Ginger Peach Hand Pies

You know how sometimes you wish for something, and then that wish comes true, but not exactly the way you had envisioned? Maybe you're like me, and you wished you could have a nice summer break, a staycation, during which you could visit friends, do some more city exploring, perhaps a few days at the beach. But what you got instead is mandated stay at home time while you wait for your international background check to clear before you can start your new gig in Baltimore. Which will hopefully clear soon because that ding-dong money tree I've been trying for still hasn't sprouted.

The one good thing about this time is I can finally play with recipes that I've been putting off because it's either too time consuming, too complicated, or makes too much of a mess to clean up on a weeknight. I can finally make hand pies!

Again unable to resist the ever-ripening mountains of peaches at the market, I decided to try a tangy element with these pies. Minced ginger has a nice tang that lends itself to either sweet or savory dishes, and compliments the juicy sweetness of these yellow peaches.

 

I tried a different crust from Vegan Pie in the Sky this time around, the Puffy Pie Dough, which came together pretty easily, and is probably less stressful to work with than a pure (vegan)butter dough. (But I still put my roller in the freezer -- work cold, work fast!) But it also doesn't make enough dough for the amount of filling I got, which ended up being close to 3 or 4 cups. Whatever kind of dough you use, make sure you roll it a smidge thicker than you would for a regular pie -- these peaches are juicy and you don't want all that peachy goodness to go anywhere but in your mouth!

Ginger Peach Hand Pies

Puffy Pie Dough from Vegan Pie in the Sky

Dough

2 ¼ c. all-purpose flour

3 TBSP sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder

½ c. cold Earth Balance margarine

½ c. cold plain soy yogurt (I used Greek Style So Delicious brand)

¼ c. cold almond milk

Filling

5-6 medium sized peaches
2 TBSP corn starch
1½  TBSP lemon juice
3 TBSP sugar

1-1½ tsp freshly grated ginger

dash allspice
Pinch salt
2 TBSP flour

¼ c. almond milk
turbanado sugar for sprinkling

For the dough:

In large mixing bowl combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Cut in the margarine with a pastry cutter if you have one, or your fingers. I got mine for a few bucks at a flea market. Because you need to mix in the yogurt with a spatula, I nixed the food processor so that I would have one less thing to clean.

Add half the yogurt, mix with a large sturdy spatula, and then add the rest of the yogurt. Add the almond milk and mix as best you can. The dough will still be clumpy and crumbly, but it comes together nicely when you turn it onto your rolling surface and knead it a bit. It will form a stiff dough.

For the filling:

Score, blanch, and peel the peaches. Dice into smallish pieces and combine with corn starch, lemon juice, sugar, ginger, allspice, salt, and flour in a medium sized bowl. 

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

Pie assembly:

Put parchment paper on a rimmed baking sheet, and get yourself a small glass of cold water. Roll out your chilled dough to about ¼ inch thickness. Using an over-turned bowl or glass, cut out as many round pieces of dough as you can (my bowl is  5½ inches in diameter). Chill any remaining scrapes as you work.

Scoop a scant ¼ c. of filling into the center of each circle. Dip your fingers in the water and gently brush your fingers around the edge of half the circle. Carefully pull the opposite side over the filling, sealing the edges. Use a fork to crimp the edges, cut three steam slits in the top of the pie, and then place the pie on your baking sheet. Repeat until you’re out of dough or filling, but make sure to chill any remaining dough when you’re not using it!

Brush each pie with almond milk and sprinkle with turbanado sugar. Bake on the middle rack for 30 minutes, or until the dough is golden. Let cool at room temperature and then store in airtight container in the fridge.

 I am now of the opinion that hand pies are the perfect summer dessert. No plates, no forks, no mess to clean up! Which means you can spend extra time enjoying summertime things, like peach pie.

Maple Bourbon Peach Pie

After having been away from the amazing farmer's market in Baltimore earlier in June, I've gone a bit overboard the last two weeks. It's not a bad thing, mind you. Having to decide what to do with 3 lbs of squash, 6 ears of fresh, sweet corn (actually, I think I'll just eat that raw), and another $1 pound of kale (best.deal.ever.) is certainly burden I'm happy to bear!

