Peach Custard Pie

Here's a little something I made for a student worker's last day in one of our departments.  She loves peaches so I made here a peach pie.  Now here was the problem, it's not really peach season so that left me with a dilemma.  I didn't want to use canned peaches--they are too mushy for my taste.  My only resort was to use frozen peaches.  Now sometimes, those can end up not cooking enough with the pie and they turn out tough.  It's a precarious tightrope we walk when making fruit pies outside of their season.

What I ended up doing was cooking the peaches in a saucepan, just a bit, to break them down from their frozen state, concentrate their sugars with that heat, but still maintaining them as firmer than their canned counterparts.  The pie only cooks at 425 F for 30 minutes and then I put a crumble mixture of butter, flour, and sugar on top and cook for 15 more minutes.  It's really not that long of time, and I find that the peaches turned out perfectly tender, but not mushy.  The custard contained egg yolks, sour cream, sugar, and instead of vanilla, I used amaretto.  I can't wait to make it again in the summer, when fresh, juicy peaches off the tree make their ephemeral appearance.

Pies, Cheesecake, and French Onion Soup Recap (Oh, My)

In one fell swoop, here's a last recap of all the pies (and other food-related items) I shared on Instagram (@jujulabean).  I'll give a little peek, and promise to do better in 2016...that's a resolution I'm going to keep!

I made 9 pies in one night (the peach sour cream was still in the oven) for a local cafe bake in August.

Cherry Almond

Triple Berry Crunch with Grand Marnier

Banana Cream Pie with Bittersweet Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger

Banana Cream Pie with Toasted Coconut 

(the camera made the coconut look a little orange here)

 Is 5 lbs. of apples too much?  The beginning...

The end...Double Apple Pie with Cornmeal Crust and Bourbon Caramel Sauce

Vanilla Bean Upside-Down Peach Cobbler with Cream

Salted Caramel Toffee Pumpkin Cheesecake

One view of my kitchen

Balancing Dessert (artwork by me)

Outside in the summer with my Bialetti Breakfast with La Mère Poulard Palets

French Onion Soup recipe courtesy of Sweet Paul Magazine.

Jumbo Chocolate Almond Muffin