Peach Mixed-Berry Skillet Pie

My dad loves pie. And tomorrow is Father's Day! So I went down to the Farmer's Market to see what kind of pie I would make... and there were PEACHES everyyywhere! And wild raspberries! This is great. Except for the part when, while I was in line for coffee, I dropped my bag of peaches on the cement. It wasn't until the morning of the pie-creating that I realized the damage. So I didn't have as many peaches as I thought. That's okay. A part of me just really loves how every time (seriously, nearly every time) that I bake, something goes a little wrong. Or hugely wrong. But it always causes me to get super creative with what I'm making, and totally deviate from whatever recipe I'm following. And then I get to make up my own recipe! Yipee! So I found more berries and added those. Great. So to add to the morning of surprises... as I made my pie crust, with very cold butter, cream, and water as usual, I noticed something was wrong. My house is very warm because we don't want to turn on the a/c yet (savin moneyyy!), but here is one consequence: my butter kept melting! Nothing was staying cold enough, and my pie crust basically turned to goo. Okayy. Also, I couldn't find my pie pan. Alrighty then. So I found my skillet, through the ball of goo into it, and kneaded it down and around until it covered the cast-iron. Poured in the peachy-berry mix, and tried to pull the edges of the "crust" over the filling. Improvise for topping: crumble. With pecans because dad loves nuts. Protein! And there ya have it. The wonders of baking with myself. Surprises everywhere.

pre-heat oven at 425

Whole Wheat Crust
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 Tb. sugar
2/3 cup cold unsalted European-style butter, cut into small cubes
1 Tb. cold cream
~3 Tb. cold water

Combine flour, salt, sugar, and butter into a food processor by pulsing. Don't over-mix! You should see your ingredients becoming crumbly little balls, and at that point stop pulsing. Add the cream, pulse some more, then add a little bit of water at a time, making sure to keep that crumbly-ball consistency. The colder your ingredients, the better the crust turns out. Unless you're like me and you royally screw everything up in the kitchen all the time. Take out the mixture and flatten it out with a rolling pin before lying it gently into your pie pan or skillet.


Pie Filling
~3 lb. fresh peaches
1 pint of fresh raspberries
2 tsp. vanilla extract
6 Tb. cornstarch
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. orange marmalade
1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Mix all together in a big ol' bowl... don't worry if it seems too liquidy. Pour the contents into the pie crust, but try and hold back the excess liquid, so your pie isn't soggy. 

Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup finely chopped pecans
2 Tb. butter, small cubes
1 Tb. brown sugar
any leftover liquid from the filling
dashes of cinnamon and ground ginger, to taste

With your fingers, mash all of that together until it's all in crumbly chunks. Sprinkle liberally on top of the pie filling.

Finishing Touches

With a part egg-white, part water mixture, paint the pie crust that is showing, and then cover with dashes of raw sugar. Put your pie in the oven at 425 for about 20 minutes, then lower it to 350  for about an hour... but keep a close eye on it because every oven is different!
 

enjoy!!