Peach Hand Pies

There is not a whole lot to say about this recipe. When I read about it on one of my favourite food blogs, the pies looked delicious. The peaches at the market a few weeks ago were looking pretty good too, so I thought it would be a winning combination.

And don’t get me wrong. They were pretty good. But in retrospect, I should have put my effort, and the delicious fruit, into a peach pie instead. Or maybe just eaten the peaches plain or on top of my cereal in the morning. Nothing gets much better than that.

These hand pies took way too much time and effort to make, and because they are so small, there is just not enough fruit filling for the amount of crust involved. The fruit-to-crust ratio is way off. There was also about a cup of filling left after I had filled all the pies, which was quite a waste.

On the bright side, the pastry is delicious and flaky and was quite easy to work with.
So here’s my final advice: take the pastry recipe and turn it into a regular old pie crust. Throw the peaches in, or maybe some apples now that peaches are pretty much gone, and enjoy.

And if you really like the idea of cute little hand pies (who doesn’t?), then cut your circles bigger, maybe 6 or even 8 inches, and then the fruit-crust thing should work much better.

Peach Hand Pies

From smittenkitchen.com

Makes 14 to 24 (depending on cutter size)

For the pastry:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into
pieces
1/2 cup sour cream
4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup ice water

For the filling:
2 pounds of peaches
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon bourbon – optional, I didn’t use it
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

One egg yolk beaten with 2 tablespoons water (for egg wash)
Coarse sanding sugar, for decoration

1. To make the pastry, in a bowl, combine the flour and salt. Place the butter in another bowl. Place both bowls in the freezer for 1 hour. Remove the bowls from the freezer and make a well in the center of the flour. Add the butter to the well and, using a pastry blender, cut it in until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Make another well in the center. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, lemon juice and water and add half of this mixture to the well. With your fingertips, mix in the liquid until large lumps form. Remove the large lumps and repeat with the remaining liquid and flour-butter mixture. Pat the lumps into a ball; do not overwork the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. If preparing ahead of time, the dough can be stored at this point for up to one month in the freezer.

2. Divide the refrigerated dough in half. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out one half of the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 4 1/2-inch-round biscuit cutter (I’d recommend bigger), cut seven circles out of the rolled dough. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 30 minutes. (Make sure you use parchment paper or the pies will stick a lot. Guess who didn’t.) Repeat the rolling, cutting, and chilling process with the remaining half of dough.

3. Make the filling: Peel and chop the peaches into small bits (approx. 1/2-inch dice), much smaller than you’d use for a regular-sized pie. Mix them with the flour, sugar and pinch of salt, and add the bourbon and vanilla, if you wish.

4. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator, and let stand at room temperature until just pliable, 2 to 3 minutes. Spoon about 1 to 2 tablespoons filling (use the smaller amount for a 4-inch circle) onto one half of each circle of dough. Quickly brush a little cold water around the circumference of the dough, and fold it in half so the other side comes down over the filling, creating a semicircle. Seal the hand pie, and make a decorative edge by pressing the edges of the dough together with the back of a fork. Repeat process with remaining dough. Place the hand pies back on the parchment-lined baking sheet, and return to the refrigerator to chill for another 30 minutes.

5. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove the chilled hand pies from the refrigerator, cut a small slit in each and lightly brush with the egg yolk wash. Sprinkle sanding sugar generously over the pies, and place pies in the oven to bake. Bake until the hand pies are golden brown and just slightly cracked, about 20 minutes. Remove the pies from the oven, and let stand to cool slightly before serving.

Real Bread

I know I wrote about bread in the last post, but I just made it again. And this time, it is actually real bread. Like, the kind that you knead. I know, I’m getting pretty fancy. Kneading bread? Good god, what will she think of next?

The no-knead bread was delicious and I definitely plan on making it again. But since I had the time on Sunday afternoon, I wanted to try my hand at this recipe from Deborah Madison. And I’m sure glad I did. I realized there is very little that is more satisfying than watching your own bread rising in the oven.

And it tasted good too! This is an excellent, hearty bread that slices nicely and is firm and flavourful. I will definitely be trying more of Deborah Madison’s bread recipes in the future.

Cracked Wheat-Honey Bread from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

When I started kneading the dough I found it VERY sticky and I had to add a lot more flour, I think probably at least 4 cups white. Next time, I would add more when the dough is still in the bowl since this will make it easier to knead.

¼ cup warm water

1 teaspoon sugar

2 ¼ teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

1 ½ cups hot water

1 ¼ cups milk or buttermilk (I used a mix of buttermilk and soy milk)

¼ cup unsulfured molasses or honey (I used half and half)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup fine or medium bulgur or cracked wheat

2 cups whole-wheat flour

2 to 3 cups bread flour or all-purpose white flour

Combine ¼ warm water with the sugar and yeast in a small bowl and set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes. Oil two 8 by 4-inch bread pans and oil a bowl for the dough.

In a mixing bowl, combine the hot water and the milk, then stir in the molasses, oil, and salt. Add the yeast, and bulgur, then begin beating in the flour, adding as much as you can until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured counter and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes, adding flour a little at a time. Put it in an oiled bowl, turn once to coat the top, the cover and set aside to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 ¼ hours.

Push the dough down by punching it several times. Turn it out and divide it in two. Form two loaves and set them in the pans. Cover again and let rise until the dough has risen to the top of the pan, about 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees during the last 15 minutes of the rise. Bake for 45 minutes or until well browned. If it looks like they are getting too brown during baking, cover the top with a layer of tin foil. When you turn them out of their pans, make sure the sides are firm and brown. If not, put them back in the oven for a few more minutes. Bread slices more easily if you let it cool for at least an hour.

