peach pie pocket + banana soft serve
One of my “goals” this summer was to make a pie from scratch. Most of the pies I make are no-bake pies involving ice cream and Cool Whip, graham cracker or Oreo crust. That doesn’t exactly classify me in the “Extraordinary Home Baker” category.I’ve never made a pie from scratch before because (1) Matt + I certainly won’t eat a whole one ourselves, (2) my sister-in-law Sara makes the BEST pies ever (her mom makes even better ones, if you can believe that!), and (3) it just seemed like a really complicated ordeal, and as a perfectionist, I was too afraid I’d get frustrated if my lattice top and crust edges weren’t perfect.How do you solve this you ask? First, you have to ask my sister-in-law for her pie crust recipe, which I didn’t do because she’s been crazy busy and out of town, and I don’t want to step on her toes if mine turns out better (which would NEVER happen). Second, make single serving pies instead!These are like the pre-packaged, packed full of preservatives pies you can find at convenient stores and, unfortunately, many vending machines. Not that these are better for you, per se, but they are at least made with REAL food and not packed full of a bunch of crap that your body doesn’t know how to process.I had a bunch of peaches on hand that absolutely needed to be used up, and if you ask me, the peaches have been AMAZING this summer. But, I’m sure you could make any other kind of pie you would like – apple, blackberry, strawberry, even French silk or Key Lime! Mmmm…PEACH PIE POCKETCrust is from this recipe. I halved the original recipe because you don’t really need a whole pie crust for a “single serving” pie. I’m not including the recipe because I didn’t change anything, and you can use one you already have on hand. You can also use pre-packaged frozen + then thawed pastry dough if you’re still too intimidated to make your own, but I promise, it was REALLY easy!The peach pie filling is adapted from this recipe – the only thing I’ve changed are the amounts of the ingredients for the most part.1 1/4 cups fresh peaches, peeled and sliced1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice2 tablespoon all-purpose flour1/4 cup granulated sugar1/8 teaspoon cinnamon1/8 teaspoon nutmeg1/8 teaspoon salt1 1/2 tablespoons butter, diced into small piecesPreheat oven to 450 degrees (F). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.Roll out your pie dough into an oval or rectangle and about a quarter of an inch thick. Don’t worry about the edges. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and probably won’t be.In a medium bowl, combine peaches and lemon juice and gently mix. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Gently mix flour mixture into the peaches. Dot the peach mixture with the diced butter.(Note: These next steps are not exactly what I did, but in an ideal situation, this is what you should do. If it doesn’t work, just do the best you can to make it into a pizza pocket type thing.)Scoop the mixture and place it closer to one of the short ends of the pie dough, leaving a good inch or so of room from the edge of the pie dough. Fold the other side of the dough over the peach mixture. Crimp the edges together using a fork to seal everything in to a nice pocket. Make sure there are no holes in the creases!I haven’t decided whether or not you should cut holes in the top to vent it. I’m thinking this is probably a good idea as mine exploded out the sides, but it seems to defeat the purpose. Use your discretion, as I’m not a trained chef, just an experimental at-home baker.Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 to 35 minutes.Remove from oven and let cool slightly before digging in!
As you can see, mine totally exploded out of the sides (and I definitely didn’t crimp the edges because I only had room to place my peaches in the middle of the pie crust).
I “mmm-ed” and “ahhh-ed” as I ate my way through my little slice of heaven. The crust was buttery and chewy, but a little flaky at the same time. And that fresh peach filling tasted as good as it smelled while it was baking!
Now, if you want to make this even better, you can serve this a la mode with some homemade ice cream or easy-as-pie banana soft serve. If you’ve never had banana soft serve before, all you do is take a FROZEN banana or two and process in the food processor until creamy.I had some leftover peaches from making the pie filling that I frozen, so I blended half a frozen peach with half a banana. It was definitely more banana-y, but had a good peach flavor to it also.
And to get even more decadent, I blended up a slice of my pie with it to mimic my Peach Pie Shake I had at Jennifer’s Pharmacy a few days ago. Oh man, I was in heaven!
There you have it! Two very easy and delicious recipes! Maybe next time I’ll actually make a REAL pie!