I write to you now from a new home! In mid-July, Brad and I packed up our lovely Ohio apartment, left our jobs, and drove nearly 1300 miles across the continent to Colorado. It’s a domestic destination I’ve had for a long, long time: having spent eleven years away, I’m finally living back in the land of dry air, big skies, and seemingly endless sunshine. And our new apartment, full of windows and light, has the view to prove it.

It’s so great to be back!

And spectacular vistas aren’t the only benefit Colorado has to offer. It’s peach season here, and Palisade, Colorado is famous for growing wonderful peaches. They’re so perfectly delightful raw — juicy and cool and bursting with flavor — that I can rarely justify breaking them down for cooking. But I’ve been on a fruit crisp kick in recent months, so I thought I’d give one a try.

Originally, this recipe was designed for halved peaches, with their skins, and with a buttery almond mixture smushed across the face of each before baking. The peaches form their own little baking dishes this way, and there’s no hassle of peeling or slicing. However, I found the peach skin to be someone irritating, so I gave it a shot in a more traditional slices-of-fruit-buried-by-crumbly-goodness format. I definitely prefer the latter.

Even with the slicing, this recipe is outrageously easy. Almonds, sugars, oats, spices, and butter are whirled for a bit in a food processor. Peaches are blanched (so the skins slip right off) and sliced. Crumble is crumbled. Then, 45 minutes in the oven while you do other things.

The result is a layer of warm peaches that hold their shape topped with a slightly caramelized, slightly crispy almond crumble that compliments the fruit below perfectly. This particular recipe is for a small batch (I only had 5 peaches on hand), but it could easily be doubled or tripled if your baking for a crowd.

Served warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, you’ll ache for summer to last all year long. Or at least peach season, I suppose.

Peaches with Almond Crisp
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

5 ripe peaches
1/2 c raw almonds
2 T white sugar
2 T dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 c rolled oats
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp sea salt
3 T unsalted butter, cubed and cold

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease an 8″x8″ baking dish and set aside. Blanch peaches by dipping them in boiling water for 30 seconds or so and then submerging them in ice water. Peel the skins and slice. Spread the peaches evenly in the baking dish and set aside.

Pulse almonds and white sugar in a food processor until just a few small pebbles remain. Add brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and sea salt and pulse a time or two more. Add butter and pulse until mixture forms buttery clumps. Loosely sprinkle the almond mixture over the peaches.

Bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream or lightly-sweetened whipped cream.

July and August in my childhood meant lots of raspberries. Produce in general, really: my grandparents planted each year a massive garden, and I strongly correlate the start of the school year with boxes of produce on the floor next to the fridge, pan fried okra at dinner almost daily, and raspberries.

Though I love most berries, the raspberry is by far my favorite. Sure, strawberries get a lot of credit as the first fruit of the spring, blueberries sustain me, strong and steady, through the heat of the summer, and blackberries dress up desserts with a splash of deep, fruity decadence. But raspberries, so fragile when picked ripe yet bursting with sweet and tart flavor, will never fade for me.

In Durham, raspberries don’t seem to be a popular cultivar. I’m not sure if it’s the climate or what, but I have only ever seen one, maybe two vendors at the farmers market here with these tiny red berries, and when they do it’s usually just a few pints at a time. So each week of the brief raspberry season in this city, I try to take full advantage. This week, I paired them up with a few luscious peaches for some hand pies!

And we can’t have hand pies without pie crust, of course. Until recently, I was very intimidated by pie crusts. But no more! With a recipe I originally adapted from Smitten Kitchen when taking my first stab at a full-blown pie, I now feel ready to take on any pie project that comes my way!

Before I learned to make this crust, I had almost convinced myself to get rid of these wide, low mixing bowls. Brad gave me a snazzy clear glass set for Christmas that doesn’t splatter and doubles easily as a set of serving bowls, and I was trying to think like an efficient non-hoarder.

But here’s the thing: pie crust NEEDS a wide, low mixing bowl. Trust me, I tried my first batch in the tall, skinny bowl, and it was way hard to cut the cold butter into the flour. Way hard. So these bowls can breathe a sigh of relief: no trip to the thrift store any time soon.

Once the dough is mixed, into the fridge it goes. For at least two hours. Don’t skimp on this. Just use it as an excuse to make yourself breakfast, and later, your pie filling. What starts as sticky, still somewhat disparate globs of butter and flour spends two hours in the fridges and emerges as a cohesive, easily rolled pie dough. So let it do its thing.

While it is, you can address those gorgeous fruits.

I was ready to abandon my hand pie project and just eat this as a simple fruit salad. This pie filling is as easy as it gets: raw peaches, raw raspberries, a bit of sugar and almond extract, and some instant tapioca to help the juices gel during baking. The peaches were perfect, and the raspberries were so ripe they nearly burst at the first touch of sugar.

