EAT: White Peach & Marzipan Hand Pies.

 

Recipe: White Peach & Marzipan Hand Pies

I have a lot of feelings about peaches. I wish I was exaggerating. Jamie Oliver did this thing about a billion years ago where he made bellinis out of fresh pureed white peaches - you know, the flat kind? - with prosecco, and it was all I could think about for weeks. Three billion years after that I went to Venice while travelling in Italy and actually found flat white peaches for the first time. I did not get to puree them into bellinis, which sucks because everyone knows how much I love to food-process things (a day of solid food is a day wasted, my friend).

So the awesome thing about living in London is that you can get basically any ingredient you can think of pretty much anywhere. This bag full of peaches was £1, and I made five-and-a-half sweet sticky crisp pies, and then tried to puree the last peaches into bellinis (with no success, sadly. Thanks for nothing, Jamie). The less great thing is the fact that I have literally zero kitchen counter space and prepared these by balancing a bread board on top of my oven hobs for a makeshift flat surface. Like, in case you were wondering where all my baking posts had gone.

So these pretty much come from two places! The filling sticks pretty closely tothis recipe by Yeh, but I knew I’d want a vegan pastry and adapted one from a few years back to use the hodgepodge of weird flours I have in my cupboard, with the warm flavour of brown sugar underneath. I hoard vegan marzipan whenever I find it for these scones, but given that tis very much not the season at present, this seemed like a good use for it - there’s a recipe for super-quick vegan marzipan in the link to my OGP article on that page.

For the record: this was a fuckin’ awesome idea and so much easier than like, actual pie filling. It’s just peaches! and marzipan! and it melts together into gooey sticky fruit with little pockets of softness and sweetness and joy! I ate hand pies for breakfast but it’s totally okay because I used spelt flour in the pastry! (SHUT UP. IT’S TOTALLY OKAY). I glazed them while they were still warm to get a lovely shine rather than a matte icing, and it was amazing, and I am gonna write as many run-on sentences as I like, because LITTLE PIES, GUYS. LITTLE PIES.

for the pastry:

175g (6oz) flour - I used a combination of spelt flour and quinoa flour, because I am literally that kind of person. You could use regular wholewheat or plain/all-purpose.
¼ tsp salt
120g (1 stick) vegan margarine - I used Stork for pastry
60g (2oz) light brown sugar
a squeeze of lemon juice
60ml (1/4c.) ice water

Combine flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Add the margarine and pulse for a few moments into coarse crumbs. If you don’t have a food processor, you can cut in the marg with a pastry cutter or by crumbling it between your fingers, old school. Add a squeeze of lemon and then a tiny bit of ice water, just a spoonful at a time, pulsing/mixing in between additions until it forms a dough and is not too crumbly.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and divide into two equal halves. Wrap in cling film and let chill in the freezer while you make the filling.

for the filling:

200g (1 1/4c.) peeled and chopped peaches - tiny pieces please, ¼-½ of an inch.
125g (4.5oz) vegan marzipan, cut into cubes
½ tsp vanilla paste
optional: 1 tsp bourbon/whiskey. Uh, I just happened to have some in my hand.

Cube the shit out of everything and then put it all in a bowl. You’re done. Don’t eat it all right now. Unless you want to make me feel better about my life choices in which case, go ahead.

Roll out half the pie dough on a well floured surface and cut out 6 circles - about 4-4.5 inches each. Spoon a couple of tbsp of filling into the middle of each one. Roll and cut out your other 6 circles for the tops, then brush a little soy milk around the edges of your pies and stick them together. Use a fork to crimp the edges and make them hold on. Cut a little cross or slash in the top for steam, and if you want to, you can brush with a little more soy milk to make ‘em pretty.

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 180C.

for the glaze:

120g (1/2c.) icing sugar
2 tsp water
¼ tsp. vanilla paste

Stir together until smooth. Drizzle over warm pies for a shiny glaze, or wait until cool for a sheer icing.