Missing Houston Peach Pie

Spring has officially begun around here. Or so they say, but today it snowed, again. Dear warm weather- feel feel to arrive anytime now.....

We've been packing up a storm around here, moving out to our new very Mad Men inspired house that we will be renting for the next year. In the process of moving, and cleaning out things, my husband oh so sweetly reminded me that the tens of thousands of magazines I have been collecting for the last year, will not be making the move. So I sat down and started going through all of them, and came across a copy of Southern Living magazine about peaches. I had picked this copy up on one of my many trips home from Houston, and had planned to make peach cobbler for my dad. Well, that never happened, and the magazine has just been sitting in my guest bedroom for over a year. Seeing the magazine, however, made me miss Houston, and started thinking of all the little things I miss about living there. One of them being eating peach cobbler from Rudy's BBQ. If you ever find yourself in Houston, make sure you go there, you won't be disappointed.

I did throw the magazine out (I'm trying not to be a future candidate for Hoarders), and did I decide to make peach cobbler? No, of course not, my line of reasoning never makes sense, instead I decided to make peach pie. So last week, I ventured to the store, came home all ready to make peach pie, but never quite got around to it. This moving thing has just thrown everything off.

Tonight I couldn't sleep and found this recipe.

Here are the ingredients I used (yes, I used canned peaches on this one, feel free to judge me). Also feel free to be jealous of my very fabulous and very yellow Pyrex bowl.

I'm cheating on the pie crust too.....

After heating the oven to 425 degrees F, mix the flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a bowl.

Pyrex bowl I found caked in dirt in my Bachi's garage. 

Then combine with the cans of peaches (I used two large cans, but probably could have used another half of can). Mix until well blended.

Looks like caramel 

Next, unroll the pie crust (yes, I used ready made pie crust) and pour the peach mixture into your pie plate. My adorable pie plate was a shower gift from my aunt.

fingers crossed that this comes out perfect.

Put dots of butter over the mixture.

Not much to say about that...

Then cover with pie crust  and dust with sugar, the recipe says 2 tbsp but after pouring that on there it just seemed like quite a bit of sugar, feel free to add  a bit of cinnamon for flavor.

It looks like it is swimming in sugar....

Be sure to cover the edges with foil so they wont burn - and then pop in the oven for 30 mins.

Find something to do for thirty minutes (I watched Community), take the pie out of the oven and remove the foil. Place back in the oven for another ten minutes.

And now, Peach Pie Heaven. Yum. Here's hoping our volunteer movers enjoy this on Saturday for the big move.

I cannot promise that this will make it to Saturday....

Up next week- details about the new place, reviews on Sample Society's March 2013 box,  and my Mimi's apple pie.

Chocolate Eclair Squares

         March 14th is Pi Day, and trust me, I'm going to be making a pie. My husband has requested an apple pie, he was having none of the peach pie that I had bought the supplies for the other day. So that will be on the agenda tomorrow night, along with our tradition of watching Pushing Daisies (the pie maker!). I know we really should be packing, we are getting the keys to the new place on Friday, but my motivation is just not there, and in the battle of packing vs. watching Lee Pace, the obvious answer is watching Lee Pace. 

         I decided to finally make something for work and thought Chocolate Eclair Squares would be the perfect thing. It is my favorite dessert to make in the summer, because it is so easy to make, cheap, and most people love it. Maybe by making it, we can erase all this snow that decided to come our way after a few wonderful warm days. I thought we were in the clear for spring, apparently I was wrong. 

         I found the recipe here a few years ago. You can do variations on it, for example, one year I made it chocolate peanut butter eclair pie, that was a big hit with my uncle, who is a total peanut butter fiend. My best suggestion for the recipe is that the longer it sits, the better it tastes, similar to tiramisu, letting it all absorb in together. The recipe recommends four and a half hours of refrigerator time, I would say overnight tastes better, and most times I try to make it two days in advance. 

So let's begin- first the ingredients 

The recipe calls for vanilla instant pudding, tonight I went with French Vanilla

Next you add two cups of milk to the two packages of instant pudding, and mix until there is thicker consistency- basically until it looks like the yellow part of the cadbury egg creme.

Stir in the 8 oz. of cool whip and mix until well blended 

You can use pretty much whatever you want for the pan, sometimes I use a pie plate, tonight I decided to use my white casserole dish from Crate and Barrel that was one of our shower gifts. I love this dish because the side reminds me of frosting. I think it might have actually been called a frosting casserole or something to that effect.....

nice and pretty

Next, take the nilla wafers and cover the bottom of the dish.....

Then you cover the layer of wafers with the pudding and cool whip mix.

Try not to eat too much of the filling as you go...

Add another layer of nilla wafers......

It's all coming together....

And another layer of the filling and cover with a last layer of wafers. Refrigerate overnight. 

Ready for the refrigerator 

A few hours before you are going to serve the squares, melt the semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave or using a double boiler. Pour over the wafers and refrigerate. Refrigerate again- the chocolate will harden. 

oooh chocolate.....

Sometimes I have extra when I make this, so  my husband will be getting a mini one. He'll be excited when he opens the refrigerator tomorrow and sees this for his lunch. He was jealous that my work was getting the squares. 

He's spoiled. 

That's it- you're done! Enjoy!