Lattice Top Peach Pies in a Jar
Recipe from Babble: Peach pie—you want to enjoy its sweet flaky buttery goodness at a summer cookout or party, but it’s really hard to get it there looking good. Well, I’m told in colonial America pies were really hard and were designed as a way to make fruit keep longer and travel well. They sound gross. Don’t do that. Do this instead—peach pie in a jar. It’s the easiest way to get a pie from here to there in one piece.
Recipe from Babble: Peach pie—you want to enjoy its sweet flaky buttery goodness at a summer cookout or party, but it’s really hard to get it there looking good. Well, I’m told in colonial America pies were really hard and were designed as a way to make fruit keep longer and travel well. They sound gross. Don’t do that. Do this instead—peach pie in a jar. It’s the easiest way to get a pie from here to there in one piece.
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
- 12 tablespoons cold butter
- 1/2 cup ice water
- peach filling
- 8-10 peaches medium
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1/2 cup sugar plus more for top of pie
- 2 tablespoons ground instant tapioca (i use my coffee grinder)
- Carbohydrate 2.55089000502935 g
- Cholesterol 45.795 mg
- Fat 17.27888375 g
- Fiber 0.0887812529962142 g
- Protein 0.200228125020491 g
- Saturated Fat 10.94173775 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (41g)
- Sodium 3.00231250055479 mg
- Sugar 2.46210875203314 g
- Trans Fat 1.21063025 g
- Calories 162 calories
Step-by-step
- Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Quickly chop up the cold butter, and pulse it into flour mixture, several times. Drizzle in the ice water, pulsing 2 or 3 times, just until the dough is combined.
- Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball. Divide into 2, flatten dough into discs, and wrap each one tightly with plastic wrap. Chill for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
- Meanwhile prepare the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a rimmed baking sheet in the oven to preheat as well. Liberally butter 8 – 10 4 oz. glass canning jars.
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. In your sink, prepare a large bowl with an ice bath. When the water is boiling, quickly immerse the peaches in the water, remove to the ice water, and peel off the skins. Slice the peaches in 1/2” thick slices.
- In a medium bowl, combine the peaches, lemon zest and juice, sugar, salt, and tapioca. Set aside while you prepare the crust.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out one of the dough discs. For the bottom crusts, cut out a 5” square, and press into the jar. For the tops, use a jar to press out a circle, and, with a sharp knife, cut it into 1/4” strips. Carefully arrange the peach slices in the jars and spoon in several tablespoons of the liquid filling. Weave your lattice, and crimp the edges. Sprinkle the top of each little pie with 1/2 teaspoon or so of sugar.
- Place prepared pies onto heated cookie sheet, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet, turn the heat down to 350 degrees, and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes, until crust is light golden and filling is bubbling vigorously.
- Allow pies to cool completely and serve, or keep covered with a lid for up to three days.
Why does the fruit filling in a small single-serving pastry always threaten to boil over and scorch the bottom of the oven before the center ever sets properly? Individual jars present unique thermal dynamics, trapping steam while concentrating fruit sugars into a fast-thickening syrup that requires precise starch management. Ground instant tapioca functions as an exceptionally reliable thickening agent here because it dissolves cleanly at lower temperatures than cornstarch, ensuring a glossy, clear gel that holds up against the high moisture content of fresh stone fruit without turning cloudy or gummy.
Blanching the peaches in boiling water for thirty seconds before transferring them to an ice bath loosens the skins effortlessly without cooking the flesh beneath, preserving structural integrity for the slices. Rolling the pastry dough while it remains thoroughly chilled prevents the butter fractions from melting into the flour, guaranteeing those distinct flaky layers essential for structural contrast against the soft fruit. Placing the glass jars onto a preheated rimmed baking sheet at four hundred degrees provides immediate bottom heat conduction, initiating the crust bake before dropping the ambient oven temperature to three hundred fifty degrees prevents the exposed lattice strips from burning.
Modifying fruit volume requires proportional adjustments to the thickening agent, as insufficient starch results in a watery syrup while excess powder creates a gelatinous trap that dulls the bright acidity of the lemon zest. Glass canning jars tolerate high oven heat safely provided they are free from microscopic chips and placed onto preheated metal rather than a cold stone surface. Sealed securely, these baked jars maintain their texture for up to three days at room temperature.
