Friday, October 15, 2010

Peach Pie

In The Merlot Murders, Lucie Montgomery goes out to lunch with her best friend, and they have peach pie for dessert.

Peaches are just in season here, fresh and local. As a bonus, I also have an excellent pie crust recipe to pass along, as well.

Pie Crust

I got this delicious, flaky pie crust recipe from Colleen Hammond. It really is the best recipe I've ever tried, and, believe me, I've failed at many a pie crust! For years, I would only use those frozen pre-rolled crusts, that's how traumatized I was from bad crust. Something told me to give this one a shot, and I couldn't be happier. Even my Head Taste Tester, who does not usually like pie crust, liked this one. I used a pastry blender to combine the shortening with the flour mixture, and I mixed the liquids in by hand. It was very simple to do. It makes enough for four single crusts (9" pies). I wrapped the rest in the freezer for pies or even to top pot pies.

Ingredients:
  • 4 cups flour
  • 1 ¾ cups shortening
  • 4 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 each egg
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • ½ cup water, very cold
Directions:
Beat egg, vinegar and water. Set aside.

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles small coarse crumbs.

Add liquids and mix with a fork until it just forms into a ball. Chill for 15 minutes or so. Roll out as needed.



Peach Pie

Ingredients:
  • 10 fresh peaches, pitted and sliced
  • cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup white sugar
  • ¼ cup butter
  • 1 each 9" double crust pie recipe
Directions:
1. Mix flour, sugar and butter into crumb stage.

2. Place one crust in the bottom of a 9 inch pie plate. Line the shell with some sliced peaches. Sprinkle some of the butter mixture on top of the peaches, then put more peaches on top of the the crumb mixture. Continue layering until both the peaches and crumbs are gone.

3. Top with lattice strips of pie crust.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until crust is golden. Allow pie to cool in the oven for several hours before slicing.