An Inspired Cook

Ever listen to the song “Millions of Peaches” . . . it’s the song that sticks in my head this time of year.  You know the one . . . Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me, Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Free. . .   I love peaches and when they are in season I could eat them every day.  Each summer I make myself a peach pie, it’s like tradition.  I usually make a deep dish pie but this year I used the same amount of peaches to make a smaller pie plus 6 individual pies in ramekin cups.  The individual pies are great to share with neighbors and friends and are so much fun to make.  Instead of the traditional pie crust topping I made a pecan crumble for Joe who prefers a streusel topping to pie crust.  You can’t go wrong either way.  And a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side makes for one delicious dessert!

I assembled the pecan crumble ingredients first.  You’ll need flour, oats, turbinado sugar, salt butter, cinnamon and pecans.

Combine the flour, oats, sugar, salt and cinnamon together in a deep mixing bowl.

Roughly chop the pecans and cut 1/2 cup or 1 stick of butter into smaller pieces.

Throw in the chopped pecans and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter in with the rest of the dry ingredients.  It takes a few minutes but will begin to make a crumble in no time.

Here’s how the crumble should look.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for now.

Next, I put together the sugar and spice for the peaches.  I have a bowl with sugar, flour and tapioca. Some cinnamon will add flavor and a couple of lemon wedges to spritz the peaches when they have been sliced.

This pie dough has been in the fridge overnight so it’s chilled and ready to roll out.  My go-to recipe for pie dough comes from Simply Recipes.  If you need good instructions on pie dough, Elise is who I trust.  Actually, I’m getting better at making pie crusts.  Practice and more practice makes perfect.

Sprinkle flour as you roll it out.  I have learned to take my time and roll it out slowly.

It’s about the right size to fit my 9 inch pie plate.

I take the rolling pin and roll the dough over it to gently lift and set on top of the pie plate.

Press the dough into the bottom of the pie plate and crimp the edges.

For the individual ramekins, roll a small amount of dough and set the ramekin on top. Run a knife around the edge to cut out a circle.

Press it into the bottom of the ramekin cup.

Roll out and cut a strip of dough long enough to fit around the inside and wide enough to fit the height of the cup.  Using your fingers, press the strip around the edges and into the bottom crust.  Continue until you have 6 ramekin cups lined with pie dough. Set all of your pie dough in the fridge to chill while you get the peach filling ready.

I’m using 4 pounds of peaches.  These peaches are a bit smaller so it took a lot of peaches.

The peaches are so easy to peel when blanched.  Heat water in a large stock pot filled about 2/3 of the way up.  When it begins to boil, drop in your peaches one by one gently so as not to splash hot water.  Turn off the heat and let them sit in the hot water for 1 minute.

Then lift them out with a slotted spoon into an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.  By the time I got the camera ready the ice had all melted.

The skin just peels off so easy after they’ve been blanched.

Remove the pits and slice thin.

Add the sugar flour mix to the peaches and gently stir.

Your pie crust is chilled and ready to fill with peaches.  Fill each pie plate and ramekin up to the top with peach filling.

Use 2 tablespoons of butter to dot the pies.  I make slivers to go over the pie.

And little cubes to go over the ramekin pies.

The crumb topping has been chilling out in the fridge.  Time to bring it out and sprinkle over the pies. Take some aluminum foil or a pie crust shield to drape around the edges of the pie crust. Bake in a preheated 375 oven for 45 – 50 minutes.  The last 10 minutes of bake time, remove the shield.

The individual pies are perfect for 2 people and cute as can be to share with your friends.





Peach Pie with Pecan Crumble

Makes 1 (9 inch pie) plus 6 individual (4 inch) ramekin pies.  The recipe can be halved to make either.

4 pounds ripe Peaches
1 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Flour
2 tablespoons Tapioca
2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
Pastry for Double Crust Pie  (Combination crust courtesy of Simply Recipes)
2 tablespoons Unsalted Butter, for dotting pies

Pecan Crumble

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
3/4 cup Flour
3/4 cup Oats
1/2 cup Turbinado Sugar
1/2 cup Pecans, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

To make crumble:  Combine flour, oats, turbinado sugar, pecans, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.  Slice butter into small pieces and cut in with a pastry cutter until the topping becomes crumbly.  Set aside in refrigerator until time to top pies.

To make pie filling:  Heat a large stockpot with water filled about 2/3 of the way.  Blanch peaches in boiling water for 1 minute.  Transfer to ice water bath to stop the cooking process.  Peel peaches and remove pits.  Slice into thin slices and place in a large bowl.  Add lemon juice to peaches, stir.  Combine sugar, flour, tapioca and cinnamon and add to peaches.

Roll out your pie crust for your 9 inch pie and transfer to the pie plate. Center it and gently press into the pie plate and crimp the edges.  Refrigerate if not using immediately.  To make individual ramekin pies, roll out a small amount of dough and set the cup on top.  Take a knife and carve around the bottom of the cup to make the center dough piece.  Then roll out and cut a rectangle the height of your cup and long enough to fit the inside circumference of your cup.  Press the dough along the inside of the cup and press the two together at the bottom.

Fill the pie crusts to the top with peach pie filling and top with pecan crumble.  For the pie, make an aluminum foil pie shield or use your own to keep the outer crust from browning too quickly.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes.  Remove the pie shield the last 10 minutes of bake time.  Let cool.

Serve with Vanilla Ice Cream