Peach Pie

There are few things as wonderful as a perfectly ripe peach - and few things as difficult to find. Even here in North Carolina, in such close proximity to Peach Country. Thankfully, over 4th of July weekend, I lucked out with a couple pounds of beautiful, sweet, smooth organic South Carolina peaches. My family requested a pie for our festivities, and, peaches in hand, I was happy to oblige.

This pie was unbelievable. Relying almost entirely on the peaches themselves for sweetness, the fruit nestled between two layers of buttery, flaky, perfect pie crust, served with orange blossom-scented whipped cream. Oh, my. It disappeared in a matter of minutes.

Peach Pie

For the filling

2 pounds of ripe peaches, pitted and cut into chunks about 1/2" x 1" (I left my skins on to create a textural difference in the filling, but peel them if you prefer)

1 tablespoon agave nectar (Madhava brand is best, it's the real deal.)

2 teaspoons tapioca powder or cornstarch

For the crust

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 1/2 cups white spelt flour

heaping 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks and frozen

1/4 cup - 1/2 cup ice water

Filling

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.

Crust

Combine flours and salt in a large bowl. Add butter chunks and cut in with a pastry blender. You aren't aiming for a meal-like consistency here, you want butter pieces of various sizes - though none terribly large. Add the water a little at a time, working it in with your hands until the dough comes together. Work quickly, as you don't want the butter to warm too much. Turn dough out onto a board, divide into two, form each half into a ball, flatten into a disk and wrap well in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before rolling.

When ready to assemble the pie:

Preheat oven to 375. Butter a 9" pie pan. Pull out one disk of dough at a time, and roll out on a well-floured board to about 1/8" thick. Line pie plate with first circle of dough, and trim overhang to about 1/8" - 1/4". Fill with peach mixture. Lay second circle of dough over filling, trim overhang to about 1/4 inch beyond bottom crust. Pinch edges of crust together, tuck top around bottom, and flute crust to make an attractive edge. Cut slits in top crust. If the dough seems to have softened a lot while you were working with it, pop it in the freezer for about 10 minutes before baking.

Bake for about 60-70 minutes, or until crust is evenly browned and fruit juices are thick and bubbling. Cool on a rack until warm.

Marmalade Tart

Wow, a lot of citrus around here lately, eh? I kind of forgot how much I love citrus. It was all I wanted as a kid, then I got all caught up in chocolate and didn't eat many citrus desserts for many years. I'm so glad to be re-discovering it. How great is it that the brightest, sunniest fruits are in season when it is cold and grey! I mean, look at this tart; can you imagine a happier looking dessert on a dreary January day? I can't!

The recipe for this tart comes from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook. I received this book for Christmas, and until yesterday hadn't had a chance to look at it very carefully. It has a lot in it that I don't eat - lots of meat, people, lots of meat - but it is a beautiful book, and I love the way it is structured. Each chapter has a bio on one of the people who grow (or otherwise cultivate) the produce, honey, etc. that the bakery uses.

As soon as I saw this tart, however, I had the feeling that the book was worth having for that recipe alone. I was right.

The tart is composed of a sturdy, citrus-scented crust spread with a layer of marmalade, topped with an almond cream which is studded with bits of toasted almonds, and to finish it off, thin slices of fresh citrus are placed on top.

While there are several components, they are all rather simple to execute. The only thing that gave me trouble was the dough for the crust. It was very crumbly, even with several extra tablespoons of orange juice, and was a real pain to roll out. I had to patch it more than I have ever had to patch any other dough I've ever worked with. After it came out of the oven, however, I loved the taste and texture of the crust, so I don't think I'd substitute a different dough.

This tart has a lovely balance of flavors and textures: the firm, almost crunchy crust plays beautifully off of the creamy filling and soft fruit; the sweetness of the almond cream is tempered by the fresh citrus. It is a dessert that is equally appropriate for a fancy holiday dinner or an informal breakfast.

Marmalade Tart

adapted from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook

For the Tart Dough

1 1/2 cups cold unsalted butter cut into small cubes

3 cups unbleached white flour

1/2 cup sugar

grated zest of 1 orange

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons - 4 tablespoons orange juice

For the Almond Cream

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, sifted

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

grated zest of 1 orange

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons unbleached white flour

3/4 cup almonds, toasted until brown on the inside, then finely chopped

For Assembling the Tart

1 cup high-quality citrus marmalade at room temperature

2 medium-sized citrus fruits (or more if you want more variety)

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

To make tart dough:

Combine butter with flour, sugar, orange zest and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer, place in freezer for 30 minutes. Remove from freezer, covering your hands so they don't stick to the metal bowl, attach to mixer. Using paddle attachment, mix until very crumbly. Add orange juice a little at a time until the dough comes together. Turn out onto floured board and knead until dough is smooth, about 2 minutes. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and place in fridge for at least 30 minutes.

