This recipe came literally at the spur of the moment. One of my favorite food bloggers, The Kitchenista, posted on her Instagram a picture of her Blueberry Thyme Handpies and I thought, "I really wish I had that right now". So I did what I did best and got creative. I didn't have any blueberries, or thyme, but I saw the 3 peaches I purchased just 2 days ago and thought "Peach Cobbler!". I also didn't have a pie pan, so this idea worked in my favor.
This is something that I personally love about cooking and something that's emphasized a lot by another one of my favorite Chefs, Chef Resha, AKA CarnalDish on her snapchats or insta stories when she is showing the process of her cooking. Essentially its the fact that if you don't have a specific ingredient, thats to the "T" thats okay! Freestyle a bit. If you don't have smoked paprika, use regular paprika, and apply this thought to whatever you do. Especially if you are cooking for yourself, cook to what you like, you may not like smoked paprika, but sweet, so change accordingly.
To tie that in, I freestyled and used the ingredients I had. I went to Chef Resha's recipe on how to make a pie crust and I had those very same ingredients (but not a food processor, so I carefully used a blender by pulsing it). I then searched various pie recipes for peach cobbler and saw what I liked or didn't like and you guessed it...."freestyled"! With all of that freestyling, I came up with a recipe that surprisingly came out sooooo delicious the first time I made it. Its not overtly sweet, its very fresh, and pairs like a dream with ice cream. Wow, Im still freestyling....
This recipe makes 5-6 servings
Buttermilk Pie Dough Ingredients (courtesy of CarnalDish)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) frozen unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 cup cold buttermilk (plus more as needed)
Buttermilk Pie Dough Directions
Cut butter into cubes and freeze at least 20 minutes.
Place buttermilk in freezer for about 10 minutes to get nice and cold. (Tip: If you don't have buttermilk, I use 1 cup whole milk and add a little over 1 tablespoon of vinegar and let it sit for 10 minutes.)
Process the flour, sugar and salt in the food processor until combined.
Add frozen butter, coat butter with flour mixture and spread out into an even layer. This helps the butter process more evenly. Pulse until butter breaks down into pea-sized pieces. Some pieces will be smaller or larger, that's fine. Don't over-pulse it.
Add 1/2 cup of cold buttermilk, and pulse for about 5 seconds or until dough is visibly moistened. If you pinch the dough together with your fingers and it doesn't hold together, add 1 tablespoon more of buttermilk, until it does, pulsing 2-4 times in between. Dough is ready when you're able to press it together and it stays together.
Turn out onto floured surface and gently knead/press into either 1 large dough ball or 2 dough balls. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Dough can be made 48 hours in advance and frozen until ready to use.
When ready to roll, remove from fridge or freezer and let come to room temperature for 10 minutes just so it's easier to roll. Lightly flour surface and rolling pin and roll out into desired circumference. If you like thinner dough, or thicker dough - depends on you!
(set aside one egg for later use)
Pie Filling Ingredients
3-4 medium to large peaches (peeled, pits removed, and cut into chunks)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of salt (I prefer Himalayan pink salt or fine sea salt)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Pie Filling Directions
Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan and simmer over medium heat.
Cook the peaches until they start to break down, about 10 minutes.
Mash the cooked peaches with a potato masher or fork to break up any large pieces.
Remove the filling from the heat and let it cool.
To Prepare Pies
After rolling pie dough from the pie dough directions, this is where you can get creative. You can make medium sized rectangle shaped pies like I did but cutting the dough into about 6x6 inch squares.
Scoop about 1 tablespoon of pie filling into one side of the dough.
Fold dough over and lightly press to seal. I used a fork to make linear imprints or crimps into the dough.
Lightly brush the dough with the scrambled egg to give it a golden crust when it bakes. Sprinkle a little granulated sugar onto it.
Carefully cut slits into the dough to allow air release when baking (as pictured above, I made a little "x".
Place pies into freezer for at least 20 minutes.
Bake pies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25-30 minutes on parchment paper or aluminum on a baking sheet.
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