Pies that Taste Like Summer!

Fruit and Cream

A couple of weeks ago, we spent the weekend at a friend’s cabin in the Eastern Sierra. The group we were going with asked if I would make a pie. Of course I was happy to, but I have never baked at elevation and didn’t really have time to figure it out. So, the easy solution here was to just bake the crust at home. Done.

But, then the question was what kind of pie to make. To keep the crust fresh, I didn’t want to bake to fruit pie and travel with it, so I decided to do a cold set pie. And, of course I went with an Erin McDowell pie.

Peaches and Cream pie seemed perfect for a summer evening dessert and it was really quick to put together and get in the refrigerator to set up. The filling was whipped cream, mascarpone cheese, sugar, peach jam, peaches, cinnamon and vanilla extract (I forgot to pack those last two items). I think having the last two items would have added a bit of complexity to the filling.

The peach jam I had was Peach Amaretto Pecan jam from Knott’s Berry Farm. I just whipped up all of the listed ingredients and put it in the crust. Right before I served it, I chopped up peaches and put them on top (along with some pecans, since they were in the jammy filling).

As always, there were a few things I would do differently if I made this pie again. First, I would put more jam in the filling. The recipe called for half a cup of jam. I scooped some out of the jar and was likely a bit short of half a cup. So, I would actually measure and make sure I got enough jam. I would also chop half a peach and put that in the filling (in addition to the peaches on top). I cut way back on the sugar in the filling, only putting a tablespoon in the filling and a sprinkle on the peaches (but of course how much to use depends on how sweet your peaches are). I also kept the skin on the peaches, which I prefer.

Overall, this was very good and very easy! Would recommend.

As you can see, this was a sturdy pie. It easily lifted out of the pan.

The second pie I made this week was Passion Fruit Lime. This was actually a test run for the fair!

This was a mash-up of two recipes. The crust was from Sally’s Baking Addiction. This is the same one that I used for my recent key lime pie. It’s a graham cracker crust with macadamia nuts in it. The macadamia nut addition is genius. It just makes the crust so good.

The filling was passion fruit lime! This is from Tess Huff. It is a very simple filling with egg yolks, lime juice, passion fruit curd, and sweetened condensed milk. My one and only complaint is that it calls for 20 oz of sweetened condensed milk which a one and a partial can. But the result is pretty sublime, so I can let that complaint go.

This pie is just delicious — tangy, creamy, tart — all the right flavors and textures! The passion fruit elevated a standard-issue lime pie (and called for regular limes, so no need to track down key limes.) The passion fruit curd came from a Mexican market, which was much easier than finding, scooping and straining passion fruit.

Anyway, if you find pie intimidating, make this one. The crust is press-in (and you must make the recommended crust. Please don’t buy a premade graham cracker crust.) The filling (with or without the passion fruit bakes up so easily.) I haven’t done any piping recently, so I decided to do some piping. But, a pile of whipped cream is also beautiful.

Also, it was so beautiful, I just had to share the trees from our last hike. This was in the ancient bristlecone forest, these are some of the oldest trees on earth! Happy Summer!