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!

Week One Recipe: Peach Crème Brûlée Tart

I thought I'd get the ball rolling here! This is a recipe I've been wanting to try for years now, and it's perfect because peach season has just begun, though theoretically, you could use just about any fruit in place of the peaches.

Peach Crème Brûlée Tart (from Cooking Light)
Cooking Deadline: August 4th

Ingredients

• 1/2  (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough (such as Pillsbury)
• 1/4  cup  sugar
• 3 1/2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 2  cups  2% reduced-fat milk
• 1  (4-inch) piece vanilla bean, split lengthwise (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten
• 2  cups  sliced ripe peeled peaches
• 1/3  cup  sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Fit the dough into a 9-inch round removable-bottom tart pan, and pierce dough with a fork; bake at 450° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.

3. Place 1/4 cup sugar, flour, and salt in a medium, heavy saucepan. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean; add seeds and bean to milk mixture. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbly (about 5 minutes), stirring constantly.

4. Place egg in a large bowl. Gradually stir hot milk mixture into egg. Return milk mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Spoon custard into a small bowl. Place bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice. Cool 20 minutes or until thoroughly chilled, stirring occasionally. Discard vanilla bean.

*If using vanilla extract add it after you've begun to chill the custard. Let cool for 20 minutes*

5. Spread chilled custard into bottom of prepared crust. Arrange the peach slices spoke-like on top of chilled custard. Sprinkle 1/3 cup sugar evenly over peach slices. (Alternatively you could place the peaches on the bottom and the custard on the top for a more crème brûlée like appearance - just remember that the 1/3 cup sugar needs to go on the top of the tart).

6. Holding a kitchen blow torch about 2 inches from the top of the tart, heat the sugar, moving the torch back and forth, until the sugar is melted and caramelized (about 3 minutes). If you don't have a blow torch, you can use the broiler of your oven. Just be sure to cover the exposed areas of crust with foil so it doesn't burn!

Serves 8

Nutritional Information

Calories: 247 (32% from fat)

Fat: 8.8g (sat 3.7g,mono 3.7g,poly 1g)

Protein: 4.5g

Carbohydrate: 37.9g

Fiber: 0.9g

Cholesterol: 36mg

Iron: 0.3mg

Sodium: 175mg

Calcium: 80mg