Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Peach & Raspberry Pie

Gosh, I love pie. Good ole apple is probably my favorite, but I pretty much love them all. Pumpkin, pecan, strawberry-rhubarb (now we're talking!), chocolate cream, banana cream, custard, lemon meringue, blueberry....oh I could go on and on.

So, it was no surprise to me that when I spied this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website, I knew I had to try it. The good cooks over there put a lot of effort in developing some of the very best recipes, and this recipe did not disappoint.

I used frozen peaches and raspberries, and gave my pie a generous six cups of filling; 4 cups of peaches and 2 cups of raspberries. No thin pies for me! I should have thought about the extra juiciness the added fruit would produce. When I cut into the pie, even after sufficiently cooling, it was too juicy. I used 1/3 cup cornstarch called for in the recipe, but next time I'll increase it to maybe just shy of half a cup. I think I'll add a tad more sugar. I love the tartness of raspberries, but a little extra sweetness would've have hurt. Grins.

The vanilla was a surprising touch, though not discernible in the baked pie. In mixing the ingredients, the vanilla, cinnamon and fruit mixture created a wonderful aroma and was enough to make want to me eat the filling Au natural. Heavenly!

As you can tell, I only used the filling part of their recipe because I favor pies over tarts. This pastry recipe has become my favorite. It's a No Fail recipe, and I think it's appropriately named. The only time I've messed it up was when I thought the flour didn't need all the water, and I reduced it. Big mistake. Follow the simple directions, and you will be rewarded with a pie crust that is wonderful to handle. It's velvety smooth and bakes up flaky. I'm not saying that this is the best pastry recipe ever (I think an old fashioned lard is probably flakier and more tender), but for sheer ease, I think you'll have to go some to beat this recipe.

Recipe is from Marcia Adams' New Recipes from Quilt Country, though I have seen it any number of places on the web. My picture is a little pale; the dough will actually be more yellow than shown because of the butter-flavored shortening.

Perfect Pie Crust

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups butter-flavored vegetable shortening**
1 egg
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/2 cup water

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and shortening. Blend until you have reached the texture of coarse crumbs.

In a separate small bowl, combine the egg, vinegar and water. Beat to combine.

Drizzle the liquids over the flour mixture and mix thoroughly.

Shape the dough into a patty, wrap in plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for 45 minutes, or refrigerate overnight.

When chilled, divide the dough into fourths. Each fourth is one single crust; use two for a two-crust pie. Roll and use immediately or wrap each portion separately and refrigerate or freeze.

**I've seen this exact recipe using the non-buttered flavored shortening, and in a pinch one day, I tried it. It was just okay to me; I think the butter flavored shortening has a better flavor.

The dough will keep nice for a couple of days in the fridge; I have frozen it, defrosted, and used it, but it's not as good tasting, in my opinion.

22 comments:

  1. This is such a nice meld of fruit flavors. We'll be trying this very soon.

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  2. Oh, Katy, what a great combination of flavors: this looks so delicious! I agree that if you're making pie, it should be a nice thick pie piled high with fruit!Yum!

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  3. I'm a great admirer of people who make pies (I'm a pie cheater) - this filling sounds wonderful!

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  4. Oh my goodness! I want a slice of that!

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  5. I make pies all the time, but I've never once tried the lattice top. It looks beautiful! Peaches and raspberries are our favorites! Yumm!

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  6. Katy I love a good pie and your pie looks so delicious. I love the flavors. WONDERFUL...

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  7. This looks like one fabulous pie. Love the combination of flavors here. Your picture is gorgeous!

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  8. Your lattice top is perfection. I am always looking for a good pie crust recipe, I'll have to try this one. I always love seeing your pretty dishes in your pictures too.

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  9. I love the combo of peaches and raspberries. What great looking pie!

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  10. Yum, this looks delicious...I am a big-time pie-lover, too! Coffee and pie is one of the best combos ever. People ask pie or cake? I always answer....pie, of course :)

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  11. LOVELY! We love pie too, adn this looks so warm and summery, kudos!

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  12. Goodness, you Ladies comment faster than I can respond!

    I so appreciate your coming by and chatting with me for a bit. I enjoying hear from each and every one of you!

    This pie was pretty easy to make, no slicing or peeling, as it was frozen fruit, grins.

    I agree, I think this is a nice summery pie, too, and fruit and berry pies just say summer to me, with their bright colors and flavors.

    Anj, thank you for the compliment about the dish. It was one of my antique shop finds, probably only paid a couple of dollars for it. I loved the colors and design and knew it would photograph well. I have a small collection of mismatched dishes just for the sole purpose of photographing them for the blog. A new hobby that I'm loving!

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  13. Delish! Oh...I so wish I could do pie crusts....you KNOW it is a sruggle for me to even roll out dough! But this looks worth trying for sure. I love the fruit combo.

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  14. Trish, I make pies pretty frequently and there are days when pie crust doesn't work for me. I used a recipe for years on the back of a certain can of shortening, and it worked for a looong time and then suddenly the recipe didn't. I've used this one for several years now and it has been successful virtually every single time (except when I messed with the ingredients, though this last time I needed to add a tad more flour because it was too sticky), but I think it was probably because I didn't measure carefully to begin with.

    I'm still looking for the PERFECT recipe; until I find it, this one does quite nicely.

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  15. Wow, that looks DELICIOUS!! And I don't even like raspberries, so that's saying something. :o)

    Stop by my blog; I left something for you there!

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  16. Katy, Peach is my favorite fruit...and raspberries are Grumpy's! Your pie looks delicious!

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  17. Your pie looks wonderful. I just love pies that have lots of filling in them, don't you? When I make a nice thick pie, I combat the "extra juice" by using tapioca in the filling, it really works and you can't tell it is in there, except that the juice jells.

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  18. Coleen, good to know about the tapioca. I was always concerned I'd get little pearls in my pie when I wanted a smooth gel filling. I have tapioca in the cabinet; I was just too chicken to try. Now, I won't be. Thanks for the hint.

    Cassie, you are a sweetie! Thank you for thinking of me. Grins.

    HoneyB, we liked this. It was sweet tart. The raspberry was the dominant flavor, even though I used only two cups to six cups of the peaches.

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  19. Katy, this pie looks amazing, and I just love the flavor combinations of both fruits together..... it's like having a peach melba in pie form, just lovely!!!

    I'm currently taking a break from my blog. I would like to extend an invitation to you... if you'd like, you could leave your email address (which will not be posted) in order for me to send the invite... the blog will be going private soon.

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  20. Peaches and raspberries sound great together. Your lattice pie crust is beautiful. Someday I'm going to quit using purchased pie crusts and make my own from scratch. I've tried a couple times and have always been left with a huge sticky mess on the counter.

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  21. This pie is just beautiful! I'll have to bookmark to make for my son...he's big into berry pies lately and loves peaches too!

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