We got pie dough! We got filling! Time to put ’em together in a bunch of tiny pies!

You can use any round cutting device that you want. I happen to have this handy little guy (the silver guy in the front) that cuts the original shape and later seals the pies with a handy built-in press. I’ve used it to make large raviolis, primarily, but it’s perfect for hand pies as well. But for once, the internet failed me: I could not find a link for one to share with you. Mostly because I can’t figure out what the hell to call it (biscuit sealer cutter wasn’t doing the trick). Points to anyone who can find this little treasure online!

A quick brush of egg wash to give us a nice golden crust, a sprinkle of sugar to make ’em purty, and about 30 minutes in the oven are the only steps left!

Some of your pies will leak. A little, or a lot. It’s okay! They’ll still taste awesome.

These little pies are a lovely way to show off some of the beautiful fruit that summer has to offer, and are delicious all on their own. They’d also be equally at  home snuggled underneath a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

But come to think of it, can you think of a pie that’s not?

Raspberry Peach Hand Pies

Makes 18-22 three-inch hand pies

1 batch pie dough
1 pint fresh raspberries
2 medium-sized yellow peaches, peeled and chopped
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 T instant tapioca
1 egg yolk
1 T water
sanding sugar (for decoration)

Prepare the pie dough and allow to chill for two hours in the fridge wrapped in plastic wrap.

After the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 375 °F. Place raspberries in a medium bowl and set aside. To easily peel the peaches, bring a small pot of water to a boil. Gently place the peaches in the boiling water for 30 seconds or so and then remove them with a slotted spoon. Place the peaches into a dish of cold water or run under cold water until the peaches are no longer warm. Halve the peaches to remove the pit, then slice into 1/2″ pieces and add to the bowl of raspberries. Add sugar, almond extract, and tapioca and mix well. The raspberries will begin to break down and release their juices almost immediately. Set the bowl aside.

Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper. Dust a clean surface with flour and roll out one disc of your pie dough until it is about 1/8″ thick. Be generous with the flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter. Using a large biscuit cutter or other circular cutter about 3″ in diameter, cut out an even number of circles, using as much of the dough as possible. Remove scraps from around circles and press them back together in a ball and return it to the fridge.

For half of the circles, carefully spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling onto the center of each circle. Take the remaining circles and stretch them out slightly so they will completely cover the circles with the filling. Drape this stretched circle over the filling and press the edges down all the way around the circle. If your cutter has a sealing edge, press down firmly to ensure a seal is made. If not, press the tines of a fork around the edge of the circle to ensure the dough seals shut. Repeat until all pies have been sealed and place pies on the cookie sheet about 1/2″ apart. Use the tip of a knife to make a small slit in the top of each pie to allow for venting. Place the cookie sheet in the fridge while you build the rest of the pies.

Roll out the second disc of dough and repeat the pie-building process. Continue to recombine your scraps and re-roll them to maximize the number of pies you can complete.

Once all pies are ready and on the cookie sheets, combine the egg yolk and water in a small bowl and beat until mixture is slightly foamy. Brush over the top of each pie. Finally, sprinkle sanding sugar over all of the pies. The sugar won’t melt during baking, so use as much or as little as you like.

Bake pies at 375 °F for 25-35 minutes or until crusts are golden brown. Pies without a strong seal may leak slightly. Remove pies to a cooling rack and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Pies can be served warm or cool. Serve them by themselves, with vanilla ice cream, vanilla pudding, whipped cream, or whatever makes you happiest. Pies can be stored at room temperature for 3-4 days in an airtight container.

Oh, happy day. Happy glorious day, I’ve arrived in Colorado! And I’m about to go off the grid.

Four days waaaay up in the Rocky Mountains with no phone service, no interwebs, not even electricity except for three hours every evening.

I cannot wait. There’s nothing quite as refreshing as few days without a single moment looking at a screen.

But! I did want to leave you with a summery dessert to savor during this heat wave. Using two fruits that simply scream “SUMMER!!” (can you hear them?), it comes together quickly and easily and most importantly, it doesn’t require too much oven time. I know, I know, hot dessert during a heat wave? Just wait, the heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream melting on top of it makes it worth the 20 minutes your oven will be on.

Sidebar: I don’t know if this is more like a crisp or more like a crumble. Which is why I renamed it. Crumblecrisp. I think if I was a character in Harry Potter that would be my last name. Matilda Crumblecrisp. Or something. Maybe she owns a bakery with a magical oven that doesn’t heat up the house.

