Peach Pie Ice Cream

You know what to do when life gives you lemons. Lots of things, obviously. Lemons are a very versatile and necessary piece of produce. To modify that common phrase, you take something not so great (still don't get it because lemons are awesome) and make it great. Well, what do you with pie dough that has failed?

I know I've said, out loud and online, that Thomas Keller's pie dough never fails. I still stand by that . This was user error. It came together beautiful. I just rolled it out too thin and when blind baking it, it slumped and started to crack on the bottom. Tragedy! Or vehicle for a great summer recipe.

I love Saveur (thanks Mom!) and with my fail crust and this recipe in mind, a lovely dessert was made. Plus it has lemon. Plus you don't have to peel anything. Plus...just go make it!

Peach Pie Ice Cream modified from Peach Ice Cream via Saveur

Makes 1 quart

½ (still) best pie dough recipe ever, fully baked

1½ c. whole milk

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

1¼ c. sugar

1¼ c. heavy cream

1 pint ripe peaches, chopped, with peel on

Juice of ½ lemon

Dash each of ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.

Fully bake pie dough. You don't need to get it set in a pie pan – roll it out and bake it on a cookie sheet. Set aside and allow to cool fully.

Place milk in the top of a double boiler and bring just to a simmer over gently boiling water over medium heat.

Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and ¾ cup of the sugar in a mixing bowl. Lightly whisk in ¼ cup of the hot milk into the egg mixture, then whisk egg mixture into remaining milk in top of double boiler. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until mixture is thick enough to coat back of a spoon, about 15 minutes.

Transfer mixture to a mixing bowl; stir in 1 ¼ cups heavy cream and spices; refrigerate until cold.

Combine peach, remaining sugar, and lemon juice in a mixing bowl; the peel will add a rosy color. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. Don't worry if it doesn't get all that rosy. Mine didn't.

Break up pie crust into small pieces. They don't have to be even.

Drain juice (return peaches to refrigerator) and stir into cream base. Pour into an ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer's directions. Just before mixture is set, add peaches. Turn off machine and mix in pie crust pieces with a wooden spoon.

Freeze for at least 2 hours for hard pack ice cream.

Have a barbecue. Eat a lot of ice cream – or as one taster called it “piescream”. It's good. Make it and share.  

Red Raspberry Pie

There are so many wonderful things to do with raspberries (cake. ice cream. sauce.), but summer really is about pies. My mom group had a French picnic for Bastille Day and that meant lots of food. We could have said “let them eat cake” (historically inaccurate, BTW), but instead I said “let's eat pie.”

Red Raspberry Pie via Alice Bay Cookbook:

Makes 1 9” pie

1 9” baked pie shell (use one half of the best pie dough recipe ever and fully blind bake it.)

1 quart fresh raspberries

¾ c. sugar

2½ Tb. corn starch

¼ tsp. salt

½ c. water

½ c. fresh orange juice

Remove 1 cup of raspberries and puree in blender or press through sieve. (Or use a food processor). Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, water, and orange juice. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add pureed raspberries.

Place whole raspberries in pie shell. Pour syrup over the berries. Chill in refrigerator for at least 4 hours.

Super easy. Super summery. This one you should do before summer is over.

Peach and Sour Cream Buckle

I'm a sucker for fruit desserts and I'm a sucker for desserts with silly names. Fool? Slump? Grunt? Buckle? Yeah, I'm all about that. Put it together and I'll make it. Tell me there's a Cascadia party and you should bring a local goodie? I guess this buckle will have to do.

It involves peaches I picked at Sauvie Island Farms. Raspberry picking was the primary goal (and I got a LOT of raspberries. Three different recipes worth plus all of the berries that ended up in my and my baby's belly), but peaches could not be ignored. What says summer like a peach? Plus I'd never picked a peach before. Other local things were the flour (Bob's Red Mill - Milwaukie, Oregon), the dairy (Tillamook - Tillamook, Oregon and Sunshine Dairy - Portland), and the eggs (New Seasons PacNW eggs). Oh, and it's delicious. And so so easy.

I followed the recommendation of using half regular granulated sugar and half brown sugar. I recommend you do too.

Peach and Sour Cream Buckle via Herbivoracious

Yield: 16 squares

For the streusel-

½ c. sugar
6 Tb. all-purpose flour
¼ tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. kosher salt or sea salt
4 Tb. (½ stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

For the cake -
1 ¾ c. whole wheat pastry flour (regular whole wheat worked for me)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
4 Tb. soft unsalted butter
½ c. granulated sugar

½ c. brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla
½ c. sour cream
¼ c. whole milk
3 c. peeled and sliced peaches (about 12 slices per peach)

For the streusel, mix all ingredients except the butter in a small bowl. Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture with your fingertips until it looks like coarse cornmeal, just like when making a pie crust. It is fine if there are a few larger bits of butter. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9×9 baking pan.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a mixer, beat the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in the sour cream and milk. Gradually add the flour mixture and combine gently until just mixed, like you would for pancake batter.
Gently fold in the peaches. Your hands are probably the best tool for this. It will seem like way too many peaches. Pour the batter in the pan, and sprinkle on the streusel top evenly. Bake until browned and a toothpick comes out clean, about 40 minutes.

Let cool for 20 minutes. Serve to fanfare and eat plenty.

Where I've Been

I've been here! Well, here is relative. We moved a couple months ago to a new place in Portland, went to Alaska, and in the middle of all that we've been going to the mountains, the beach, a park, another park, another another park, BBQs, and many meet ups filled with moms, babies, and food.

I've been cooking and baking. Taking pictures of it too. 

So why are is it the end of July and there have only been 2 posts this year?

A toddler and a serious case of wanting to do anything but blog when he's asleep. Like binge watching TV shows (hi Netflix!). Playing board games. Playing dumb free games on my phone. Sleeping. Going to the gym.

Lazy!

I have 13 posts worth of pictures I just pulled off of the camera and I have two things in my kitchen right now that need photos. See, need. I love this little neglected blog. I love sharing food joys and sorrows.

So I'm back at it.

One thing I used to pride myself on was posting seasonal things within the season. As such, I'll be posting new things first instead of working my backlog in the order I made them. It's summer and it's time to read about fruit pies and ice cream (yup and yup), tomatoes (yup), peaches (you betcha!). I'll get to older things like soups, winter fruits, my birthday cake (April birthday - whoops!).

And I will get to them.

I'm back at it.

Promise.