Double-Crusted Blueberry Pie w. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (TWD)

We did some excellent outdoor entertaining for friends this weekend! The weather was picture perfect and the July 4th holiday resulted with a nice three day weekend. Most significant for us---after two years of extensive home remodeling (both the interior and front and back yards), we can finally say that we're finished (knock on wood) and for once can enjoy our home instead of working on it.

Along with some great barbeque courtesy of the hubby, I served this week's TWD recipe, double-crusted blueberry pie. This week's recipe was selected by Amy of South In Your Mouth.

I have not been an avid baker of pies, as I've never had great success with double crust pies. It's not the dough making that I'm challenged with; it's the baking part. More times than not, I end up with a nice golden top crust and a disappointing soggy bottom crust.

I'll be damned if this recipe gets the best of me, so I did some research before getting my hands dirty. Along with heeding Dorie Greenspan's great tips and instructions, I also applied some techniques from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. The most significant shift in my technique was to bake the pie on the lowest rack in the oven, which is supposed to promote the browning of the bottom crust.

I did follow Dorie's recipe almost exactly as written. I used the smaller wild blueberries, and ended up using a combination of 1 pint fresh and 2 10oz bags frozen (a bit more than what the recipe calls for). I reduced the sugar to 2/3 C, doubled the amount of lemon juice/zest, and added a tbsn of chopped mint to the filling.

I was inspired by a picture in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, which showed star cutouts for the top crust (hers was a blueberry pie as well), so decided to follow her lead. After baking, the stars ended up looking like starfish, but at this point I was more fixated by what I couldn't see, which was the bottom crust.

The final results were EXCEPTIONAL! The crust was nicely browned, flaky and tender...and yes, to my relief this applied to the bottom crust as well!!! The filling had set perfectly and the mint helped punctuate the bright flavor of the sweet/tart blueberries.

The pie was served a la mode with my favorite homemade vanilla bean ice cream ---thank you once again David Lebovitz!!! To be totally decadent, I tweaked the recipe by adding an extra vanilla bean and substituting the whole milk with half & half - yes, this ice cream isn't for the faint of heart, but the end result is ice cream HEAVEN! Thanks to Dorie and David, we have another perfect summer dessert!

If you are interested in making this pie yourself (which I HIGHLY recommend), you can find the complete recipe at South In Your Mouth. To see the delicious pies that the Tuesdays With Dorie gang have been servin up, check out the blogroll.

Peach Apricot Cherry Pie

With the bounty of luscious summer fruits, I couldn't resist the lure of making pie. I am not a great pie maker by any means (it's the crust that defeats me every time), but I'm determined to improve my skills with practice, practice, practice.

As we hosted a barbeque this weekend, I wanted to put my pie-making skills to the test. I made a blueberry pie (which I'll post on Tuesday) and this lovely pie, which highlights three delicious summer fruits: peaches, apricots, and cherries.

Peach, Apricot and Cherry Pie
adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

Pie Dough
2 1/2 C AP flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp sugar
8 oz unsalted butter
6-8 tbsp ice water

Filling
1 lb fresh peaches (pitted, peeled and sliced into 1/2 incl slices)
1 lb fresh apricots (pitted, sliced into quarters)
1 lb fresh cherries (pitted, kept whole)
1/2 C sugar
6 tbsn quick tapioca (finely processed in a coffee grinder)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 lg egg yolk
1 tbsp heavy cream
sanding sugar for dusting

For the Dough
- Combine dry ingredients.
- Cut in butter.
- Add water until the dough just holds together. Divide in half, form into disks, and wrap in plastic.
- Refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.

For the filling
- In a large bowl toss together the peaches, apricots, and cherries.
- Add sugar, tapioca, salt and lemon juice & zest and toss to combine

To assemble and bake
- preheat oven to 425 degrees (400 degrees for convection)
- roll out 1 pie dough disk for bottom crust and fit it into pie pan. put prepared pie shell into frig, while preparing lattice top
- roll out remaining pie dough disk in a 10x10 square. Cut 3/4 inch strips using a ruler and pastry cutter (pizza cutter or knife works just as well)
- pull out pie shell from frig, and
- pour filling into crust and dot with butter
- brush bottom rim w. water. cover with dough strips to create lattice pattern, gently sealing top and bottom crust
- mix egg yolk and cream together and brush top. sprinkle w, sanding sugar
- put pie on a baking sheet and place on lowest rack in oven.
- after 20 minutes, reduce oven temp to 350 degrees (325 for convection) and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and filling is bubbling and thickened.

Apple Cheddar Scones (TWD)

What a crappy week... I came down with a nasty case of food poisoning (sorry...TMI), and have been out of commission all week. I've been living on saltine crackers and gatorade, and my taste buds have been completely obliterated...ugh!!


Although still not feeling 100%, I wanted to try and get back into a normal routine this weekend. Being in the kitchen is a big part of that routine, so wanted to kick off my recovery with some baking! This week's Tuesdays With Dorie selection, Apple Cheddar Scones, which was made by Karina at The Floured Apron, would serve as a perfect start.

Dorie Greenspan considers this recipe for Apple Cheddar Scones as one of her favorites. I'm a huge fan of eating fruit and cheese together, with the saltiness and creaminess of the cheese complementing the juiciness and sweetness of fruit, so I can see where the appeal comes from.

I had almost all of the ingredients at home, with the exception of the dried apples and cheddar cheese. While shopping for the remaining ingredients at Trader Joe's, I was tempted to veer a bit from the recipe, as I spied packages of dried pears sitting beside the dried apples...doesn't pears and guyere sound yummy in this recipe? Ultimately, I decided to stick with the recipe as written, as I wanted to experience one of Dorie's favorite scones.

The recipe came together quickly, and I used a 2 1/2" biscuit cutter to portion the dough. This dough was much stickier than I expected, so had to flour my work surface well and work quickly. I ended up with 18 rounds (this includes using the scraps --- don't like wasting these lovely bits of dough).

These scones baked off much flatter that I expected. Then again, the scone picture accompanying the recipe was also pretty flat, so maybe this was intended. I really liked how the shredded cheese oozed out of the scones resulting with cheesy, crunchy bits on the crust (yum!). I also really like the textural contrast that the chewy dried apples delivered.

I still can't taste anything really well, so I'm relying on my hubby to give his impression on flavor. Per Mr. B: Overall, the salty sweet flavor combination of the cheese and apples was delicious and I would definitely look forward to eating them again soon...hint, hint ;)!

Thanks Karina for this delicious selection! For the recipe, please visit Karina's site, The Floured Apron. To see what the TWD gals and guys have been cookin' up, check out the Tuesday's With Dorie blogroll.