While the vegetables may take some consideration, when I got to the tables piled high with ripe peaches, I knew there was only one option. PIE. 

I made a delicious deep dish caramel apple pie last fall and wanted to apply the same caramelly goodness to these peaches. After scouring the internet (read: one google search) I found a plethora of honey caramel peach pie recipes. I was all set to play with one of these and suggest in the recipe that strict vegans should replace the honey with maple syrup when I thought, now hang on a second. Why don't I just do that to begin with?

 

I love honey, I put it in and on everything. When a recipe calls for liquid sweetener, honey and maple syrup are interchangeable, but because good maple syrup can be pricey, I buy it sparingly, though I usually have enough around that I can sub it when I'm out of honey. But why throw that in as an aside? This time, rather than a second choice substitution, I decided to make the maple syrup shine! It changes the flavor profile a little bit, and is enhanced by the bourbon (because alcohol + baking = awesome!) and some additional spices to become an ingredient worth paying a little more for! And worth lauding as an essential ingredient in this pie.

 This also gave me a chance to work on my pastry crust. I used the buttery double crust recipe from Vegan Pie in the Sky, I'm happy to report that this one turned out really well!  A few tips, though, before you get started, which can be applied to any flakey crust recipe. 

• Keep things cold! I put my pastry rolling mat and my rolling pin in the freezer for 30 minutes before I needed to roll dough. I actually used ice water, which I stored in the freezer, (along with the pieces of vegan butter and shortening), until I needed it. 
• If you have a food processor, use it. Seriously. Pulsing the fats and the flour took zero effort and the pie crust dough came together in 3 minutes. Which leads me to...
• Prep ahead of time, and be ready to work quickly. If the dough is overworked, or the fats get too warm and melty, you won't get a nice flakey crust. Have your kneading surface and your plastic wrap ready to go before you start the whole shebang, and you won't be scrambling around your kitchen leaving flour hand prints everywhere!

 

Maple Bourbon Peach Pie

Ingredients

3 pounds ripe peaches

2 TBSP cornstarch

1½ TBSP all-purpose flour

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp salt

¹/₈ tsp allspice

a dash or two of cardamom

½ c. plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

¼ c. maple syrup

2 TBSP bourbon

2 TBSP water

3 TBSP Earth Balance Margarine

Cut an X in bottom of each peach, then blanch peaches in batches in boiling water 15 seconds. Transfer with a slotted spoon to an ice bath to stop cooking. Peel peaches and cut into ½ inch-thick slices. 

Toss peaches well with cornstarch, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, and salt in a large bowl. 

Put a foil-lined large baking sheet in lower third of oven and preheat oven to 425°F. The foil lined baking sheet is really important, because this pie gets oozy. If you don't put something underneath the pie plate to catch the drippings I promise you, your oven will be a mess!

Bring ½ cup sugar, maple syrup, bourbon, and water to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Wash down any sugar crystals from side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Boil without stirring, swirling pan occasionally so caramel colors evenly, until dark amber, 3-5 minutes. 

Remove from heat and add butter, swirling pan until butter is melted. Pour over fruit and toss. My caramel didn’t harden at this point, but if yours does don’t worry. It’ll melt again in the oven. 

Roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining piece chilled) into a 13-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Trim excess dough, leaving a ½ inch overhang. Chill shell while rolling out remaining dough. 

Roll out remaining piece of dough into an 11-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. 

Transfer filling to pie shell, mounding it. Cover pie with pastry round. Trim with kitchen shears, leaving a ½ inch overhang. Press edges together, then crimp decoratively. Brush top all over with some of milk, then sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Cut 3 steam vents in top crust with a paring knife. 

Bake pie on hot baking sheet 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Continue to bake until crust is golden-brown and filling is bubbling, about 45-50 minutes more. Cool pie to room temperature, 3 to 4 hours.
 

I had a slice for breakfast with my coffee. Obviously you can top it with a scoop of ice cream, but I prefer it plain so all you can taste are the peaches! Enjoy!