Little Italy Fig And Peach Pie Recipes

FRESH FIG AND PEACH CRUMBLE

Steps:

• Add the butter and 1/3 cup sugar to a large bowl.
• Using an electric mixer, beat about 3 minutes, or until well combined.
• Add in 1 cup flour and salt; beat on low speed just until the flour is incorporated; the mixture should be dry and crumbly.
• Scrape the flour from the bottom and edges of the bowl, pressing it into the pastry.
• The pastry should still be crumbly.
• Refrigerate the pastry until ready to use.
• Combine the peaches and figs in a big bowl.
• Add in the lime juice; toss to blend.
• In a smaller bowl, mix together the 2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon; stir to blend.
• Sprinkle the cinnamon/sugar/flour mixture over the fruit.
• Fold gently, just to blend without crushing the fruit.
• Spoon the fruit into a lightly buttered 1 1/2 to 2 quart shallow dish.
• Sprinkle the cold pastry crumbs evenly over the fruit.
• Bake in a 350°F oven for about 35 to 40 minutes or the top is golden brown and the fruit bubbly.
• Let cool slightly.
• Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm with ice cream.

LITTLE ITALY' FIG AND PEACH PIE

Steps:

• Slice peach halves ito 1/4 " thick slices In a a large saute pan hdeat butter with 2 Tbsp sugar over medium heat. Add peaches and cook , tossing occasionally until peaches are tender, about 6 minutes. Remove stems from figs ans slice 1/4 " thick. Roll each disk of pastry into a 1/8 " thick circle. Arrange peaches and fig slices leaving a 1/2 " border all aound. Sprinkle the remaining sugar and nutsover the fruit. Crimp edges up nand over the filling. Create a border. Brush the crust with the beaten egg and sprinle with brown sugar. Pastry dough: yield 2 discs 2 1/2 cups flour 1 Tbsp sugar dash salt 12 Tbsp cold buttter, cut into small pieces 1/4 cup shortening 1/8 cup icecold water Combine, flour sugar, salt in a large bowl. Add butter and shortening . Work with fingertips until mixture resembles coarse cornmmeal. Fat mus be evenly distributed. Add water, a few spoon at a time tossing with fingettips until dough sticks together. Divide dough into two discsand wrap into plastic. Reserve. Refrigerate at leat 1 hoour before using it.

FIG AND CHERRY COOKIE PIES

Steps:

• Prepare the pastry: Combine the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Add the egg yolks and cream, and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Add more cream if necessary, but stop before the dough is too wet. Tip the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap and form it into a ball, divide in two and wrap each half in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 2 hours.
• Meanwhile, prepare the filling: In a small saucepan, combine the figs, cherries and 1¼ cups water, and bring to a low simmer over medium heat. Cook until the figs are very soft, about 15 minutes, adding a little more water as necessary to make a moist paste. Transfer to the bowl of a food processor and add the almonds, brown sugar, rum, orange zest, cinnamon and salt, and pulse until you have a relatively smooth paste. (You should have about 1¼ cups filling.) Let cool completely.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 ball at a time, roll the dough out to ⅛-inch thickness on a very lightly floured surface. Use a 2¼-inch cookie cutter to cut out circles. Transfer the circles to the prepared baking sheet. Scoop about a scant tablespoon of filling onto half of the dough circles. Brush the edges of the filled circles with a bit of cream and top with another dough circle, gently pressing the edges to seal. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. (If the dough becomes too soft, pop it into the fridge to firm up before continuing.) You can reroll and cut the dough scraps one time.
• Chill the pies for 10 minutes. Use a fork to crimp all of the edges. (If you'd like to neaten the edges, you can go over the cookies again with the cookie cutter.) Refrigerate the cookies for at least 30 more minutes. While the cookies chill, heat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Brush the top of each cookie with cream. Bake until they're golden and crisp, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely.
• Prepare the glaze: In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, almond extract and 3 tablespoons cream. The icing should be spreadable. If it isn't, stir in another tablespoon cream. Spread a bit of the glaze on each cookie and top with sprinkles. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for a month.

PEACH CUTIE PIES

Steps:

• Make the crust: In a large bowl, whisk to combine the flour, salt, and sugar, mixing well. Add butter and mix gently using a pastry blender, a fork, or your hands, until butter pieces are well coated. Gradually add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue mixing until pea-size crumbs have formed; dough should not be smooth and beaten together like cookie dough.
• Gather dough together and divide in half. Flatten each into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Transfer dough to refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. Bring to room temperature before using.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees with a rack in center of oven. Spray every other cup of a standard-size muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. You will need enough muffin tins to spray 16 alternating cups. Alternatively, you can work in batches. Set aside muffin tins aside.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out each disk of dough to a 1/4-inch thickness, lightly dusting with flour, as necessary, to prevent sticking. Cut out sixteen 5 1/2-inch-round circles, gently rerolling scraps as necessary. Gently but firmly press each dough circle into a prepared muffin cup; crimp edges as desired.
• Make the filling: Place all filling ingredients in a medium bowl and toss to combine; spoon filling evenly into muffin cups and set aside.
• Make the crumb topping: In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and cinnamon; mix well. Add butter and mix thoroughly using a pastry blender, fork, or your fingers until small pea-size crumbs form. Add oats and mix until topping has a crumbly consistency.
• Sprinkle crumb topping evenly over cutie pies and transfer to oven; bake until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, 25 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly before removing from tins, using a butter knife to loosen sides, if necessary. Cutie pies are best served at room temperature.

LITTLE ANN'S PEACH AND BLUEBERRY PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place one pie crust on the bottom of a pie plate.
• Toss peach slices and blueberries in a large bowl with lemon juice. Combine sugar, tapioca, and salt in a small bowl; pour over peach mixture and toss to coat. Transfer to prepared pie plate and scatter butter pieces over fruit. Cover pie with remaining crust; press and seal the top and bottom crusts.
• Cut several slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape, then brush with egg yolk.
• Bake in preheated oven until golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes.

TOFFEE FIG PIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Roll the pastry out thinly on a floured surface. Cut out 6 circles using a small saucer (about 11-12cm diameter) and 6 circles about half the size.
• Cut the tops off the figs, squash them down gently with your hands and push a toffee into the centre of each fig. Place a fig in the middle of each large circle of pastry and brush the egg around the pastry border. Brush the top of the fig with a little egg and cover with the smaller circle of pastry. Pull the edges of the larger circle up and pinch to seal them over the fig to make a sort of purse. Place the little pies on a baking sheet. The pies can be prepared up to a day ahead and kept covered in the fridge or frozen for up to a month.
• Brush with the egg and scatter over the sugar. Bake the pies for 30-40 mins until golden and sticky. Leave to cool for 10 mins and serve hot, so when you break into them you get a pool of toffee fig sauce - perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.