Peach & Boysenberry Mini Pies

My goodness these mini pies were delicious. 

One morning this week, this was my fruit harvest. Happiness in a bowl. 

Pie, berries and peaches. These are a few of my favorite things.

So of course I had to combine them all together. 5 little pies for our family. I love individual pies. There is more crust per serving. It is less messy. My pie is all mine. Love them. I used the tin foil mini pie tins you can find at the grocery store in the baking section.

I decided on using a crumb topping because I love crumb toppings and I knew that the pie tins were not overflowing with fruit which meant the top pie crust would cave in. The pie crust came from the the homemade pie crusts frozen in my freezer. My bulk pie recipe.

One more sidenote: I used brown sugar instead of granulated sugar in the filling. Brown sugar and peaches is one of those food matches made in heaven. Plus, I just love brown sugar. Raise your hand if you used to sneak brown sugar clumps out of the bag when your mom wasn't looking when you were a kid.

Was that just me?

Pie Crust - use your favorite or try this bulk recipe

Pie Filling

7-8 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced (about 5 cups or 670 g)
1 cup (135 g) boysenberries or blackberries
1/2 cup (80 g) brown sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 pinch of cinnamon

4 tbsp corn starch

Crumb Topping

1/2 Cup of brown sugar

1/2 Cup of flour

2 TB of butter or margarine

Directions for 5 mini pies

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Take chilled pie crust dough and roll into a circle. Cut pie crusts measuring about two inches larger than the tin. Re roll the remaining dough until you have 5 pie crusts.

To make filling: Combine pie filling ingredients in a bowl and let sit for 15 minutes. 

Spoon filling into pie crust to the rims. 

To make crumb topping: Combine flour and sugar and cut in butter cubes with a fork or pastry cutter until it resembles course crumbs. 

Pour about 2 TB of topping onto each pie.

Place pies on foil lined baking sheet. Pies may bubble over. 

Cook for approximately 30 minutes or until fruit is bubbling and crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Preserving Peaches Frozen Style

I apologize. This blog has been a little neglected. The truth is I have not been cooking. Unless you count grilled cheese sandwiches and nachos. September is always an insane month for me. And frankly I just run out of time to cook or even eat a real meal. But September is also the month for peaches. And last winter I was so disappointed because I had no canned peaches set aside.

So, I promised myself there would be peaches set aside this year. But frankly I am more busy than ever and a day of canning in the kitchen is just not in the works this September. So I am taking the short cut route for now and freezing peaches. They are just as good. And there are a couple different ways I like to do them.

But first you need to prep and peel your peaches.

Wash peaches
Plunge into boiling water for 45 seconds
Plunge immediately into ice water 30 seconds. I add Fruit Fresh (ascorbic acid) to my ice water to help peaches retain their color.
Peels should slide off easily or you can remove easily with a paring knife. If the peaches are not ripe the peel will still be hard to remove.

Slice  peaches down middle remove core and slice into 1/4 inch slices. (If you did not add Fruit Fresh to ice water you may want to drizzle or toss slices with lemon juice.

Frozen Fruit Boxes

Fill freezer friendly  container within an inch to half inch of top. Add white grape juice or white grape/peach juice to container. Do not fill to top or it will overflow. Plus once your fruit is frozen it will expand.
I place my containers in freezer bags just in case there is overflow. Stack in freezer.
Remove and defrost when ready to eat. Tastes almost fresh.


Flash Freeze Peaches.
I love smoothies and so I always freeze fruit specifically for smoothies. If you flash freeze your peaches they will not all stick together in one big clump.

Place peach slices in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in freezer for at least 4 hours. Remove from freezer and add peach slices to a freezer bag. 

Peach Almond Praline Pie

It's almost too late for this recipe. So I am rushing my pie creation to you as fast as I can. Hopefully, peach season has not completely left. It is obvious from my blog that I am a pie girl. I will always choose pie over cake. Which is one of the reasons I love Fall. I love to bake pie.

Well, the peaches were on their way out. They had been sitting on the counter too long and so it was time for peach pie. But then it hit me -- almonds and peaches make a beautiful couple. Imagine how tasty pralined almonds would taste on the top of my peach pie, peeking out of a crispy sugar shimmered lattice pie crust. Be still my peach pie loving heart, those pralined almonds were delicious.

How to make a peach pralined pie.

2  pie crusts. I use a crust from my bulk pie crust recipe. 
8 -10 large ripe peaches, peeled and sliced.
juice of 1 lemon
1 1/2 TB cornstarch
4 Tb sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla.

