I like to bake, but I don’t do it often enough.  It’s therapeutic for me — the kneading, the shaping, the rolling out of the dough, the baking smells….  However,  one needs time and energy to bake (or at least, I do) and lately, I haven’t had a lot of time or energy for that — not until I saw this delicious recipe for a Nectarine and Blueberry Pie on Sweet Paul.   I saw nectarines and blueberries at the grocery store, just calling my name, and there was no holding me back.  I made the time and found some energy to try out this pie.

While I could use the practice slicing the nectarines, rolling the dough and making the petals for the pie crust, I still had a good time making this pie and enjoyed my finished product. 

The instructions called for using a tablespoon of white vinegar in the pie crust ingredients.  Hmm…  Very interesting.  I’d never heard of that before.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any white vinegar, so I couldn’t use it.  I’m not sure if the lack of vinegar in my crust made a difference in its taste of my crust, but I thought it tasted just fine.

 I liked that overall, my pie wasn’t too sweet.  The fruits and crust tasted good.    My Nectarine and Blueberry Pie was a nice treat for a long-awaited weekend.  Now it’s time to start a new week.

Have a good week, everyone.

Paz

Ed. Note:   Thanks, Courtney and Mari for letting me know that the vinegar in the crust ingredients makes it nice and flaky.   Ahhh!  I didn’t know that.  Now I do.  

Nectarine and Blueberry Pie

Sweet Paul

Serves 8

 4 cups plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 3/4 cups unsalted cold butter, in cubes

1 tablespoon white vinegar

1 large egg

1/2 cup iced water

Combine flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl.

Add butter and use your fingers until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Mix vinegar, egg and water in a bowl and mix into the flour with your hands just until combined.

Press the dough gently together, wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.

Take it out and roll it flat.

Fill a 9 inch pie plate with it.

Cut of excess dough.

Cut out small circles with a cookie cutter to go around the edge of the pie.

Filling:

5 nectarines, pitted and sliced

1/2 cup blueberries

2 tablespoons plain flour

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

Place the nectarines and blueberries in a bowl and toss with flour.

Place it in the pie shell. Pour over the lemon juice and sprinkle with sugar.

Line the edge of the pie with the small dough circles.

Beat egg and milk and brush the dough with it.

Bake at 450F for about 40 minutes, or until golden.

Cool and serve.

As usual, I like easy recipes.  I found this easy cookie recipe on Nectar & Light.  Mmmm!  Yum!  Chocolate Peanut Butter Love.   I love the name of this cookie, too. 

Without complications, I put together the ingredients, that included peanut butter, sugar, honey, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder, baking soda and chocolate chips.  They tasted so good, especially coming straight from the oven.  Soft, warm, sweet.  The mixture of the chocolate chips and peanut butter?   Divine!  Loved it, indeed. 

Paz

Chocolate Peanut Butter Love

Nectar & Light

~ 1 c. butter {room temp}

~ 1 1/4 c. peanut butter {preferably smooth Jif}

~ 1 c. sugar

~ 1/2 c. honey

~ 2 organic eggs

~ 1/2 t. vanilla

~ 2 1/2 c. flour

~ 1 t. baking powder

~ 1 t. baking soda

~ 1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Smooth butter and peanut butter together – add sugar and mix until well blended.  Add honey and mix.  In a small bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla – add to butter mixture and incorporate well.  In another bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and baking powder together – slowly add to wet mixture.  Scrap the bottom of the bowl several times to ensure all of the dry is properly mixed into the wet.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Place the dough in the refrigerator for up to 30 minutes.  Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.  Using an ice cream scoop {or tablespoon}, create {somewhat} equal sized balls of dough – spacing them about two inches apart on the baking sheet.  Return the dough to the fridge between each sheeting.  Do NOT flatten the dough with a fork or any other means.  Bake each sheet for 12 minutes or until edges just begin to turn gold.  Pull from the oven and let the cookies stand for about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

*These freeze beautifully and defrost quickly if you really must have one right away