Southern Pies -- Part II

Last week we began to look at a few different pies from around the south, particularly focusing on those with a custard consistency. This week, I thought I would add a few more pies for your baking pleasure, highlighting some popular fruit and vegetable varieties.

Easy Fruit Cobbler

A nice place to start is the ever-popular "cobbler". This recipe utilizes whatever fruit you have on hand; nice choices of course, are peaches, apples, apricots, cherries or figs. My copy of this recipe is hand written on a scrap of what my grandmother would have called, "good cardboard". It is a nice generic formula that yields good and tasty results.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh fruit

½ cup sugar

½ cup melted butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 cup milk

Mix fruit and first measure of sugar together. Put into 8-9 inch baking dish. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over fruit. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes.

Fancy Peach Cobbler Deluxe

Ingredients:

8 cups fresh peaches, sliced

2 cups sugar

4 Tbsp flour

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp almond extract

1/3 cup melted butter

Pastry dough, enough for a double crust 9-inch pie

Mix first five ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook slowly for 10 minutes, until fruit is fork tender. Remove from heat and add almond extract and butter. Spoon half of peach mixture into a 10 X 8-inch baking dish.

Roll out half of pastry on a lightly floured board to fit baking dish and place on top of peach mixture in dish. Bake for 12 minutes at 475°. Remove from oven and pour remaining peaches over baked layer.

Roll out remaining pastry dough and slice into strips. Arrange pastry strips on top of peaches to create a lattice type design. Return to oven and bake 10 - 15 minutes until golden brown.

Fried Apple, Peach or Apricot Pies

This recipe uses dried fruit and begs for the best vanilla ice cream you can find! The pastry recipe is adapted from a Southern Living cookbook, while the remaining steps are tried, true and traditional all across Dixie.

Fried Pie Pastry Recipe: (Adapted from Southern Living's Cooking Across the South)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

¾ cup shortening

1 egg, beaten

¼ cup water

1 tsp vinegar

Mix flour and salt and cut in shortening. Beat egg and water together and pour over flour mixture. Add vinegar. Stir gently and quickly until dough forms a ball. Wrap and chill for at least an hour.

Filling Recipe:

Use 12 oz of dried fruit, such as apples, apricots, peaches, or a combination. Cover with water and soak the fruit for a few hours or overnight. Cook very slowly for about 30 minutes or until the fruit mashes easily. Add sugar to taste, about ½ cup to ¾ cup.

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