Honey-Peach Pie With Streusel Topping

Prep time: Easy-medium (typical for a pie)

Source: My own brain, with crust inspiration from the Southern Living cookbook

You guys, there is a reason that this post doesn't have a picture (yet). THIS PIE IS SO DELICIOUS that Mahon and I just single-handedly consumed it in about 28 hours. Not only that, but I'm seriously tempted to march out this afternoon and buy another bag of peaches so that we can make it again, stat. It's the perfect blend of flavors with just enough sweetness to make it killer good, but not so much sweetness that it makes you want to keel over—and because it only uses 1/4 cup sugar and a bit of honey to sweeten the whole pie, it's relatively "healthy" as far as pies go. It. Is. So. Good. Go take that bag of overripe peaches that is breeding fruit flies and make it now!

For crust:
(A quick note on the crust—you CAN do a white-flour crust with shortening instead of butter for this recipe. You can. But using mostly whole-wheat flour and butter last night I seriously got one of the flakiest, crispiest, most deliciously flavorful pie crusts I have ever created. So really, I recommend doing it just as it's written.)

1 1/2 cups flour (I did 1 cup whole wheat, 1/2 cup white)

3/4 t salt

1/2 cup cold butter, sliced (unsalted if you have it)

4-5 T ice water
(If you really need an extra tablespoon or two of water, go ahead. I don't know if it's because I live in a desert or what, but I always seem to end up on the high end of pie crust water ratios, or exceed them a little.)

Mix together flour and salt and cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly and the pieces of butter are small. Sprinkle water over mixture one teaspoon at a time, stirring gently with a fork in between, until dry ingredients are moistened and there is just enough moisture in the dough for it to loosely hold together. Shape into a ball (it won't hold together very well, and that's OK) and cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate until ready to use, or for at least 20-30 minutes.

For Filling:
4-5 cups of fresh ripe (or overripe) peaches, peeled and sliced
Honey (I didn't measure, but probably used about 1/8-1/4 cup)

For Streusel Topping:
3 T flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 T cinnamon
1/4 cup oats
1/8 t salt
4 T cold or room-temperature butter

Slice peaches into a medium-sized bowl and drizzle with honey. Cover and refrigerate. Assemble streusel in a small bowl by mixing dry ingredients together and then cutting in butter until mixture is crumbly; set aside.

Preheat oven to 425. Lightly dust a countertop or table with flour and use a floured rolling pin to gently roll out the pie crust. When it's evenly thin and large enough to fit your pie plate, fold (gently) into quarters and place in your pie plate, then unfold. Trim excess pastry along edges and shape them as desired.

Pour or spoon peaches into pastry shell. Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over top of filling. Bake pie at 425 for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 375; bake for 20-30 minutes, or until crust and streusel are browned, and pie is bubbling a bit around the edges. Allow pie to cool before serving.

Fresh Strawberry Tarts/Pie

Rating: 5 stars

Prep time: Easy-medium

My mom always makes fresh strawberry pie in the spring, when NC strawberries are abundant, delicious, and cheap. I was just dying for some strawberry pie this spring, but we just didn't have enough in the budget for the 4 pounds of strawberries it would take—plus, two people don't exactly need a whole pie to themselves. Instead, we created these darling strawberry tarts. I won't tell you how many of these we've eaten in the past week....

For those more interested in the pie, I've put the pie measurements in parentheses. The tart recipe is intended to yield one dozen tarts, but it totally depends on how thinly you roll your pie crust—the first time I didn't roll it out very thinly, and we only ended up with 7 or 8 tarts.

1 9-inch pie crust (I used this recipe)

1/2 cup mashed or pureed strawberries (1 cup)

1/2 cup sugar (1 cup)

1 1/2 t. cornstarch (1 T)

1/4 cup water (1/2 cup)

1 oz cream cheese (3 oz)

1/4-1/3 t. sugar (1 t.)

