Peachy Goodness

I love having people over for dinner. While I tend to stress out about it, I love it. Tonight we had Andy’s folks for dinner and dear friends of their family…. Who also happen to be friends of my family... yes, an almost Dutch Bingo sort of thing, but not Dutch in the least… anyway… good people. :) Since I know my father-in-law has a thing for sweets, I try to do something fun. I saw a recipe in the Cake Doctor’s Cupcake book something for mini Peach Pies… sounded yummy, I had some frozen peaches (that we picked) in the freezer… so here we go!

They were really not that terribly difficult. Certainly didn’t take long to put together. I ended up putting the lattice work on my hand and plopping it on the mini pies. Also I used big crystal sugar on the top after egg washing it. Was really yummy. Oh… we had Tomato Basil Bruchetta first, then a vinaigrette salad then homemade chicken parmesan. The mini pies were served with a scoop of ice cream and reduced peach syrup on top. SO good!

Peach Cobbler Cupcakes
What you need:
1 package refrigerator pie crusts (2 crusts per package)
2 cups peaches drained
2 tablespoons water (I used peach juice)
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
1 table spoon all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces

What to do:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Unfold pie crusts onto lightly floured surface (or parchment paper). Cut four 4 ½ in circles out of each crust. (I used a custard dish to trace around. You need a total of 8 rounds. Cut the rest of the scraps into strips. I rolled the extra dough together and rolled it out again and then cut the strips with a pizza cutter.
Place 1 pastry round in the center of a cupcake cup, and gently press the round down to fit the pan. Do the same with the other 7.
Chop the peaches coarsely and add sugar, flour and cinnamon. Spoon mixture into pastries in cupcake cups. Distribute the butter between all cupcakes.
Using your hand as a workspace, place four strips and weave them together to form the lattice top. Turn your hand over onto the cupcake and press gently to the exposed dough.
Wisk one egg with a splash of water and brush the tops of the pies. Then sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 16 to 18 minutes at 400 degrees.
Remove pan from oven and let sit on a rack for 10 minutes. Using a sharp knife, run the knife around the sides of the cups, then using a spoon or knife, life the pies up out of the cups.
Pies can be zapped in the microwave for 30 seconds to warm before serving.