Peach Pie, Times Two!

I love Peach Pie. It's always been my favorite. My sister has been asking for my recipe, so it seems like the perfect time to post it here.

First off...I always make my own pie crusts. They are a hundred times better than refrigerated, probably more nutritious and just about as easy. I've used a few pie crust recipes. Here is one of my favorites. The key to making a flaky, yummy crust is two fold: 1 - Use ice cold water. 2 - Don't overwork your dough. Ideally you should still be able to see some of the butter or shortening pieces in the dough when your done. With that here's the recipe I use most often:

Pie Crust Dough (For one crust):

1 C flour

1/3 C shortening

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 to 3/4 C water as needed

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry cutter (or two knives if you don't have one!). Add water and mix until you get the right consistency. I'm not quite sure how to describe what the right consistency is...I started making crusts when I was probably 10, so it's just easy for me. I might suggest finding a friend that can do crusts and working with them a time or two to get the idea.

This recipe makes a little more than you actually need for one crust. So if I am doing say 2 pies with a top and bottom crust, I will triple the recipe and that usually makes enough.

On to PEACH PIE. I got this recipe from Betty Crocker. Love it! Hope you do too. I actually rarely do straight peach pie anymore. One day we didn't have enough peaches to do a whole pie, so we added some frozen strawberries. It was heavenly and I almost always add strawberries or raspberries now. If you do that, just use fewer peaches and however many berries you like to make 5 C of fruit. (I usually add 1-2 C of berries, but you could do more or less depending on your preference). Also, I usually use frozen or home canned peaches. I don't really like commercially canned peaches and so don't have them around. I don't really know how they would work with this recipe. Fresh is really good too, but I don't usually have them around either, which is why I do frozen or home preserved. OK, now back to the RECIPE:

Betty Crocker's Peach Pie:

5 C Sliced Peaches and Berries, if desired

1 tsp lemon juice (I think this is mostly for fresh peaches, to keep them from browning)

1 C sugar

1/4 C flour

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 TBLS butter or margarine (optional)

Heat oven to 425. Prepare pastry. Mix peaches and lemon juice. In a separate bowl stir together the dry ingredients, then mix with peaches. Turn into pastry lined pie pan (this recipe will fill a 9 inch pan), dot with butter. Cover with top crust, cut slits in the top. Seal and flute. Cover edge with tin foil if desired to avoid burning the edges. Bake 10 minutes at 425, then 25-35 minutes at 350. If desired you can baste the top pastry with milk or egg whites to help it brown.

Finally as a bonus, I'm also including my uncle's recipe for Fresh Peach Pie. This is a little different that you usually get, but is delicious when peaches are in season and perfect for eating raw. You don't bake the fruit, so make sure it is ripe, with a good flavor and texture, or you pie won't turn out well.

Fresh Peach Pie:

One pie shell

2 TLBS orange jello powder

1 C water, divided

3/4 C sugar

3 TBLS cornstarch

5 C Fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

Make one pie crust, line the bottom of your pie pan, poke holes with a fork and cook it until golden. Answers I found online suggested 425 for anywhere from 8-15 minutes. One tip said to cover your crust with aluminum foil and fill it with dry beans while you are baking to help it keep it's shape. Just remove when you are done ;)

Mix the jello, water, sugar and cornstarch. (TIP: When cooking with cornstarch you need to make sure you mix it with COLD water first. I usually use the same amount of water as I do cornstarch. So from your 1 C, just take 1/4 C or so and mix it with the cornstarch first. This prevents it from getting lumpy.) Boil the ingredients and cook until it starts to thicken. Add to peaches and put in your COOKED pie shell. Serve with cool whip. YUMMY!

The BEST Oatmeal Cookies EVER!

Warning: These are highly addictive. My sister made them a few months ago and I have been searching for the recipe ever since. I finally figured out which one it was and made them the first chance I got. I haven't been able to stop eating them since. It's a good thing they are almost gone. I can't make them again for a LONG time, but I hope you get a chance to try and enjoy them...

This is from the cookbook "Deep Creek Creations: Recipes Past & Present, Ibapah, UT, 2000". Gold star goes to anyone who knows where this is (without googling it ;)

Oatmeal Cookies

2 C brown sugar

1 1/2 C butter, margarine or butter flavored crisco

4 eggs

4 C oatmeal

3 C flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 C nuts, raisins, toffee chips or peanut butter chips (optional)

Cream sugar and butter; add eggs. Beat; mix in dry ingredients. Drop on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Makes 3 dozen large cookies or 6 dozen small cookies.

For my cookies I like using a cookie scoop or melon baller. This will make a really nice uniform cookie that's on the smaller side. I've also started using my ice cream scoop for bigger cookies. If you don't have one that will push the dough out on it's own, you can just use a spoon to pull it out of the scoop. I like using the scoop though because it makes it more uniform that just eyeballing it with a spoon.

