I made a couple of peach pies today (one for a new neighbor who looks like she could be babysitter material, and one for a famous anthropologist). Just your basic peaches, lemon juice, sugar, a bit of flour, sprinkle of ground cloves, and minced crystallized ginger. I used about half butter and half shortening in the crust—not so great. Yes, it tastes buttery, but it was very difficult to work with, and the finished texture is too crumbly—that is, it doesn't flake into big shards but into little crumbs. I think I should have been working with frozen butter and cold shortening on a day like this, hot and muggy, instead of room-temperature shortening and chilled butter. Oh well; it tastes fine.
I know it tastes fine, because I used the scraps to make my favorite little treat-for-the-cook.
Low-fat snack: Roll the pastry dough scraps into a circle and put it on a cake pan or something. Spread it with soft butter and sprinkle with plenty of sugar. Fold up the edges (see picture). Brush with a little leftover egg wash. Into the center, pour about a capful of brandy and one of Cointreau (or two capfuls of one or the other, or rum, or bourbon; if you don't use Cointreau, sprinkle some cinnamon on it too). Bake with the pies until browned and bubbly and running over.
We now have one piece of furniture (and two guitars and a dog crate) in the dining room:
I know it tastes fine, because I used the scraps to make my favorite little treat-for-the-cook.
2 comments:
The charming pies are only surpassed by the morsel for the cook...mmmmmm looks good.
Baby says, "Bring on the pie, Mom."
Post a Comment