Pie-triotism: Blueberry-Cream Cheese-Sour Cream and Peach-Strawberry

Two pies for a 4th of July picnic. One was blueberry-cream cheese, with a graham-cracker crust; the other, peach-strawberry with a lattice top.

Unfortunately I forgot to take photos of either pie (I really meant to, but the sun-dazed, and beer-dazed, state I was in by the time the pie was served, caused me to forget). So, please see the above photographic evidence that pie was eaten.

It's a photo of a vacancy where a pie once was.

Vacation Fruit Pies! Strawberry and Strawberry-Peach

 

On vacation with family! The farmer's market was so exciting that I made two pies instead of one. Strawberry and Peach-Strawberry. (Pictured above: special guest tasters Elijah and Kaylee Thomson.)

Peach-Ginger Pie

I had frozen peaches (put away last September from the bounty of the local farmer's market), and I wanted to use them. I also was craving ginger. So I did some googling and decided to use this recipe (I also found this and  this, in case you're doing a survey of the literature).

Peach and Apple Pie with Lattice Top

A splendidly unseasonal pie, using farmers' market peaches that we froze back in early September, and thawed for peach pie (by request for a treasured guest). Since the frozen peaches shrank in volume and looked like a dilapidated brown pool of limp dishrags when thawed, I added a sliced apple and some dried cranberries. The filling, amazingly, turned out terrific. This is also my first part-shortening crust, and the results were good enough (though I wound up underbaking the bottom crust) that there will be many more. Details, as always, below.

Peach-Strawberry Pie with Lattice Top

This was the same recipe(s) as last week's Peach Pie, only with about a cup of sliced strawberries substituted in for peaches. By and large it was a success, though in some ways slightly disappointing after last week's peachy perfection.

Comments and reviews below, after the pretty picture.

Peach Pie with Lattice Top

This may have been even better than the Marionberry pie. I used exactly the same crust recipe, and it worked very well. The peach pie filling recipe is from the Baking Illustrated book.

How did it taste?

Pretty much like summer perfection. I was hoping for a bit more peach blast. But I think this is actually a good balance: not too tart, not too sweet. Definitely the taste of fresh summer peaches. I sort of craved more cinnamon, more lemon, more sugar- but all of those might have actually made it taste less like the fruit itself, and the fruit is what's important here. Next time I may be tempted to experiment a bit more but for now it's just right.

How Was The Texture?

Good. I'd put in a bit less starch next time, since it had a slight tendency to gumminess; but the texture of the peaches themselves seems unaffected, and the filling had great structure and wasn't loose at all.