Praline Almonds.
1 cup raw almonds, chopped coarsely
1/2 Cup sugar
2 Tb butter
1/2 tsp vanilla

In a heavy 10 inch skilletcombine nuts, sugar and butter and vanilla. Cook over medium -high heat shaking skillet occasionally, till sugar begins to melt. Do not stir. Reduce heat to low and cook till sugar is golden brown, stir occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees farenheit.

To Peel Peaches: Scald peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute. Plunge into ice cold water. Skin will slide right off.

Pit halve and cut each peach half into four pieces. Place in a large bowl and squeeze lemon juice and vanilla over them.

Combine sugar, cinnamon and cornstarch. Toss gently with the peaches. Let stand for 15 minutes.

Prepare pie crust by rolling out each crust to a 10 inch circle. Line a greased pie pan with one crust. Cut other crust into 1 inch strips.

Fill with peach filling. Top with almond praline.

Use strips to create a lattice top pie cover. You may weave over and under. I am lazy and just lay one layer on top of the next. Brush pie crust with beaen egg. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet and place in oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking for 40 minutes until crust is browned and juices are bubbling. 

Cool on a wire rack to room temperature and serve with something white and creamy, whip cream or vanilla ice cream.


Place peach slices in a large bowl

Dessert Peach Burritos w/ Caramel Sauce

I had to squeeze in a little Cinco de Mayo post. And that's not all  that I am having to squeeze in after the awesome pork carnitas, seafood nachos, black bean refried beans (at least these were lowfat) and peach dessert burritos I stuffed myself with tonight. Oh it was good. And although I really have no reason to celebrate Cinco de Mayo I have to eat Mexican on this day. Perhaps it is for my two native Mexican born aunts. Love and miss those ladies.

OK these peach burritos are sweet little bites of heaven on so many levels. First of all I love that there was no frying involved ( all I could find were fried desserts for tonight), no flan involved -- sorry not a flan fan and so easy. Second they are super foodstorage, pantry friendly. Hey you can even make your own tortillas if you feel so inclined. I have a recipe for that --  tortillas.

Finally, they were a hit with the family -- every last one of them.

So without further ado.

Peach Burritos.

2 to 4 flour tortillas depending size. I used the biggest tortillas you have ever seen and therefore only needed two for my fam of 5.

1/2 cup peach preserves (I used cinnamon peach)
1 pint of canned peaches, drained
1 tsp of cinnamon (optional)

Caramel sauce.
1/2 Cup margarine or butter
1/2 Cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make sauce

Heat sauce ingredients in a medium saucepan until boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer 3 minutes. Remove from heat.

Spray a rimmed cookie sheet. Place tortilla on sheet before filling.

Spread burritos with peach preserves add a row of peach slices down the middle. Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Roll tortillas and cover with caramel sauce. Reserve about 1/4 cup.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove from heat and drizzle with more sauce.

Crockpot Peach Cobbler

Featured Food Storage: Canned Peaches, Flour, Sugar

Pantry Storage Suggestion: Cinnamon. The pantry storage suggestion is meant to be a little nudge to keep you thinking about how to keep your pantry stocked. Cinnamon is a great spice to stock up on. I buy it in bulk (cheaper) and refill my smaller canister when needed.

For my Thoughtless Thursday entry I bring you Crockpot Peach Cobbler. Don't forget to check out more crockpot recipes at Pots and Plots. Here is why I love this recipe. It is a dessert you don't have to worry about burning in the oven, which makes it perfect for pulling together right before Sunday nap time or errand running during the week. The original recipe called for frozen peaches but I have a ton of quarts of canned peaches to use up before this Fall's peach season. The canned peaches worked great. I so love my home canned peaches. I promise to give you my no sugar added recipe when I am in full peach canning mode.

CROCKPOT PEACH COBBLER

Makes 6 servings

2 quarts of peaches (3 to 4 cups) drained

3/4 Cup sugar

2 Tsp cinnamon, divided

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3/4 Cup all purpose flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

6 TB butter, cut into small bits

Combine peaches, sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Place in crock pot. Combine flour, sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon in bowl. Cut in butter with fork until mixture forms small crumbs. Sprinkle on top of peach mixture. Cook on high for 2 hours or until golden crust forms.

TIP: Be careful not to let the edges get too black by letting it cook too long. It's a bugger to clean.