Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie

Love me a peach pie. This one looked enticing and different enough from the same old same old. Since creme fraiche (pronounced krem-fresh) is such a luxury expense, you can easily, easily make it from scratch which is what I opted for, from these simple instructions.

The streusel and creme fraiche are lovely additions to the peachy filling. Being a bit more lazy on my pastry rolling, I took on Sandra Lee's advice and knocked this whole thing out, "semi-homemade", using store-bought pie crust dough. It saves some significant time and dish clean- up and in my opinion, isn't too far behind in taste or quality from "Grandma's home-made pie crust"... (say that in a southern accent:))

My only other suggestion or tid bit with this recipe is of course, like MOST pies, to have ice cream or whipped cream on hand for garnishing. A glass of cold milk will do the trick too. And as Deb on Smitten Kitchen did confirm, this really does tastes better once it's had the chance to sit overnight in the fridge and allow all those flavors to marry up.

And finally, because it still feels a LOT like summer here in Utah, I suppose we'll continue to cook and bake as if September 21st never passed. There still remains an easy tomato and a yummy zucchini cookie recipe in my cyber files to post, so until I start throwing on some shawls and sweaters here, we'll just keep our kitchen adventures locked in summer mode.

Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie

{Recipe originally on Martha Stewart Living}

Streusel

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of salt

5- 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/4 cup cold (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling

1 1/2 pounds ripe (4 to 5 medium) yellow peaches, pitted and quartered

2 to 4 tablespoons granulated sugar

Pinch of salt

5 tablespoons crème fraîche

Prepare pie dough: Roll out pie dough to about 1/8-inch thick and fit into a regular (not deep dish) pie plate, 9 1/2 to 10 inches in diameter. Trim edge to 1/2 inch; fold under and crimp as desired. Pierce bottom of dough all over with a fork. Transfer to freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400°F right before you take it out.

Make streusel: Stir confectioners’ sugar, baking powder, salt and three tablespoons flour together in a small bowl. Add bits of cold butter, and either using a fork, pastry blender or your fingertips, work them into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Add additional flour as needed.

Par-bake crust: Tightly press a piece of aluminum foil against frozen pie crust. At this point, you should fill your pie crust with pie weights (i.e. dried beans are perfect) or you can cross your fingers and hope that with some fork-pricking and the foil, your crust doesn't go haywire on you. At any rate, bake for 10 minutes, then remove carefully remove foil and any weights you have used, press any bubbled-up spots in with the back of a spoon, and return the crust to the oven for another 5 to 8 minutes, or until it is lightly golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.

Make the filling: Sprinkle quartered peaches with sugar (two tablespoons will make a just-barely-sweeteened pie; add the other two for a still not overly-sweet but sweeter pie) and salt. Let sit for 10 minutes. Spread two tablespoons crème fraîche in bottom of par-baked pie shell, sprinkle with one-third of the streusel and fan the peach quarters decoratively on top. Dot the remaining three tablespoons of crème fraîche on the peaches and sprinkle with remaining streusel.

Bake the pie: Until the crème fraîche is bubble and the streusel is golden brown, about 50 minutes. Cover edge of crust with a strip of foil if it browns too quickly. Let cool on a wire rack at least 15 minutes before serving.

And that's a wrap!