This dessert finds just the right balance between tart & sweet, between fruity & crispy, between hot & cold. Plus it’s so pretty! As they cook, the golden peaches stain to a luscious orange with the help of the heated purple berries.

Pop this sucker out of the oven and scoop a spoonful onto a pretty little plate coupled with the absolutely necessary vanilla ice cream, and you’re in for a race against the rapidly melting ice cream. It won’t be long before the whole dang pan is going…

…going…

…gone.

See you in a few days!

Blackberry Peach Crumblecrisp
Adapted from Epicurious

1 1/2 c fresh blackberries
1 1/2 c fresh peaches, peeled & sliced
2 T orange juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c rolled (old-fashioned) oats
1/4 c brown sugar
2 T canola oil
1 T honey
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
scant 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 ºF and grease an 8″x8″ baking dish. In a medium mixing bowl, combine blackberries, peaches, orange juice, and vanilla. Mix well. Fruits will begin to juice, and this is fine.

In another bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Mix together using your hands or a fork until a crumbly texture is achieved.

Spread fruit mixture over the bottom of the baking dish. The blackberries have a tendency to clump, so feel free to place them evenly around the dish. Sprinkle crumble mixture evenly over the fruit. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly and the crumble topping is crisp.

Remove from oven and allow to cool on a rack for 5 minutes. Serve with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

In a moment, I’ll show you how to make this tasty dessert. It’s easy. It’s delicious. It’s summer in a ramekin. I’m horrified that I’ve never made it before.

But first, a public service announcement.

Don’t be scared of ugly fruit.

A blemish, a torn bit of skin, or an asymmetrical shape do not a bad fruit make. Just like a frizzy hair day (read: every day I spend in the South) doesn’t make me a bad person. Contrary to what grocery stores would have you believe, not all squash produce pops out of the ground coated in wax and uniform in shape and size. Embrace variety.

“Seconds”, as you’ll see and hear them called, can provide an extremely economical way to buy fresh, local produce in bulk. While Grade A  (code for pretty freakin’ perfect) produce is usually sold at the farmers market by the quart, pint, or pound,  seconds are usually sold in bulk for a very low price so the farmer can avoid trucking home boxes of excess, super-ripe produce.The first batch of peaches I bought this season (about a month ago, amazingly… NC peaches ripened in mid-May) were seconds, and instead of paying $5 a quart, I paid $2 for an entire bagful that is now mostly sliced and in the freezer. This week was even better: the peach lady only had seconds available by the time I made it to the market, asked me how many I wanted, and wouldn’t let me pay her a dime for the eight peaches she placed gently in a bag.

Not too shabby, right?

If you frequent farmers markets or buy directly from farm stands, keep your eye out for seconds. Some vendors will have a seconds section, others keep them to the side until the Grade A produce is sold. If you don’t see any, ask! Chances are you’ll get a sweet deal.

End of announcement. On to dessert.

This is one of those deceptively simple desserts. Or maybe people will know it’s easy, but they won’t really think about it because it tastes so good. A peach, some sugar, a lightly greased baking dish, and 40 minutes in the oven are all it takes. You can serve it hot or cold, over ice cream, frozen yogurt, whipped cream, or all by itself. And it really is quite easy. The hardest part, actually is peeling the peach.

But wait! There’s a trick for that, too. A quick bath  (25-40 seconds) in boiling water followed by a plunge into cold, and the peach will almost peel itself. Almost.

From there, you just add the sugar, cover it, and stick it in the oven.

When it’s done baking, just plop the peach on top of  something creamy and tasty in a pretty little dish, and I bet your friends will scarf it down before the ice cream melts. Just be sure to warn any dull-witted guests that there IS a pit inside the peach… consider yourself warned. Enjoy!

Fresh Baked Peaches
Adapted from Meta Given’s Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking
Makes one succulent peach

This recipe can be prepared for any number of peaches.  The one-to-one ratio of peach to sugar makes this an easy recipe to adapt for any occasion.

1 ripe peach
1 T white sugar
1/2 T water

Preheat oven to 350 ºF. Lightly grease the bottom of a small, covered baking dish (if you don’t have a cover, you can use aluminum foil.) Wash and thinly peel the peach. If the skin does not peel easily, dip peach in a small pot of boiling water for 25-40 seconds the plunge into cold water. After that, the skin should come off very easily. Place the peach in the baking dish stem-side up. Sprinkle the sugar over the peach keeping as much of the sugar on the fruit at possible. Add water to the base of the dish and cover. Bake for 20 minutes, then turn the peach over with tongs. Restore the cover and bake for another 20 minutes.

Remove dish from oven and remove cover. Flip the peach over again and allow it to cool for 5-10 minutes. For the best wow factor, serve the peach hot over vanilla ice cream. Divine. And seriously, don’t eat the pit.