Muffins, Bread, and Granola

It’s time for some recipes that I’ve been meaning to share. I kind of went on a cooking and baking spree over the last few weeks, when I was hanging around the apartment looking for a job.

Our first week at the market we bought a very, very large zucchini. Kind of baseball bat-ish, if you know what I mean. I should have taken a picture of it whole to show you how very big it was.

So even after cooking two zucchini side dishes, there was a chunk of zucchini left over. I pondered what to do with it, and the obvious conclusion was to turn it into zucchini muffins. I also thought they would be a good choice because it was a rather stringy zucchini. I actually liked the texture of it cooked (and it still tasted delicious) but J wasn’t really a fan.

So I grated that old chunk of zucchini down and made my fallback muffin recipe, Moosewood Muffins. It never lets me down. These muffins are delicious - moist with a springy texture and lots of flavour from the spices. And even though there are only two of us, they didn’t last long.

Next I decided to make something that I’ve been wanting to try since the spring: No-Knead Bread. I saw the recipe on several of the food blogs that I read, and it sounded amazing. I have only ever made bread in the breadmaker and this sounded just as easy, if slightly more time-consuming.

It was definitely worth the extra effort. Breadmaker bread is great, but this felt a lot more like real homemade bread. It was bread bliss: soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside, with a subtle flavour. And it only has four ingredients!

This is a recipe you could definitely add stuff to, though. I have read that some people use half whole-wheat flour, or spelt or other flours. Maybe next time I will experiment a bit.

And cooking bread in a pot – what could make a girl feel more rustic and domestic than that?

Well, maybe making granola. Although I guess that has more of a hippie ring to it. Granola is another one of those great recipes that you can fiddle with to your liking. You barely even need a recipe to give it a whirl (though I’m usually never brave enough to abandon the guide entirely).

This time I sort of made a cross between the recipe in my new Deborah Madison book, and Nigella’s from her cookbook Feast that I made over the summer. Deborah’s recipe calls for less sugar, which made me feel good about myself. But when J tasted it, he said it wasn’t as good as before. I thought it was still great, but feel free to add as much sweetener as you like.

By now all three of these treats are long gone. Now that I’m a working girl (Yess!) I don’t have as much time to stay home and bake all day. But I’m hoping to get in a little quality time with my oven this weekend.

Muffin Madness from Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home

Basic Wet Ingredients:
2 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 - 1 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Basic Dry Ingredients:
2 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Choose one of the following combos to add to basic ingredients (the above is NOT a plain muffin recipe, but the base for the following)

Apple muffins: Add 2 cups of grated apple and 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel to wet ingredients and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon to dry ingredients.
Banana muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of mashed banana to wet ingredients and 1 cup chopped nuts and/or 1/2 cup of chocolate chips to batter.
Blueberry - lemon muffins: Add 1 1/2 cups of blueberries and 1 tablespoon of grated lemon peel to wet ingredients.
Zucchini muffins: Add 2 cups of grated zucchini to wet ingredients and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom to the dry ingredients. Fold in 1/2 cup of raisins or currants and 3/4 cup of chopped nuts to batter (I didn’t add raisins or nuts to mine).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, Combine wet ingredients, then stir in the zucchini (or other ingredients of your choice). In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, including spices. Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients, being careful not to overmix. Fold in the additional ingredients if your variation calls for them.

Spoon batter into oiled standard muffins tins and bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. (If using mini-muffin tins, bake for only 10-15 minutes.) A knife inserted into the centre of a muffin should come out clean.

Makes 12 muffins.

This recipe is really just a template for creativity. You could probably try tons of other fruit/nut/chocolate combinations that would be delish.

Granola

Adapted from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison and Andy’s Fairfield Granola from Feast by Nigella Lawson

3 cups rolled oats

Around ¼ cup chopped nuts (I used whole almonds and sunflower seeds)

About ¼ cup sesame seeds

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of salt

¼ cup applesauce (just because I had some lying around)

1/8 cup canola oil

¼ cup to ½ cup honey or maple syrup (you could also add brown sugar)

½ cup raisins, currants, cranberries or chopped apricots

Preheat oven to 300. Combine all the ingredients except the dried fruit in large bowl and mix to make sure everything is distributed.

Spread the mixture on two cookie sheets with sides and bake until golden, turning every 10 minutes so that it browns evenly. This will take about 30 – 50 minutes, depending on your oven.

Let cool on the pans, then mix with the dried fruit. Store in a tightly covered jar or plastic container.

Grocery Stores

One of the best things about our new apartment is that it’s four blocks from the nearest grocery store. And this is not just any grocery store. No, this is a dream of a grocery store, a brand-new Sobey’s Urban Market, complete with a very large section of delicious-looking prepared meals and a wine bar. Yes, that’s right, our grocery store has a wine bar.

There is a whole aisle of miniature veggies, including these baby romanescos and cauliflowers.

When J and I first went in, we couldn’t stop exclaiming over stuff like the food geeks we are. “Ohmygod, jicama!” “Wow, local beets and carrots!” “Dried mushrooms!” “Chile oil!”

Vegan cupcakes in the dessert counter.

The only problem with the store is that sometimes you can’t find the most everyday items. For example, they carry several different kinds of olive oil, but no regular old vegetable oil. When we asked three different people where the tofu was, they looked at us like we were mutants. (We later discovered it tucked away near the sprouts and fresh herbs.)

There is also a larger, more generic grocery store nine blocks away, called Save On Foods. It’s like your normal grocery store, except the first time I went there I discovered something magnificent: the bulk section. Alberta does not have Bulk Barn (Oh how I miss you!) so this was excellent. I was so excited I whipped out my camera and took pictures.

My bulk food stash: sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, cocoa powder, raisins and almonds.

We are pretty spoiled to have these two stores nearby, not to mention the market. Oh Edmonton, you are full of wonderful surprises.