIE

Ingredients

Double-Crust Pastry
1 1/2 pounds tart apples
1 cup fresh cranberries, rinsed and picked over
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Directions

On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the Double-Crust Pastry into an 11-inch round about 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the round to a 9-inch pie pan and fit it against the bottom and sides without stretching. Using a small sharp knife, trim the dough flush with the rim. Refrigerate the pie shell for 30 minutes.

Using a small sharp knife, peel, quarter and core the apples. Slice them lengthwise 1/4 inch thick. In a medium bowl, toss the apples with the cranberries, sugar, flour, orange zest, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Pour the filling into the pie shell. Dot with the butter.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Lightly moisten the edge of the pie shell with cold water. Roll out the other half of the Double-Crust Pastry into a 12-inch round and drape it over the pie. Trim the overhanging dough to 1/2 inch. Tuck the excess dough under the rim of the bottom pie shell and press to seal; crimp decoratively. Using a small sharp knife, cut 3 or 4 steam vents in the top.

Bake the pie for 20 minutes. Cover the rim with foil to prevent overbrowning. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the apples feel tender when a cake tester is inserted into the center of the pie.

Transfer to a rack to cool.


DOUBLE-CRUST PASTRY

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening or lard
4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Directions

In a food processor, combine the flour and salt and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening and process until the mixture is rough textured, with particles the size of peas.

Add 3 tablespoons of the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing briefly after each addition. Add another tablespoon of the water and pulse just until the dough begins to hold together. Add 1 more tablespoon of water if necessary.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and gather it into a ball, handling it as little as possible. Divide the dough in half. Pat the 2 pieces into disks, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes or overnight before rolling out.