While dough is chilling, make almond cream:

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, powdered sugar, almond extract, zest and salt until light and fluffy. Add beaten egg slowly, and mix until incorporated. Add flour and mix until smooth. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the toasted, chopped almonds.

Preheat oven to 375. Line a cookie sheet with parchment.

Remove tart dough from fridge and place on a well-floured board. Roll out to 1/4" thick. Using a sharp knife, cut a rectangle 12" x 16". Carefully transfer rectangle to prepared cookie sheet. Spread marmalade over dough, leaving a 1" border all the way around. Spread almond cream as evenly as you can over the marmalade. Fold edges of dough in to create a crust. Place in fridge for 30 minutes.

Prepare the citrus for topping:

Cut both ends off of each piece of citrus, creating a flat surface. Place fruit on one of the flat ends, and following the curve of the fruit, cut off all of the rind and pith. Then slice into rounds, 1/4" thick each. Remove seeds as necessary. Remove tart from refrigerator and lay citrus slices evenly over the surface. Place them close together, but not overlapping. Brush the edges of the tart with the beaten egg, and dust the whole thing with sugar, going heavier on the dough than the fruit. Place a dot of butter on each slice of citrus to prevent burning. Bake tart for 40-45 minutes, or until both the almond cream and crust are a deep golden brown. Cool on rack for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Peanut Butter Truffle Tart

It's strange how tastes evolve over time, isn't it? I've mentioned this before, but I used to loathe chocolate. I'm actually cracking up as I type that, so comical is the concept to me now... Well, another thing I couldn't stand was peanut butter. Actually, pizza too. I know, what kind of child was I?! To give you a hint, my favorite food was (and still is, actually) broccoli. Steamed. With olive oil and salt. Anyway, we're not talking about broccoli here, we're talking about a tart. A tart that contains two ingredients I would never have eaten 15 years ago, and that would have been a shame, because it is divine.

For his birthday (which was yesterday), my favorite uncle requested a chocolate-peanut butter tart. I knew I wanted it to be rich, and that chocolate needed to be the dominant flavor. One of my all-time favorite desserts is a truffle tart - basically ganache in a cookie crust - so I decided to do a riff on that concept.

For the crust, I wanted something similar to a cookie crust in texture, but not as sweet, so I came up with this one. It was perfect.

For the filling, I made a basic ganache with semisweet chocolate and poured it over a layer of thinned peanut butter that was spread on the crust.

The dessert was a huge hit. Many of my family members put it in their top 5 desserts I've made.

I should mention that my tart used to have a beautiful, smooth, shiny surface. We had my uncle's birthday lunch at his favorite restaurant, and I took the tart there for everyone to enjoy after our meal. After everyone had had a slice (or two) and the leftovers were packed up to go home with people, there was one perfect slice left that I was saving to photograph. As we were walking in the house, my husband dropped the tart pan (containing my one perfect slice) on the floor. It was smooshed. It was dented. The crust was cracked. It was no longer smooth and shiny. It was a mess. I salvaged it as best I could, and hacked up the top of it, trying to mask the damage. It certainly looks better in the photos than it did immediately after its accident, but it was a lot prettier and more sophisticated before it...

Peanut Butter Truffle Tart

Whole Wheat Chocolate No-Roll Crust

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unbleached white flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces and frozen

4 tablespoons ghee, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons cold heavy cream

In a medium sized bowl, combine flours, cocoa powder, salt, sugar and baking powder. Set aside. Add cream cheese and butter and using a pastry blender, cut them in until well incorporated and there are butter bits of various sizes, though none terribly large. Combine heavy cream and ghee and add a little at a time to the flour mixture, tossing with your fingers as you add it. When all of the liquid has been added, use your hands to squeeze all of the ingredients to form a dough. It is okay if it is crumbly, though you want to make sure all of the dry ingredients have been moistened. Dump dough into well-buttered 9" tart pan with a removable bottom (or a 9" pie pan), and press in evenly. Place crust in freezer for at least 30 minutes, and preheat oven to 375. To blind bake, press a piece of aluminum foil over the crust and bake covered for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15, or until crust feels slightly firm to the touch. Let crust cool completely before filling.

Filling

1/3 cup peanut butter

3+ tablespoons heavy cream

8 ounces best quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Combine peanut butter with cream 1 tablespoon at a time, until peanut butter is still thick, but easily spreadable. The thicker your peanut butter is to begin with, the more cream you'll need. I use fresh ground organic peanut butter that I grind at the health food store, so it is rather thick. When peanut butter is the appropriate consistency, spread it across the bottom of your tart crust.

