Peanut Butter Pie

Sometimes, I look here for a recipe I've been making for decades and am shocked to find it missing.  This pie is one of those.

Peanut Butter Pie such as these can only be found in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to the best of my knowledge.  I've inquired about them in a many a fine pie restaurant to no avail.  I've googled Peanut Butter Pie recipes and ended up with strange things that require a freezer or a mousse or a chocolate cookie crust.  Oh no.  This recipe has none of those things.

There used to the be this restaurant when I was a kid called Evers Restaurant.  It was one of those fabulous buffet only type of restaurants, with Thursday and Friday nights being seafood nights (I had my first crab legs there).  In addition to a smorgsboard of meats and starches and veggies, there was a vast assortment of pies, peanut butter pie being one of them.  Of all the dishes Evers served it is the peanut butter pie I remember (well, and those crab legs).

Years later, I worked at a summer camp, whose one of many specialities was peanut butter pie.  Since they served 100 kids plus 20 counselors and additional staff, the pie wasn't make in traditional form.  It was more of a peanut butter pudding (think banana pudding).  It was served out of a large (18" x 24") pan.  The peanut butter crumbs were on the bottom, followed by vanilla pudding, whipped cream and more peanut butter crumbs.  I remember distinctly sitting in the staff kitchen with my friend, Chad, and eating peanut butter pie (even though it wasn't really a pie, that's what we called it) straight out of the industrial sized pan.  Do I need to tell you I gained a bit of weight that summer?  That pie was good.

Peanut butter pie has become our pi day staple.  On March 13, I usually look at Curtis and ask him if he knows what the next day is.  He usually grins and says, "Peanut Butter Pie."  It's a Novinger family tradition.  

There are two ways to make this recipe--one with instant everything which makes this pie a snap to make.  I tend to take the long way because it just tastes so much better.  However you make it, there's no judgement here.   It just needs to be made.

Happy Pi Day!

Peanut Butter Pie

Yields 1 pie

adapted from various sources (Melissa Clark's pie crust and the Shank cookbooks peanut butter crumbles and pudding)

Your favorite pie crust (I use the one on this blog)

Peanut Butter Crumbles

3/4 c powdered sugar

1/2 c peanut butter

Vanilla Pudding (or use a package of pudding--follow directions for pies)
3 1/2 c milk + 1 c milk
1 c sugar
1/2 t salt
3 T cornstarch
6 T flour
6 egg yolks, slightly beaten
2 T butter
2 t vanilla

Whipped Cream (homemade or store bought)

Bake the pie crust.  For my usual crust, I bake it at 375 with foil and pie weights inside it for 20 minutes.  Then I remove the foil, etc and bake an additional 10 minutes to crisp and lightly brown it.  Cool crust.

Mix together the powdered sugar and peanut butter.  Put 2/3 of the mixture into the empty baked pie crust.  Set aside.

Make the pudding:  Heat 3 1/2 c milk to boiling.  While the milk heats, combine the sugar, salt, cornstarch, and flour.  Pour the additional cup of milk into the sugar mixture and stir to create a slurry.  Pour the milk and sugar mixture into the boiling milk.  Return to a boil and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Pour one cup of the hot milk mixture slowly into the egg yolks, beating constantly while pouring.  Pour back into milk mixture, stirring constantly.  Return to heat and boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute.  Remove from heat and immediately add butter and vanilla.   Pour into peanut butter crumble lined pie crust.  Cool in the refrigerator until the pudding is chilled throughout.

Spread whipped cream evenly over the top.  Sprinkle the remaining peanut butter crumbles over the top of the pie.  Eat immediately.  Refrigerate any improbable leftovers for a wonderful next day breakfast.

Peach Blackberry Pie

I used to claim my peach pie was the best I ever had.  In fact, I think the recipe may be called Best Peach Pie, I was so confident.    This year though, when I started to make The Pie, something seemed lacking.  It didn't have that WOW factor I thought it once I had.  I felt like it was undercooked.  I didn't like how hard the top of the pie was.  I searched for a new recipe.

It took me last than 10 minutes to decide to try a this recipe.  Since then, we've made it no fewer than 4 times this summer.  We loved it that much.  I made a few tweaks after the first time to get the crust not to get so dark, but other than that, it's been good to us.  Curtis tried his hand with it one day, thinking he could improve on it.  The only thing he thought that really improved it, was slicing the peaches more thinly and more carefully arranging them in the pie crust (instead of my dump and clean out with a spatula method).

Now I feel like once again I can claim my peach pie is the best I've ever had.  It's perfect this time.  Really.  At least until one or two or five summers from now when I decide it isn't.

This does take a chunk of time to make, mostly because the crust is so fussy.  It's a wonderfully rich butter crust, but it does have to chill twice and blind bake before filling it with fruit and baking it again.