Doughnut Muffins

One of my favorite TV shows it The Best Thing I Ever Ate. It is like food porn. They have chefs talking about and describing their favorite foods while they show tantalizing pictures of said food. A few weeks ago one person was talking about Doughnut Muffins. I HAD to have some, so I made them myself. They are basically a cinnamon sugar cake doughnut in muffin form, too good for words.

For the muffins:

12 oz. (24 Tbs.) unsalted butter, warmed to room temperature

1-3/4 cups sugar

4 large eggs

1 lb. 11 oz. (6 cups) all-purpose flour

1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1-3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1-2/3 cups milk

1/4 cup buttermilk

For dipping:

8 oz. (16 Tbs.) unsalted butter; more as needed

2 cups sugar

2 Tbs. ground cinnamon

To make the muffins:

Put a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. In a stand mixer or a large

bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until just mixed in. Sift

together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. Combine the milk and

buttermilk. With a wooden spoon, mix a quarter of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture.

Then mix in a third of the milk mixture. Continue mixing in the remaining dry and wet ingredients

alternately, ending with the dry. Mix until well combined and smooth, but don't overmix. Grease

and flour a standard-size muffin tin. Scoop enough batter into each tin so that the top of the

batter is even with the rim of the cup, about 1/2 cup. (A #16 ice-cream scoop gives you the

perfect amount.) Bake the muffins until firm to the touch, 30 to 35 min. 

To finish:

Melt the butter for the dipping mixture. Combine the sugar and cinnamon. When the muffins are

just cool enough to handle, remove them from the tin, dip them into or brush them all over with

the melted butter, and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar. You can just coat the tops, but I like the cinnamon and sugar all over. Yield: 2 Dozen

Ice Cream Cake (like you buy)

My mom came up with this method for ice cream cake. It is so simple that I will never spend $30 on an ice cream cake again when I can make it myself for around $5. My grandma requested this recipe, so I am posting it. You can watch a demo video at the bottom of the post.

• 1 spring form pan (a must) 8 or 9"
• 1 box favorite cake mix
• 1.5- 2 quarts favorite ice cream
• frosting:
• 8-12 oz cool whip
• 4 oz instant pudding package
• 1 c. milk
• 1/4 c. powdered sugar
• optional stir in's to put on top of (or in the middle of) the ice cream before the cake layer goes on top:
• brownies, (goey undercooked works best) broken in dime size pieces, crushed candy canes, candy bars, chocolate/carmel sauce, cookie pieces, pie filling etc, etc, etc.

DIRECTIONS:

1. mix cake batter as directed on box. (you may use one egg)

2. Pour about 1/2 cake mix into prepared (spray with PAM) spring form pan and bake as directed on package about 20-25 minutes. If you have 2 pans bake both at the same time.

3. remove cake from pan by running a knife around edge to loosen, taking off side and flip onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper or aluminum foil. Don't worry if it is lopsided, falls apart or whatever. It will be covered by “forgiving” icing. set aside. This will be your cake top.

4. Bake the other half of cake mix in the same spring form pan if you haven’t before. If you have two spring form pans the same size or 1" difference, you can cook both at the same time. Do not remove second cake from pan. This is your cake bottom Let cool by setting in the freezer or on counter.

5. When cake and pan are cool, remove ice cream from freezer to soften. Start scooping ice cream onto the cake in the spring form pan. Smooth the ice cream as you go and fill in all holes or gaps. Don’t be afraid of really pushing the ice cream on the cake to get rid of air holes. If you want to use optional stir in's, this is the place, on top of the ice cream, or in the ice cream. Put the reserved cooked cake on top and gently push down to not have any gaps, this will fill in the sides. Place in freezer until frozen. This depends on your freezer temp, overnight is best. Make the frosting.

FROSTING:

6. mix 1 c. milk with the

7. 4 oz instant pudding and whip. This will be a thick pudding. Add the 1/4 c. powdered sugar and stir in 8-12 oz. of cool whip.

8. When mixed, remove cake from spring form pan by sliding a knife around the edge. You may need to put your knife in water. Unclamp the pan and gently take off. You will serve the cake on the bottom of the spring form pan.

9. Frost the top and sides making sure not to miss any areas. You may need to get the counter messy or put the cake on another pan to get if off the counter. Quickly put into freezer for at least 3 hours. I don’t cover it. Will keep uncovered 5+ days.

10. To serve: let sit on counter 10 minutes or we just saw through frozen cake.

11. 2:1 favorite is chocolate cake, mint chocolate ice cream and chocolate instant pudding. My personal favorite: white cake, strawberry ice cream, cheese cake pudding.

Welcome

I have created this blog as a compliment to quickandhealthymeals.blogspot.com because there are just so many amazing treats out there and they just didn't fit into the categories of "quick" and/or "healthy." Welcome, and let the tastiness begin!