Place chopped chocolate in heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a boil, then pour over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute, then stir until chocolate is smooth. Stir in butter. Pour over peanut butter layer, and smooth with a spatula. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour to set the ganache. Remove from fridge at least 30 minutes before serving to bring to room temperature.

Chocolate No-Roll Crust for Pies & Tarts

Today is my uncle's birthday. He requested a chocolate peanut butter tart for the occasion, which I was happy to provide him with. As I was planning his tart, I was thinking about the crust I was going to make. I didn't want to go with a traditional tart crust. I wanted something more like a cookie-crust, but not as sweet. I immediately thought of the no-roll crust I originally saw on Joy the Baker - which I have already done two adaptations of - and wondering if I could figure out a chocolate version.

I decided to stick with partial whole wheat flour, which I wanted for it's texture and earthiness. I added sugar to this crust, which I omitted from the other two, and obviously I added cocoa powder. It worked out perfectly on the first try! I was so happy with this crust, I had to give it its own post (though I will post the tart I used it for tomorrow). This crust has a wonderful chocolate flavor that is just sweet enough, and the the texture is sandy and crumbly (though it stays together beautifully). It was everything I wanted it to be. It is a perfect alternative to a cookie crust, and nearly as easy to make. This one is a keeper!

Whole Wheat Chocolate No-Roll Crust

3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unbleached white flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces and frozen

4 tablespoons ghee, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons cold heavy cream

In a medium sized bowl, combine flours, cocoa powder, salt, sugar and baking powder. Set aside. Add cream cheese and butter and using a pastry blender, cut them in until well incorporated and there are butter bits of various sizes, though none terribly large. Combine heavy cream and ghee and add a little at a time to the flour mixture, tossing with your fingers as you add it. When all of the liquid has been added, use your hands to squeeze all of the ingredients to form a dough. It is okay if it is crumbly, though you want to make sure all of the dry ingredients have been moistened. Dump dough into well-buttered 9" tart pan with a removable bottom (or a 9" pie pan), and press in evenly. Place crust in freezer for at least 30 minutes, and preheat oven to 375. To blind bake, press a piece of aluminum foil over the crust and bake covered for 10 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15, or until crust feels slightly firm to the touch. Let crust cool completely before filling.

French Silk Pie

When I was young, a holiday was never a holiday without a French Silk Pie. It was one of my grandmother's specialties. She passed away when I was 9, and sadly, I never learned how to make it from her. After she passed away, we had many Thanksgivings and Christmases without this delicious dessert, until a few years ago when my aunt picked up the slack. This year I was in charge of the Thanksgiving sweet treats, so it was my turn to test my French Silk Pie making skills.

This is an amazing dessert for so many reasons. The crust is perfect - flaky and buttery. The pie is light and airy and melts in your mouth, it is rich and deeply chocolate-y, it looks like it took hours to make but it really only takes a matter of minutes (not including the time it takes to make the crust). It does contain raw eggs, but I think we can look past that, don't you? I mean if I can do it, so can you. I am not at all a fan of eggs, and this is far and away the only way you could ever get me to eat raw ones. I'm working on a version with cooked eggs - when I figure it out, I'll let you know. Until then, this is just too delicious to pass up because of a couple of raw eggs, so I hope you'll give it a try.

French Silk Pie

All-Butter Pie Crust

adapted from Good for Almost Everything Pie Crust by Dorie Greenspan

makes a 9" double crust

3 cups unbleached white flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

13 ounces (3 sticks + 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and frozen

1/2 cup ice water

Combine flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in butter until it is well-distributed. There should be pieces of butter in varying sizes. Add the water a little at a time, working the dough with your fingers to incorporate it. Add as much of the water as you need for the dough to form a ball. If you need a little extra water, go ahead and add it. When the dough has come together, divide it into two equal pieces. For a single crust, roll out one piece of dough on a well-floured board. Place in buttered 9" pie plate, trim the edges, and bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let crust cool completely before filling.

Filling

4 oz best quality semisweet chocolate

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream + more for topping

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter. After about 2 minutes, add the sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Meanwhile, melt chocolate in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. When chocolate is fluid, slowly add it to mixer in a thin stream. When all of the chocolate is incorporated, pour heavy cream in a thin stream and whip on high for about 2 minutes. Spoon filling into crust, and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

When ready to serve, remove pie from fridge and top with freshly whipped heavy cream that has been lightly sweetened with agave.