Monday, August 30, 2010

Jenna's Peachy Keen Peach Pie

I love people who are passionate about food. So when I recently read Jenna Weber's blog Eat.Live.Run about making a home-made peach pie I felt inspired to try her recipe. She has a way of writing that just makes you want to be there in the kitchen with her, baking side-by-side.

Jenna is a super popular, 26 year old blogger. I first discovered her when she was a contestant for the wine blogger job at Murphy-Goode. I watched some of the videos people had submitted for the job and something about her personality and style made me want to see more. That was over a year ago.

Since then she's moved from the East coast to Northern California. She did not get the Murphy-Goode job, but she got a job at Michel-Schlumberger. She moved to Healdsburg, and then Santa Rosa. She wrote about oatmeal every day for months (she almost lost me in this phase), and she rode a bike in a 100 mile race. She started dating a dude she's nicknamed "Almonzo," (which I find a bit odd) and she just finished writing her first book which I assumed was a cookbook, but just learned it's a book about her experience at Le Cordon Bleu.

Here's the thing about Jenna. Until a few weeks ago we never really saw her bake or cook much outside of oatmeal, enchilada's, salads and some random bean/legume dishes. So I was really leery about what she could possibly have put in a cookbook. Unless the book is called 100 variations of overnight oats, which I'm sure it's not.

I knew she had a degree in English, and went to culinary school. But it wasn't until recently that we learned why she went to culinary school. Because she doesn't work in a restaurant or bakery. So I've often wondered why she did it. Now we know why. It was so she could write about food as a profession. Ah ha! Now it's all starting to make sense to me.

So when she posted this peach pie recipe I thought I would give it a try. Everything is made from scratch. This will be the ultimate test. Plus she insists that a Crisco crust is better than a butter crust. Don and I prefer butter crusts. But I decided to give the Crisco crust a try.

Here is a pictorial of the whole pie making process. If you want the recipe you can skip on over to Jenna's site right here!

The hardest part is following the recipe on my iphone!!!

She gave a great tip for removing the skin. Dunk the peaches in a pot of
boiling water for 10 seconds. It really works!


The crust was a bit crumbly when I unwrapped it.
But came together nicely after about a minute.




















And the verdict? The pie was delicious. The crust was flaky. The peaches were juicy and flavorful, with just a hint of cinnamon. I still prefer a butter crust. But I must say, as far as Crisco crusts go, this crust was pretty good. Here's the recipe again: Peachy Keen Pie Recipe

The next recipe of hers that I'm going to try which was featured on her blog isn't really her recipe. But it's a chocolate chip cookie recipe made with brown butter which gives the cookies a carmel flavor. How yummy does that sound?

So there you have it. I'm not sure why I felt compelled to tell her story. It was just supposed to be about peach pie. I got a little carried away. Oh well! (Hi Jenna!)

PS. I met Jenna last September at BlogHerFood09. She probably doesn't remember me. We sat across from each other at lunch. I was kind of in a state of shock the whole time. Not about sitting with her. But about being at this conference with all these other food bloggers. I wasn't sure what I was doing there. Anyhow, Jenna was very shy and quiet. I expected her to be more outgoing like the persona on her blog. Not sure why you needed to know that. But now you know.

PSS. I sat next to Jennifer of "Unplanned Cooking" who I still keep in touch with. She's on her SECOND book and has a TV show in the works based on her first book 52 Fights: A Newlywed's Confession.

It's a crazy, crazy blogging world. And I have to admit, I LOVE IT!

4 comments:

  1. Not sure if this is the reason but, "Almonzo" was the nickname that Laura Ingalls used for her boyfriend/then husband. That's the Little House on the Prairie author. Yes, another meaningless factoid I have swimming in my brain!

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  2. Edit to post; his name was Almanzo and she nick named him Manley. Hmmmm...

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  3. Ha. That is funny. I bet that's where she got it from.

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  4. I don't care much for mongoid boy, but that pie sure looks good! Next time in Mill Valley?
    Dad

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~Kris