Peach Raspberry Pie

I get very happy when delicious fresh fruit is available at my local farm stands, the taste to me is so much more fresher, sweeter and real.  It's a joy to just eat the fruit in its natural form, but to bake with it is divine :)
It is peach and raspberry season here on Long Island, the perfect pairing for a fresh summer fruit pie!  

Recipe:
Use your favorite pie crust recipe or a store bought pie crust for the bottom of a 9" pie pan
For filling:
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp quick-cooking tapioca
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch of salt
4 cups peeled and sliced ripe peaches - approx 5-6 large peaches
1 cup fresh raspberries, washed and dried
For the crumb topping:
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together all of the filling ingredients except the fruit in a small bowl.  Place the fruit in a large bowl and sprinkle with the sugar mixture - making sure the fruit is thoroughly coated.  Place the filling in the pie shell.  Blend the first 5 topping ingredients in a food processor.  Add the chilled butter cubes and cut in by pulsing a few times until mixture resembles wet sand.  Sprinkle topping over the fruit filling, covering completely.  Bake in the oven on middle rack for 45- 55 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the juices are bubbling.  Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool about 1 hour before serving.  Top with vanilla ice cream or whip cream and enjoy!

OK so I didn't wait for it to completely cool - I like warm pie with cold ice cream!

 

Recipe adapted from : Perfect Pies, Michelle Stuart, book available
http://astore.amazon.com/rosscoubak-20/detail/0345524888
                

Looking Forward to Strawberry Season

 

I just received my April issue of Southern Living Magazine, and I'm loving it - lots of inspiration for the upcoming Strawberry season.  I'm lucky to have lots of farm stands here on the east end of Long Island, NY - where I get the just picked fresh strawberries.  They are so juicy and sweet, I wish the season lasted a little longer though. . . 
This issue reminded me of the strawberry tart I made last summer, this recipe does take some time and patience, but it is well worth it!

Strawberry Cream Tart  

Recipe
Tart Dough
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla on medium, scraping down the bowl as needed with a spatula, until smooth.  Add the egg yolk and blend until smooth about 1 minute.  Add the flour, mixing on low just until blended.  The dough will be crumbly, press dough into a disk and wrap in saran wrap refrigerating for 1/2 hour before rolling out.
Prepare Pastry Cream
1/4 cup cornstartch
3/4 cup sugar 
2 cups whole milk 
4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
Combine the cornstarch with 1/4 cup of the sugar in a mixing bowl, stir in 1/2 cup of the milk.  Stir the yolks into the cornstarch mixture with a wooden spoon until completely smooth.  Prepare an ice bath- by filling a large metal bowl with ice and water, this will be used to cool the pastry cream.  Combine the remaining 1 1/2 cups milk with the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the salt in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Temper the egg mixture by gradually adding about 1/3 of the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly.  Add the remaining milk mixture to the eggs.  Return the mixture to the saucepan and continue cooking over med heat, vigorously stirring (this is a work out for your arms) with a whisk, until the mixture comes to a boil and leaves a trail in the pastry cream, 5-7 mins.  As soon as the cream reaches this stage, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and butter.  Transfer the pan to the ice bath.  Stir occasionally until the pastry cream is cool, about 30 mins.  When cool transfer to a bowl and place wax paper on surface to prevent a skin from forming.  Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate.
While the cream is cooling, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Roll out the tart dough and line a 9 inch tart pan, roll a rolling pan over the top of pan to cut off edges evenly.  Blind bake the crust by covering it with parchment paper and dried beans to weigh it down, baking 10-12 mins until dough is just set and edges look dry.  Then remove the beans and parchment and continue to bake another 6-8 mins until edges are starting to brown and surfaces are evenly dry.  
Strawberry Topping
2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
1/2 cup strawberry jam
Heat the jam in a small saucepan over low heat until it is warm, then strain the jam through a sieve or metal strainer.  Spread the pastry cream in the tart shell in an even layer.  Arrange the strawberries over the surface of the pastry cream, filling the entire tart shell.  Use a pastry brush to coat the strawberries lightly with the warm jam.  Let the glaze set for about 15 mins in the refrigerator.  Keep covered and refrigerated until ready to serve.
Adapted from "Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America" a great book!

