A Peach of a Pie

Pie. Everyone has a favorite. Everyone has good memories associated with pie. I'm convinced that there are no ailments or heartaches in life that aren't made better by pie. There are no celebrations complete without pie. A birthday pie is sometimes better than a birthday cake. Did ya have a bad day? Have some pie. Did you have a wonderful day? Make it even mo'better with a nice piece of pie.

All joking aside, pie is a lost art, and I aim to fix it. A kind hearted woman in the kitchen with an apron on making a pie can do more good than you can imagine. Don't you want to be that woman? I know I do. Did you know my nickname is Pie? Yep. Not cause I make such great pies, it's just a name that stuck right after we got married. He used to call me Jayme Pie, and then it just was shortened to Pie.

Let me introduce you to one of my favorite things. My rolling pin. My dad made this for my mom when I was about.....11? It's one heavy dude. Solid maple. It's got such a nice patina to it that I never wash it. See the flour stuck to it? Love it. See the awesomely cool rolling pin rack I made out of old vintage hooks? It's the little things like these that make me weak in the knees. A Lamborghini could pull in the driveway and I'd still be more impressed with this rolling pin on the hooks.

Donna requested a Peach Pie for her birthday. I was a bit worried since peaches aren't quite in season here yet, but I obliged her. I used a new crust recipe (to follow). It's MaryJane Butters all butter buttery good butter crust. I just made up that name. It's really called Butter Cookie Pie crust. I'd never made an all butter crust before. It was a little challenging. I was afraid I'd overwork it, so it was a little crackly looking and dry. It was also thicker than I'm used to, but I just need to make it a few more times and get more used to it.

I always always roll out my crust on a floured dishtowel. I then pick up that dishtowel and use it to roll the crust over on the pin......

Then I use the pin to lay the crust out over the pie pan. See how dry and cracked the crust looks? I was surely worried. Here she is getting ready for the oven.

Here she is, hot from the oven. I had to bring the pie near the door cause the light was so poor in the kitchen. There is just something about hot pie, a screen door and summer, that well, if I'm not careful, I could easily faint from the pleasure of it all. Now I know why women carried smelling salts around. Now it's not a perfect looking pie. I'm not in the business of perfect. That would be God's job.

Things like this...these flowers...they are perfect.

Remember that super busy day I had planned? I'm happy to report that I did finish about 95% of what I wanted/needed to do that day. The day ended beautifully with a supper outside. It was a PERFECT night. I love bringing the table out and putting it under the tree. It's so romantic feeling.

The guests of the evening....Dave and Donna Miller.

And here's a peach herself, eating her peach pie and homemade vanilla ice cream. I'm on an ice cream making kick too, Lord give me time to blog all of this!

I want to really encourage you to try your hand at a pie. I don't care how many crusts you've destroyed in the past, please try again. Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly at first. Did Thomas Edison quit when trying to make a light bulb! I think not. You must be confident when you make your crust. It will sense that you are scared, like a horse, and give you nothing but trouble. Handle it with a gentle, but firm hand. Let it know who's boss.

Here's the recipes girls. Would anyone be interested in coming out to the Coop Keepers' house for a hands on pie making class? I was thinking it'd be fun to slap on some aprons, have a bite to eat in the garden and make some pies. Please let me know if you are interested.

Butter Cookie Pie Crust

2.5 cups flour

1/ t salt

1 cup cold butter, diced

1 t sugar

5 T cold water

Sift together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with a pastry blender. (I use my fingers). Sprinkle cold water over the top of ingredients and stir til just moistened. Form two disks and refrigerate for a bit, then roll them out.

Enough for a 2 crust pie.

Peach Filling

4 cups of fresh peaches, peeled and pitted.

1 1/4 cup of sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/2 t cinnamon

2 T butter

mix all dry ingredients and fold into peaches. Pour your peaches into a lined (with pie crust) pie pan and dot with 2 T butter. Top with top crust, vent (slice slits into crust) and then bake at 375 degrees until your pie is brown, and bubbly.

Really try to let it cool some before you cut it. I know I know...but it's much better. It will 'set' and not be all runny on ya.