Peach Nectarine Pie
adapted from In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite by Melissa Clark
Crust:
2 1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
1 1/4 c butter (20 T)
4 - 10 T water (I know that's a big range---I've used between 5 - 6 usually, sometimes more)
Filling:
2 1/2 lbs (6 c) peaches, sliced thinly (we leave the peel on, but we're just like that)
1 T lemon juice
1/2 c sugar
1/3 c brown sugar
pinch of salt
2 1/2 T cornstarch
1 T vanilla
2 c blackberries
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
coarse sugar (Demera or "raw" or decorators's sugar)

For the crust:  Pulse together the flour and salt in a food processor.  Add the butter and very briefly pulse---just until butter breaks up into chickpea sized chunks.  Add the water, 1 T at a time and pulse just until the mixture holds together (you do not want the mixture forming a ball and spinning around the sides of the food processor bowl).  Form the dough into a two balls, set each on a piece of plastic wrap and flatten into a disk.  Firmly cover/seal the dough with the plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator at least an hour before rolling out and baking.

If you've refrigerated the dough for significantly more than an hour let rest on the counter a minute or two before rolling out.  You can tell if you need to do this if the dough is too hard to roll and immediately breaks apart when you are rolling it.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out one ball of pie crust to fit a 9" pan (the dough should maybe be 13 - 14 inches in diameter).  Place in 9" pan and flute the edges.  Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes or as long as overnight.  With the second ball, roll out thinly and cut out 10 - 15 shapes using a cookie cutter.  I choose flower shapes---both big and small (mostly because I didn't want Christmas or Halloween themed shapes on my summer pie).  Transfer to a baking sheet lined with waxed paper and refrigerate until ready to use.

For the filling:
Combine the peaches in a large bowl with lemon juice.  Gently stir in the sugar, brown sugar, and salt, and allow to macerate (sit unattended) on the counter for 30 minutes.  While the peaches macerate, prebake the crust in a preheated 375 degrees oven.  Line the crust with foil and fill with pie weights.  Bake for 25 minutes or until the edges of the crust begin to crisp.  Remove the weights and foil and bake an additional 5 minutes to crisp the bottom of the crust.

Once the peaches have finished macerating (I just like using that word!), add the cornstarch and vanilla to the fruit and stir until the cornstarch dissolves.  Add the blackberries and very gently toss.  Scrape the fruit into the pre-baked pie shell.  Arrange the pie crust cutouts on the tope, touching at places but not totally covering it.  Brush the cutouts with the egg white glaze and sprinkle lightly with the coarse sugar.  Bake in a preheated 400 degrees oven (yes, this is higher than before) for 40 minutes.

Around 30 minutes into baking time, check the edges of the crust.  If it appears to be browning to quickly or getting to dark, very, very lightly tent a piece of foil over top.  After the initial 40 minutes of baking at 400 degrees, lower the oven temp to 350 and bake an additional 15 - 40 minutes, until the filling is bubbling.   You want to leave the pie in the oven as long as possible so the cornstarch activates and thickens the filling.  However, if you are concerned that the crust just won't taste good because it's so dark, take it out of the oven.  It will be more edible with a runny filling than with burnt crust.

Best Peach Pie Ever

Ok, I know there's a bit of superlative going on with the title, but it's true. There is no picture, because the pie didn't last long enough to survive for a picture.

Peaches are back in Central Texas, and boy, are they wonderful this year. After having 3 years with very few peaches, the peaches are everywhere. When I go to the Farmers' Market on Saturday, I have lots of peach choices. (However, for me, the choice is a no-brainer. I like Rocky Hill Orchard's at the Barton Creek Farmer's Market peaches best--partly due to a very convoluted family connection. Plus I just like how their peaches taste).

It's early in the peach season though, which means the peaches are cling. That means, you can't just slice the peach in half and easily remove the stone (pit). It took a little for me to come up with a method for slicing peaches, but I figured it out. I cut the peach in half (as if the stone will pop out for me). Then I slice it vertically in slices, so the first cut is in the middle of each slice. I do this around the outside of the peach, cutting as far as possible (until reaching the stone). The stones I save for the kids to suck the last remaining peach off of. This is rather messy, but it works great for giving slices for a pie.

Fresh Peach Pie
from the Shenk Cookbook

9" unbaked pie crust
3 c fresh peaches, sliced (peeling is optional--up to your preferences)
1 egg, beaten
1/3 c butter, melted
1 c sugar
1/3 c flour
1/2 - 1 t cinnamon (we always use the full teaspoon)

Spread peaches in prepared pie crust. Mix together remaining ingredients. Spread over peaches in crust. Bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for 45 min- 1 hour, or until top of pie has cooked through (it will be a little crusty).