Enjoy!

Homemade Poptarts

 

 Shopping is one of my favorite activities and finding a bargain makes it even better.  Last time I was at the mall - William's Sonoma had a sale going on, look what I found:
 

A toaster pastry press to make poptarts at home!!! And a sandwich press which I plan on using for mini pies.  My favorite pop tart was always the glazed brown sugar cinnamon one.  Do you have a favorite pop tart flavor?  I wanted to try some with a fresh fruit filling to make them healthy and more like a fruit tart. So I set out to make home made pop tarts with fresh pastry and filling ingredients.  You don't need to purchase this set, these can be made without this press, just follow the steps but hand measure and cut out 4 1/2 X 3 1/2"rectangles for your bottoms and tops, when at the pressing step - press the edges down with a fork.
Making these pastries turned out to be pretty easy and was a fun process seeing them come together.  And the best part they were soooo delicious with the fresh pastry crust and real fillings, much better then the store bought ones!    Here are the steps:
 Make the pastry, recipe below, then mix desired fillings recipe and suggestions below

Roll out dough and cut out your bottom layer of pastry with outer ring of press, and fill centers with desired fillings, I used apple, brown sugar cinnamon and blueberry preserves

 

Roll out and cut out tops of pastries with same outer ring of  press and place on top of filling

 

Use your handy pop tart tool with the inner ring this time and press to crimp down edges, wa la, pop tarts!

 

Bake till golden brown about 25 minutes @350 degrees

 

Glaze your pastries as desired

 

Blueberry Poptarts with Cinnamon sugar glaze

Apple Poptarts with Cinnamon sugar glaze

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop Tarts with Cinnamon Sugar Glaze

Homemade Toaster Pastries Recipe

Pastry:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs sugar
2 sticks cold unsalted butter, diced
6-8 Tbs cold water
1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp water
Cinnamon Sugar Glaze:
3/4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
4 tsp milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon

In a food processor pulse together the four, salt and sugar until combined.  Add the butter and process until mixture resembles coarse meal, add the water and pulse a few more times until the dough holds together.  Divide dough in 1/2, wrap in saran wrap and shape into a disk, refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Roll out 1 of your doughs on a floured surface into a rectangle 1/8 inch thick.  Using the outer ring of the press, cut out 8 pastries, and place these bottoms on your prepared pan. Fill each bottom with desired fillings about 2 Tbs and spread leaving a 1/2 inch border.  Brush edges of bottoms with the beaten egg mixture.  Then roll out second dough same way and cut out 8 tops with outer ring of press.   Top each pastry, place the press with inner ring down to seal the edges.  Position racks in the upper and lower third of oven and preheat to 350.  Refrigerate prepared pastries in pans for about 20 minutes, then bake the pastries until golden about 25 minutes, about 1/2 way through the baking reverse positions of the pans.  Let cool on baking sheets for a few minutes then remove to wire rack and let cool completely.
For glaze:  place all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until combined, add more milk if glaze is too thick, use a spoon and drizzle about 1 Tbs glaze over each pastry.  Let set before eating. 
 Recipe adapted from Williams Sonoma

Fillings, for each recipe mix all ingredients together until combined, spoon onto bottom pastry as instructed above.  Fruit jams or preserves work well as a filling too.
Apple filling:

1 granny smith apple finely chopped
2 Tbs brown sugar
1/2 Tbs sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Brown sugar-cinnamon filling:
5 Tbs packed dark brown sugar
5 tsp sugar
1 Tbs flour
3/4 tsp cinnamon
Peach/blackberry filling:
1 cup small diced peaches
1/2 cup blackberries
1 1/2 tsp light brown sugar
dash cinnamon
1 tsp cornstarch




Peach/Blackberry and some Brown Sugar Cinnamon Poptarts made with heart press

Enjoy!

Wilton's Pocket Pie Mold is available in my baking store here:

http://astore.amazon.com/rosscoubak-20/detail/B008JLST1O