Recipes for summer's late peaches

9/19/12 Cook’s Corner

Betty Kaiser

Recipes for summer’s late peaches

Summer days are dwindling down to a precious few and I’m determined to enjoy every last drop of sunshine. So while the retail world is touting Halloween and recipe columns are featuring apples and pumpkins, I’m still eating corn on the cob and doling out the last of summer’s peaches.

This morning I canned the last of our peaches—the Improved Elberta variety. I really prefer to can Suncrest peaches but their season zipped by when I wasn’t looking and so I have struggled through canning a flat of Elbertas, a sweet, usually freestone, canning peach.

I say struggle, because, these peaches were not cooperative. They were not freestone, refused to turn loose of their seeds and bruised easily. Nevertheless, I got them in jars, processed and put away for winter. There were enough left to make some frozen pie filling and a fresh cobbler before they began to gather gnats on the kitchen sink.

Peach season is so short that the last couple of years I’ve lived dangerously prepared pie fillings and successfully frozen them. I put all my ingredients in a large sauce pan, bring them to a boil and spread in a square or rectangular baking dish. I let them cool, wrap and freeze. Before using, I partially thaw them before topping with pie crust or a crumb topping. But you can also add the filling to pie plates, remove when frozen, wrap in foil and stack. See directions below.

Today’s first recipe is for a peach cobbler with a vanilla biscuit topping. The filling calls for Demera sugar popular in the UK. It is large grained, unrefined, crunchy and a pale to golden yellow color. Don’t worry if you can’t find it. Just use brown or white sugar.

Next is a frozen pie filling and the last is for a Paula Deen peach pie. Paula has gotten a lot of bad press lately since her diabetes but she is a good basic cook. Her recipe is similar to mine and calls for both nutmeg and almond. Enjoy!

Last of Summer Fruit Cobbler

Filling:

4 cups sliced peaches, plums, or nectarines (or any combo of all 3)

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 cup Demerara sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Topping:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar or vanilla sugar, if you have it

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold,

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla seeds or 2 teaspoons vanilla, added to buttermilk

Optional: vanilla sugar

Preheat oven to 350F and round up a medium-sized baking dish (I use a 1 3/4qt oval baking dish).

In a medium bowl, toss sliced stone fruit with lemon juice. Sprinkle with sugar and cornstarch and combine well. (I use my hands). Transfer fruit to the baking dish and spread to cover the bottom.

In another, smaller bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Using a box grater, grate cold butter to the flour mix and toss to combine.

Add buttermilk and vanilla and fold biscuit batter together gently, until just combined. Scoop dough in dollops onto the peaches; don’t worry if all the fruit is not covered.

Sprinkle top with a tablespoon of vanilla sugar and place in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbly around the edges and the vanilla biscuit is golden brown.

Remove from oven and let stand until the bubbling has subsided. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Frozen Peach Pie Filing

Goldmine

4 cups peeled, sliced or coarsely chopped fresh peaches
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 or 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Mix ingredients thoroughly and pour into an 8- or 9-inch foil-lined pie plate. Freeze immediately.

When frozen solid, remove from pie plate and wrap in foil or other tight-fitting wrap, using drugstore folds to seal completely. Label and store in freezer.

To make pie: Prepare preferred pie dough and line an 8- or 9-inch pie plate (whichever size you used to freeze the filling). Unwrap frozen peach pie filling and place in the pie shell; cover with a second crust.

Seal edges; prick dough with fork. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake until crust is golden brown, approximately 45 minutes. Do not let pie filling thaw before baking.

“Nita’s Secret Peach Pie”

Paula Deen

7 cups fresh peaches, peeled and thickly sliced (can substitute frozen slices)
½ lemon, juiced
1 ½ cups sugar
¼ cup flour
½ teaspoon almond extract
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
5 tablespoons butter, divided
1 prepared pastry for a 9” double crust pie
1 egg

Pre heat oven to 425º F.

Roll one half of the pie dough out to fit the bottom of your pie pan, allowing a 1” over hang and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

In a large sauce pan, add peaches, lemon juice, sugar and flour and stir until coated. Bring fruit mixture to a low boil. Reduce heat to low and cook until fruit is just slightly tender. Remove pan from heat. Stir in almond extract, nutmeg and three tablespoons butter. Allow to cool slightly.

Remove pie pan from refrigerator and fill with the cooled mixture. Dot the top of the fruit with the pieces of the remaining two tablespoons butter. Roll out the second crust and decorate the top of the pie with a lattice top or any special way you like. (If covering the top of your pie completely with the top crust, make sure to cut slits in the top to allow the steam to escape) Decoratively crimp the edges.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg together with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the top of your pie with the egg wash.

Bake for 10 minutes then lower heat to 350ºF for an additional 30 minutes or until the top is golden and the fruit is bubbly.

Cool before slicing and serve with hand churned vanilla bean ice cream and a cup of coffee.

Keep it simple and keep it seasonal! 

Betty Kaiser’s Cook’s Corner is dedicated to sharing a variety of recipes 

that are delicious, family oriented and easy to prepare.