It's been so hard lately to find time to blog! I've moved into a new house and the packing and unpacking and putting stuff away and understanding the Feng Shui of the house so that I can place furniture and pictures and knick knacks takes up most of my time. Not to mention the full time job.
But today I felt like doing something therapeutic and fun. So I baked a pie...a peach pie. My dad planted a peach tree years ago and when I moved into the house everyone told me to "cut it down!". But I'm a sentimental sap and I just couldn't.
I mean just look at it! The beautiful peaches ripening in the sun. The glorious California sunshine streaming through the leaves (ok, well it's over 100 today, but the sun is still glorious, if not a tad irritating!). Could you bring yourself to cut it down?
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| My Dad's Peach Tree. These are White Peaches, sweet and delicious! |
So my mom and I picked us a whole bowlful of these bad boys and I pulled out my dusty cookbook from years past when I was a stay at home mom and baked beautiful pies, and got to work!
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| Aren't these beautiful! So sweet, even when they are green. |
Here I am in the thick of things putting together the pie crust and facebooking in the background. I'm such a great multi-tasker!
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| Love the blue bowl my daughter April gave me. It's a whole colorful set and made out of Melamine! |
Pie crust is done. The secret to a flaky pie crust is to try to never touch it with your hands. Cut the shortening in with a pastry cutter. I don't know if you can see it in the picture above, but that's the do-hickey right behind the jar of Crisco Shortening that's covered with flour. Then just toss the flour gently with a fork while you add the water and then quickly gather it into a ball and chill in the fridge, like so...
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| I wrap this with Saran Wrap and stick in a clean bowl to chill. |
Then you prepare your peaches. I actually did that before I did the crust, but it would have been better to do it while the crust chilled, but no harm done. I didn't actually take a picture of that, don't know why not, but I didn't.
After your peaches are mixed with the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt you roll out your dough. This part went relatively well, I don't know why I thought it would be difficult.
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| Ok, do not do this. I put flour on my new granite counter tops and then realized I didn't know how I was going to pick up the crust once I had it rolled out. I usually roll out on Wax Paper. You do it the right way ok? |
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| I roll it on Wax Paper to make it easier to lift into the pie pan. |
Once my bottom crust is ready I gently lay it into the pie pan. This part can be tricky as if you are off a little (which I was) then it's really a son of a gun to move around and you can end up tearing it.
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| Even though I was a little off I was able to fix it when I put the top crust on. |
Then you roll out the other half of the chilled pie crust and pour your sugary, cinnamony peach mixture into the first crust and then put the top crust on and crimp the edges as best you can. Don't worry about it being perfect. As you can see, mine wasn't perfect but when it baked it didn't make one bit of difference cause it's still beautiful!
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| Peach Pie and his Peachy Brothers. Isn't this a pretty picture? We picked way too many peaches! |
Here's a close-up of the little guy before he goes into the over. I add my own little touch by mixing up some sugar and cinnamon and sprinkling the top, it's makes the crust crunchy, sugary and cinnamony.
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| Somehow I got one big glob of just cinnamon right in the middle! |
Then you are ready to bake this baby! Here he is just ready to get that oven door shut in his face!
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| I hate cleaning the oven and cleaning the cookie sheet, so I place it on the cookie sheet covered with foil. |
And here you go. Peach Pie in all it's Glory! And the crust was the flakiest I have ever made. It's like riding a bike, you never forget how. (And it does help to have it all written down!) This Peach Pie recipe belonged to my mother in law Marge.
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| Mmmmm, where's the ice cream? |
That's how I spent a couple of hours on a Sunday afternoon. Baking and sharing with friends and family on facebook and then blogging for posterity.
Oh...and I had a kitchen remake. I don't have the before pictures to share yet, but here's a sneak peak at my new kitchen. When I get a chance I'll show you all the before pictures...what a change
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| New back splash, new granite counter top, new painted cabinets, new cabinet hardware. I love it! |
I think...no, I know that I am going to love cooking in this kitchen for years to come!