1/2 T milk (1-2 T)

1 lb chopped strawberries (app. 4 lb strawberries, whole), less the amount you used for the puree

Whipped cream (I definitely recommend using real, freshly-whipped cream! Then again, I recommend that for just about anything) for topping

For tarts: Heat oven to 375. Roll pie crust as thin as possible (really, as thin as you can get it without it falling apart on you). Punch circles in pie crust with the biggest cup or other circle you can find—we used a 32oz hospital mug, which I think is about 5 inches in diameter. Gently stretch circles with your fingers, and place into cups of muffin tin. The edges of the crust should be at least as tall as or taller than the edges of your muffin tin. Prick crust with fork (including sides) and bake for 8-12 minutes or until very lightly golden. Once crusts are done baking, gently remove from muffin tins and let cool on a plate. While crusts are baking, mix sugar and cornstarch together. Fold in pureed strawberries and combine. Add water; heat until mixture has boiled for 1 minute (on the stove or in the microwave, either works—if you heat it on the stove, be sure to stir regularly). Let cool. Combine cream cheese, sugar, and milk. Once crusts are cooled, spoon a dollop of the cream cheese mixture into the bottom of each crust. Spoon a few of the chopped strawberries into crust (don't overdo it—these will fill up fast!), using the spoon to pack them in if necessary. Gently spoon or pour glaze over the strawberries. Top with another layer of chopped strawberries. Add a dollop of whipped cream, and enjoy! They can be eaten right away (and trust me, we did), but the next-day leftovers are even better.

For pie: Heat oven to 375. Roll out pie crust and place in pie dish. Prick bottom and sides with fork and bake for 8 minutes (or until done). While crust is cooking, mix sugar and cornstarch. Fold in pureed strawberries and combine. Add water; heat until mixture has boiled for 1 minute. Let cool. Combine cream cheese, sugar, and milk. Spread over bottom of (cooled) pie crust (if you don't let it cool a little, it will melt the cream cheese... ask me how I know!). Spread one layer of strawberries, sliced in half, over bottom of pie (cut sides up). Layer glaze over strawberries. Continue to layer cut strawberries and glaze until pie crust is full; top with whole berries. Serve with whipped cream.

Apple Pie

Rating: 5 stars
Prep Time: Easy

Recipe adapted from Southern Living Cookbook.

9-inch Pastry Crust:
(This recipe only makes one crust, so in order to do a lattice-top pie it must be doubled. I actually find it easier to just make it twice, since the dough is VERY flaky and so not really easy to divide into two balls without overworking the dough.)

1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon shortening
3 to 4 tablespoons ice water (I have never managed it with less than 4)

Combine flour and salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle ice water, 1 T at a time, evenly over surface; stir with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape into a ball; cover and chill until ready to use (at least 30 minutes). Roll pastry to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. (I find that I have to have my surface more than "lightly floured" or else the dough sticks to the table and breaks when I try to remove it. If the dough is sticking to the table despite the flour, use a flat spatula to gently scrape it off the table. Usually this works just fine.) Fold in quarters, place in pie plate, and unfold. Trim excess pastry along edges. For lattice top: roll out second ball of pastry as directed; cut into one-inch strips. Weave in lattice over filled pie. Separate 1 egg yolk and beat slightly; brush over lattice with pastry brush. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Apple filling:

6 cups sliced apples (the recipe also says to peel them, but I actually didn't notice that until this very moment and have never peeled mine)
1 T lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 T flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 T butter or margarine

Combine apple and lemon juice in large bowl. Combine next 4 ingredients. Spoon over apple mixture, tossing gently. Spoon filling evenly into pastry shell, and dot with butter. (Alternatively - if you are making the pie in stages, you can mix up the crust and the filling and put each of them in the fridge for a few hours. This marinates the apples and makes a nice sugary sauce... if you do that, leave out the butter.) Cover pie with lattice top. Cover edges of pastry with aluminum foil. Bake at 450 for 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 and bake 50 more minutes. Dish up and enjoy!