Not Enough Time

This summer I'd become a little obsessed with the idea of making this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I hadn't done it, in part because Ryan and I had a small spat at the Farmer's Market. I asked him if he wanted to come to the market, he said yes, and then when we got there, he refused to have an opinion about anything.

Me: "Should I get some more of the delicious tomatoes?"

Ry: "I don't care. What would you make?"

Me: "Do I need to know now? They're tomatoes!"

Me: "Would you like some peaches?" Peaches are Ryan's favorite fruit.

Ry: "I don't know. Did you want to get them?"

Me: "Is there anything here you want?"

Ry: "I just don't care."

I didn't get the peaches.

Then last week my dad called and told me he had an excess of peaches and would I please do something about that. I did not have to be asked twice. It was time for bourbon peach hand pies. Right. Time. This recipe takes hours. All day kind of hours. You better not have anything else you want to do hours. I thought they were delicious, but I don't know that the end result justified the work. Ryan reports they are "pretty good." Which really does not justify the work.

THERE'S NOT ENOUGH TIME FOR THESE PEACH HAND PIES
adapted from SmittenKitchen

INGREDIENTS:
for the dough
All right folks, the dough is what causes this to be too much work. It's a delicious soft dough, but after it's been out of the oven for awhile it loses some of it's light flakiness - think of how a croissant wilts slightly after it's been out a bit. Smitten says this is the only dough that will work properly, but as I've used my standard dough for empanaditas, I can tell you it will fold easily too. It will not be as light and flaky, but you also won't spend the whole day doing it.

2 1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 t salt
2 sticks of butter cut into small pieces
1/2 C sour cream
4 t fresh lemon juice (honestly I felt the lemon flavor came out too much, but I don't know if it's needed to tenderize the dough or some such)
1/2 C ice water

for the filling
2 pounds of peaches
1/4 C flour
1/4 C salt
1 t bourbon
1/2 t vanilla
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg

for topping
one egg yolk beaten with a bit of water

DIRECTIONS:
Clear your agenda for the whole day. Mix the flour and salt together in one bowl. Stick the chopped up butter in the other. Put in the freezer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter and muscles the size of The Rock's. You should do this until the texture resembles coarse meal. I ended up busting out a pair of steak knives and cutting the butter in that way. Whisk together the sour cream, water and lemon juice. Make a well in the center of your flour/butter and add half of this mixture. Use your fingers to smoosh this into the the flour mixture. Keep pressing it all together. Get another bowl. Transfer out the doughy parts to the new bowl, so you just have crumbly flour butter meal in your first bowl. Then add the rest of the sour cream/water/lemon stuff and repeat. Then put all the doughy parts together and pat it all into a ball, trying to get up all the flour bits, but not overworking the dough! Refrigerate the dough for an hour.

Divide the dough in half. Roll out half the dough and cut it into circles using a 5 1/2" cutter. I used the metal top of a cookie jar. Place the circles on a parchment covered cookie sheet and stick back in the fridge (I made layers of parchment/dough circles). The unused scraps can be reused, but they'll need to be refrigerated again first, because this dough will be so soft by the time you're done it will be melting into your counter. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Chill the circles for 30 minutes. I don't think I chilled them that long. Maybe 10-15? It depends on how hot it is in your kitchen.

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Make the filling. Chop the peaches into 1/2" dice. Mix with flour, sugar, bourbon, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Spoon the filling onto the circles. Use a bit of ice water around the edge of the circle to help create a seal when you fold it over. Use the tines of a fork to seal the edge in a pretty design. If needed refrigerate for another 30 minutes (I definitely skipped this). Baste the top with egg wash. Cut a small slit in the top of each. Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned and cracked.

You could cut out a lot of trouble by using a dough that did not need constant refrigeration, I promise.