Peach Pie

I have a wonderful pie recipe that's been in my family for ages.  This post features peach pie but the filling ratios are adaptable to any sort of pie you like.  I've laid out the steps below and further below that is a picture of the process.

Fruit Pie Filling

approximately 3 cups fresh fruit

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

sprinkle cinnamon

Pie Crust

2 cups flour

3/4 cup shortening

1/8 tsp salt

ice water

cinnamon/sugar mixture

For the crust--combine flour, shortening, and salt.  Cut together with a pastry blender until mixture is well combined.  Add 4-5 Tbsp cold water and gently stir ingredients with a fork.  Over-mixing at this point can make the crust tough.  Add water 1 Tbsp at a time until mixture holds together, but isn't one big mass of dough.   

Take a little less than half the mixture and gently press together into a ball or a disc shape.  Roll out into a circle starting from the middle and working out toward the edges.  Roll until its big enough to fit the bottom of your pie plate and up the sides.  Fold crust in half to transfer to the pie plate, then unfold.  

Toss fruit filling ingredients together in a large bowl and pour on top of bottom crust in the pie plate.

Add 1 additional Tbsp of cold water to remaining dough and mix to pull loose pieces in bottom of the bowl together.  Form into a disc or ball and roll out into a circle about 1 inch larger than the diameter of your pie plate.  Fold the crust in half, make slits so steam can escape during cooking.  Place over the filling and unfold to cover the entire pie.

Fold top crust over bottom crust and tuck in around the edges.  Then make scallops along the edge by pressing fingers together in any design you like.  Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350 for approximately 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

I'm not a huge dutch oven user.  But for this recipe, we'll break it out.  We had a crowd over for FHE and this dessert on Monday--it was a hit.  This recipe comes from Brad's brother, Randy, who we would always beg to make this at every family get together.

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

2 large cans peaches

1 small/regular size can peaches

2 yellow cake mixes

12-14 inch dutch oven

28 charcoal briquets

Light briquets so they are hot and ready to use.  Meanwhile, stir the cans of peaches (with their juice) together with the dry cake mixes until well combined.

Line dutch oven with heavy duty foil (not required, but so much better for clean up).  Pour cake/peach mixture into dutch oven.  Cover with lid.

Place dutch oven over 10 hot coals that are on a heat safe surface--we just do on the dirt in our backyard.  Place the remaining 18 coals on the top of the lid.

Cook for 45 minutes - 1 hour.  Serve with vanilla ice cream.  

Fruit in a Cloud

This salad is a crowd pleaser and most often it's the first bowl emptied at get togethers.  The recipe comes from my husband's family.  It's so fresh, yet sweet and creamy it almost doubles as a dessert!

 While I'm sure you could do many variations on this salad, my tried and true fruits are: strawberries, bananas, kiwi, and peaches.  I use canned peaches and pat them with a paper towel so they don't make the salad runny.  The secret ingredient I've added to the faves is huckleberries.  But I realize most of you don't have access to those, so they weren't included in my original fruit pic.

Start by combining the yogurt with the dry pudding mix.  Blend with a hand mixer for a minute or so until pudding is dissolved.  Stir the cool whip into the yogurt mixture.  Then toss in fresh fruit.

 

 Gently fold fruit into "cloud" mixture.  Serve immediately or you can chill for an hour or two. 

Fruit in a Cloud

1 large carton vanilla yogurt

1 large box vanilla pudding mix

1 8-oz cool whip

1 lb strawberries

2 bananas

2 kiwi

1 peach

Beat yogurt and dry pudding mix together for 1 minute.  Stir in cool whip.  Cut up all fruit into bite size pieces, then fold into yogurt mixture.  Serve immediately or you can chill and serve later.

Peachy

It's peach season--well, near the end of. What are your favorite peach recipes?

I love peaches straight up. They're also good with coconut milk or canned milk over the top. And then there's pies, cobblers, and freezer jam! This year I bottled a few cookers of peaches.

And I froze 5 one-gallon bags of peaches. This family loves fruit shakes all year long. Recipes for those coming up, too.

How about a peach parfait? Delicious to look at and to eat!

Peach Parfait
4-6 peaches peeled, washed, and diced
1 package vanilla pudding (make according to pkg directions)
cool whip

Layer peaches with pudding and top with cool whip. Refrigerate. Makes 2-4 servings.



The great thing about parfaits is there's a million ways to make them and it's something my kids can help with. They think it's such a special dessert when served in these glasses. I picked these up at a local restaurant store for about $2 each and we use them often. We've done strawberries layered with vanilla yogurt and a drizzle of chocolate sauce with a bit of grated chocolate on top for garnish. We also love banana cream parfaits with either yogurt or banana cream pudding.