Better late than never!

I had intended to make this on the weekend, but, well, that didn't happen.  So, here we are!

Growing up I used to help my mom bake pies, and pie crusts are always made from scratch, so no frozen stuff for this lady.  I went to the tried and true Crisco recipe (from the blue box).  First, I gathered together the requisites.

And ice water.  Don't forget that.  5 Tbsp to be exact.

I took this as an opportunity to try making my pastry in one of my favourite toys.  I saw this method once when looking up my favourite pie recipe (BHG old apple crumb) and filed it away for use when next making pastry at home.  I introduce to you: pastry in the food processor! (how to video here, but I used the recipe for a single crust)

While my dough was chilling I used Alyson's peach peeling method.  I thoroughly mangled the peaches trying to get them off the pits, and split 2 of the 3 pits in half.  Please tell me I won't die from cyanide poisoning?

Next, while the crust was in the oven becoming delicious, I prepared the custard.  Now, I'm no stranger to Crème Brûlée, it's one of our favourite desserts and is my go-to for when we decide to cook a fancy meal at home.  The recipe I usually use (found here) calls for heavy cream and 8 egg yolks, so this one egg, 2% milk thing kinda threw me off.  But hey, I'm all for trying new things.  And while many tried to increase the healthy here with skim milk and Splenda, this recipe is already WAY healthier than I'm used to, so, it stayed as is.


Here we have the custard ingredients gathered together.  As you can see, I also made use of Mexican Vanilla (a gift from my SIL when she went earlier this year).

Can you spot my other addition to this recipe?

I stirred and stirred and waited for thick and bubble (ok, I walked away to start this post for a few minutes and had to vigorously whisk my custard mix in order to get it back to smooth) and then tempered the egg with about half a cup of the mix, then returned that to the pan and brought back to bubbly.

Due to the fact that a) I wanted to get the best, most authentic drûlée'd crust possible and b) I really mangled those peaches, I opted to put the slices directly on the crust and put the custard on top. 

Not as nicely arranged as some of your ladies, but hey, all we're looking for with peaches on the  bottom is flavour, right?  Looks like I need more wine too.  I should remedy that.


On went the custard and then the sugar.  I busted out my trusty kitchen tortch (that I purchased during a midnight madness street festival at my favourite kitchen store while drunk) and set to work.  


One of the things that makes a Crème Brûlée crust so successful is that after the custard has set up over night you dry off the tops.  That way, the sugar doesn't dissolve.  I found that before I could get to a section of the tart with the torch, the sugar had dissolved into the moisture on top of the custard.  So, I spooned more on as I went.   Here's me getting torch happy.

Yes, my kitchen is a mess.  And I had leftover peaches.

And, here's my finished product.  Not the most evenly browned top, but I was getting impatient, because it was taking FOREVER.  The whole thing is currently resting in the fridge for a few minutes so the crust can fully set up, and then we'll be digging in!