PIE DAY!

3.14

   Happy Pie Day! Today is easily in my top 5 "Best Day of the Year". However, making a pie where I live can take a toll mentally and emotionally. The weather has to be perfect for a good pie crust day, if any moisture is in the air or it is too dry, boy it makes it seam like a nearly impossible feat to complete. I did it though! It was definitely not my day today, and I may have wanted to cry two or three times during it, but I finished.  

   To start out I didn't have any Crisco in the house. My go-to pie crust recipe is by far Betty Crocker's. Betty's requires lard or Crisco though, and I only had like a fourth of a cup, so I had to get creative. I think today is actually the first day I have ever tried another pie crust recipe. The pie crust recipe I used is actually from the same recipe I used for the filling. Both can be found here. I will do another post on the pie crust. 

   I would just like to say that it is definitely NOT peach or raspberry season where I live. However, it looked so good I had to try it somehow. My family cans fresh peaches every year so I was able to use those instead of fresh ones. If you choose to do this there are a few things to keep in mind. 
    1. Canned fruit has been sitting in sugar water for a long time, which makes them a lot sweeter than if using fresh ones. Because of this I cut half the sugar out of the recipe.  
    2. Canned fruit is a lot softer so don't go ham when you're stirring in the cornstarch and such. 
    3. Canned fruit is a lot juicer, so I didn't use the full one half cup of liquid it called for and mine still ended up being way juicy. 

  

   Also I used frozen raspberries, which were hand picked by my family. I let them sit out for a while before I used them. There ended up being lot of excess liquid which I ended up having to strain out.  

   As I was looking through my fridge and cabinets I couldn't find my lemons anywhere. I knew I had some, but they were just gone! Frazzled and frustrated I just threw in lime juice. Then as soon as I took the pie out of the oven I FOUND THE LEMONS!! I was so mad and felt so stupid hahah. So in case you only have lime juice instead of lemon, it is totally okay.  

   I don't know if it was just because I was super slow today and kept getting distracted, but this pie took me a good 3 1/2 hours to finish, if not more. The pie crust itself took forever. There was a lot of letting it cool in the fridge, but the end product turned out very tasty. However, it was just a major off day for me because I ended up not cooking it for long enough! I had taken the pie out for like 20 minutes before I took a bite and the entire bottom of the crust was doughy. I was so mad. I ended up throwing it back in the oven for another 20 minutes on 375 so we could eat it.

   The recipe itself is actually really easy to follow. I just don't think it was a good judgment call to make a summer pie in basically winter where I live. So my bad! I mean it ended up still tasting delicious, but oh my goodness... it was the biggest pain to finish. 

    My biggest tip on this recipe is when it says to cook it less if you don't want yours "deeply caramelized" if you cook it for anytime under 45 minutes it WON'T be done. I honestly don't know what I was thinking, I just didn't want mine to be too done, but big fail on my part. I don't think you can screw up more than me when making this pie, but if you do just know you can come back from it and still end up with a delicious pie that will bring a little bit of summer in on any day. 

  

Peach-Raspberry Pie  

• 1 recipe flaky pie dough
• 3 lbs firm-ripe peaches (about 6 large)
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste
• 2 ½ tablespoons cornstarch, divided
• 9 tablespoons sugar, divided
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• Pinch salt
• 8 oz raspberries (about 2 cups)

*Notes: Peaches can release a lot of juice once you sprinkle sugar on them. If your peaches give off a lot of liquid, you’ll need to pour most of it off before baking to avoid a soggy crust and loose filling.

- Cutting your peaches into large slices (about 1 inch) limits the surface area and also helps limit the amount of liquid they give off.

Directions 

  When you are ready to bake the pie, arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 425°F. 

 Cut the peaches into slices about 1-inch thick and place them in a large mixing bowl. Gently toss with the lemon juice and ½ cup of the sugar. Set aside to rest for 20-30 minutes. Pour off the juice from the peaches discarding all of it except for ½ cup. Toss the peaches (and ½ cup juice) with two tablespoons of the cornstarch, the ginger and a pinch of salt. 

 Place the raspberries in a medium mixing bowl and toss with the remaining 1 ½ teaspoons of the cornstarch and 1 tablespoon of sugar. 

 To fill the pie crust, pour half of the peach slices onto your well-chilled or frozen bottom crust. Arrange half of the raspberries over the peaches. Top with the rest of the peach slices and then the rest of the raspberries. Cover your fruit with your top crust. (Here’s a great tutorial on how to weave a lattice-top crust if you want to go that route.) Trim the edges to overhang by 1/2 inch. Fold the top edges of the lattice inside the bottom crust. Place the filled and topped pie back in the freezer to chill for 15-20 minutes. 

 I know, I know. There’s a lot of chilling and freezing and waiting around. But taking the time to par-freeze your pie will keep the crust from slumping in the oven and make sure that lattice turns out gorgeously. :)

 Brush the top crust with cream, milk or egg wash and then sprinkle with the turbinado, demerara or sanding sugar. Place the pie on a sheet pan and bake until the crust is lightly browned, about 30 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F and continue baking until the crust is dark golden brown, about 45-60 minutes longer. I like my crust deeply caramelized; if you like yours less dark, feel free to take your pie out earlier.

 Remove the pie from the oven and allow it to cool a bit and firm up before slicing. Leftovers keep best covered at room temperature overnight. If you need to keep your pie for more than a day, cover tightly and store in the fridge.

Makes 6-8 servings.