Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Mini Fried Peach Pies










10 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced...I chopped them actually...and only used 8...put them in boiling water a few minutes like you
would tomatoes and the peels come off very easily also the pits are easier to get out of the opposing side.
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup butter
mix all but the peaches until crumbly, add peaches and stir

Fried Pie Crust
This was in Better Homes and Gardens Sept 09
1 cup unsalted butter (that's two sticks, I cut them in slices)
1/4 cup lard (I also cut it in slices)
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon sugar
8 to 12 (or more) tablespoons ice water (I probably used more like 20 tablespoons)
Peanut oil for deep frying

Mix the salt and flour and sugar and add the butter and lard using a pastry blender.
Add the water a few tablespoons at a time until dough holds together.
At this point they recommend rolling it out and folding it then sticking in the fridge for a bit to
harden it up a bit and it does help with the cutting out bit.
I used a large plastic glass and cut my circles after rolling the dough about 1/8 inch thick, secret to
getting it up is keeping it cold so cut those circles fast.
Preheat your fryer for about 15 minutes using peanut oil.
Put a dollop...less than a tablespoon of filling on your dough...recipe says to seal the edge using a
bit of water...I didn't bother with that, I pinched them then just used fork tines to seal it...deep fry until
golden brown then drain on paper towel quickly then roll in sugar...eat while hot! Yummy!
I have a small fryer so only made 3 to 4 at a time...but it allowed time to work on the sugar rolling and
the filling for the others.

The peaches recipe makes quite a bit, I would suggest making another dough recipe. I think you could
use other fruits easily. I also think you could freeze these and reheat in a slow oven, like around 300 degrees
for about 15 minutes with good results. I also think you could make them to the ready to fry stage and freeze with
success.

One more thing...I thought that a bit of cinnamon would give some zing and I was right, I added about 1/2 teaspoon to
the peaches. These were so delicious. I think it made around 30 or so but I lost count. I shared them with my neighbors
at the beach.

Monday, July 4, 2011

Smokey Beach Marmalade and Life Lessons #11 and #12

Oh I so don't keep up well with blogging...I do believe though that I am at about Life Lesson #11....I know I'm awfully close to that. No pictures today...ha...no one wants to see the dark flecks of char in my marmalade....but the Life Lesson learned is rich, and that I will share with you all as well as this gorgeousmous recipe for Beryl's Marmalade. Beryl is the Mother of my friend and she currently is a retired gem living in New Zealand. Here's the recipe...oh the Life Lesson? well it's never quit stirring...my daughter and I and her hubby are enjoying a peaceful Fourth of July American Holiday at our little beach place...we've been most content and have had a grand time thus far in spite of ever so slightly scorching our first batch of Marmalade...this is how we did it....my daughter knows I have terrible troubles with my feet...well we cut up all our stuff, got our Marmalade cooking away and then she decides to rub my feet...oh ecstasy! Oh my it felt so good...we had asked her dear sweet hubby to stir every ten minutes and me forgetting that near the end you must stir more than that...well she's rubbing my feet, hubby is nose in the computer absorbed in a new furniture daydream and quite suddenly I smelled burn...well shoot if we didn't just sit there like fools and let it scorch on the bottom of the pan...life lesson...no foot rubbing whilst making Marmalade! Otherwise the batch was so perfect...so completely perfectly perfect. Okay so no ecstasy foot rubbing until the Marmalade is in the jars! So we're going back to get more of those perfect oranges, no seeds, the perfect grapefruit again no seeds and more sugar....so here's the recipe...

Beryl's Marmalade
2 pounds of orange, lemon, grapefruit or more if you wish.
We used an entire bag of wonderful Florida Naval Oranges, seedless and 1 grapefruit, again Florida and seedless, and 1 lemon....we cut the whole mess up into 1/4 inch dice. Then you put it in a very large, deep and heavy bottomed pan if you have it...and bring to a boil...you boil for 1 hour, (this was where we messed up with the foot rubbing....twas near the end) then add about 7 pounds of sugar and bring to the boil again and boil for 40 minutes. Is this simple or what? Yes if you're not getting a foot massage! Now once it's boiled for 40 minutes, it should be like thick syrup dripping off a wooden spoon, ladle into hot sterilized jars and seal with hot sterilized lids and rings....
Should make about 12 jars, those tiny jelly jars of Marmalade and it's really and truly delicious...so was the foot rub by the way.
Oh Jeepers Creepes...Life Lesson #12...pay attention to where you are posting...my first post was on my high school blog... that was one terrific foot rub!