I’m gonna sneak in one last summer recipe before I switch over to fall related things with apples, pumpkin and cranberries. I was just in Charlotte and it was warmer there than Boston and I saw peach pies for sale there. So let’s just say this pie is dedicated to Charlotte.

I never made a peach pie prior to this one. I always stuck with cobblers when I had stone fruit at hand. I don’t know why I always limited myself. It’s not to say that only making delicious cobblers is limiting but I don’t know why I never really considered to make a pie before. It’s super simple and lighter than a heavy biscuit cobbler, making it perfect for an end of summer dessert.

As with all fruit pies, I think that this pie is better the next day. As temping as it is to pull it out of the oven and dive in I think that giving the pie an over night to let the flavors intensify makes it so much better. Most of all, this allows for the sweet syrup that was created from the fruit juices and sugar to thicken, which makes cutting and serving easier. Well, at least, a tab bit less messy.

French Vanilla Peach Pie

*makes 1 8″ pie*

Ingredients

8 large fresh peaches
1 /2- 3/4 cup of vanilla infused sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 8″ pie crust, top and bottom

Process

Preheat oven for 425.
Roll out 2 discs of dough. Set bottom dough in pie plate, refrigerate. The top crust will be set aside.
Cut peaches into cite size pieces.
In a large bowl, combine the peaches and vanilla sugar. Coat all peaches completely.
Cut top crust into 3/4″ wide strips.
Place peaches in the bottom crust and then cover with the strips of pie crust in a lattice design.
Place the small pieces of butter in the places where the crust is open to the fruit.
Bake the pie on a sheet tray at 425 for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 350 and continue to bake 35 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned.

I’m addicted to a show called The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network. I sit on the sofa with my iphone and my yelp app and bookmark the places to eventually go to. One of the latest episodes was featuring Snacks and while several featured places interested me I fell for the donut muffin. I don’t think Price would go for a trip to Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg, CA just for a muffin. So what’s one to do…. google, google, google and then bake.

I didn’t find a recipe I exactly loved for a donut muffin so I made mine own. One of the things I wanted to emphasize was vanilla so I used the vanilla sugar and vanilla extract I made. I now need to make more vanilla sugar but it was worth it. I think they had a great texture like a cake donut but were sweeter like a muffin- hell, being rolled in cinnamon and sugar will make anything sweet.

I made a mix of regular and mini muffins for this batch. I perfer the mini muffins because they are a great size and I don’t feel as horrible if I have mini compared to a regular one! Plus they are so cute little. The recipe makes about 60 mini muffins. If you make mini muffins you will need to use more butter and cinnamon/sugar at the end because you will have more muffins (and more surface area) to cover.

I should have taken a picture of it ripped open but I was too busy baking and stuffing Pricer full of them. Then I shared some with Emily and froze the rest. The whole point of explaining this is that the inside was beautifully dotted with vanilla. ahh bliss

Donut Muffins

3 cups of self rising flour

1 ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1 cup vanilla sugar*

⅔ cups shortening

2 eggs

1 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Sugar Coating**

1 1/2 cups of vanilla sugar

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 stick of unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin tins.

In a large bowl sift together the flour, salt, and pumpkin pie spice, set aside. Measure the milk and add in the vanilla extract to the measuring cup, set aside.

Cream together the vanilla sugar and shortening together until light and creamy. (be in awe of the vanilla goodness)

One at a time, add the eggs until incorporated.

Alternating with the flour, add the 1/3 of the combined milk and vanilla to the mixture, blend until well incorporated.

Let the batter sit for 15 minutes before dividing it among the tins for baking.

Bake until the tops are golden brown and a tooth pick is clean upon it’s removal. The regular sized muffins will take 20-22 minutes and the mini muffins for 12-15 minutes.

While the muffins are baking melt a stick of butter in a skillet on low. Combine the vanilla sugar and cinnamon together on a plate.

Once the muffins are done and cooled to the touch, quickly roll the muffin in butter coating all sides. Roll the muffin in the sugar mixture.

*Make vanilla sugar by putting sliced and scraped vanilla beans into an air tight container of sugar. The longer is sits the better. I suggest making batches of this and always having it on hang because it is great to add to whipped cream, oatmeal, and other baking recipes. You can even make your own vanilla extract!*

** If you make mini muffins you will need more butter and cinnamon/sugar because of the increased quantity of muffins.