Peach and Amaretti Lattice Pie... HB to me!!!

What's the beauty of turning 41? If you look at the glass half full it's everything that surrounds me. Me myself (Hey, I'm still here, life is beautiful!!!)... my three kids and husband (just one look at all of them fills my heart with joy and happiness, peace and... oh, well, they're not always angels, but they are mine, and I love them as they are)... little everyday things that make part of my life, little aches and sorrows, losses and gains.
Life's making slow and steady progress and I sincerely hope to be sitting here at 82, with a couple grandchildren in my lap to tell you about the beauty of still being here :)))
Yes, I turned 41 yesterday. Jeez, the number scares me a little bit, I admit. That's when think about the glass half empty. Sometimes I wish my kids wouldn't repeat it for days, I'd rather just sleep for two days and wake up not thinking about it at all. And when one of your friends turns 27 (27!!?) and the kids shout, "Wow, she's so young and you're already 40!? Life is good, no matter what...

And here we go. Usually we're away from the beginning of August and I never get to make a birthday cake for myself. This year we are still in town, Torturing ourselves, because the heat is so unbearable that even with the AC on I'm breathing rather like a fish out of water. Just few more days and this fish will be swimming in the crystal clear sea waters, but until then... I even had to give up an idea of baking myself a cake.
But luckily, I have something  I managed to bake last week to offer.
And it was so good that you won't be sorry if you decide to make it. The idea came from a food magazine, I just thought that if I replaced the puff pastry from the original recipe with a nice, flaky pie crust, the hole thing would take a step forward to a new level.
And it did. I enjoyed every little bite of it. My diet and my perfect bikini look got closed in a drawer. Hell, that's the beauty of being 41, you don't have to prove anything to anyone. You get to enyoy lots of sweet little things in life, you can always start dieting tomorrow. I still look good to myself and I'm happy.
Have a good day folks. If I don't get too busy preparing vacation bags, I'll get back to you with a new recipe before I leave, or at least leave you with something to read while I'm away.

Peach and Amaretti Lattice Pie

Pie crust:
* 200 g flour
* 1 TB spoon brown sugar
* 110 g cold butter
* 6-7 TB spoons ice cold water
Filling:
* 60 g amaretti cookies - approx. 18-20 pc.
* 2 big peaches (ripe but firm)
* 2 TBspoons sugar
* 1 egg
* 40 g powdered sugar
* 50 g almond meal
* 20 g rum

Prepare the pie crust:
Put the flour and the sugar in a food processor and mix shortly (pulse a few times).
Add cold butter cut into cubes and pulse again several times to get just coarse crumbs.
Add 2 TB spoons of very cold water at a time and pulse in between.
To get a good, flaky pie crust it is important not to overmix and heat butter, so it melts. If in the end you can see flakes of butter throughout the dough that's perfectly fine.
Drop the dough on a piece of plastic wrap, just bring everything into a ball without kneading it. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (or up to 2 or 3 days).

Prepare the filling:
Peel the peaches and cut them into 1 - 1,5 cm thick wedges.
Combine the caster sugar with 1 TB spoon of water in a skillet and heat stirring until the sugar's melted. Add the peaches and cook them in the syrup just enough to make them a little soft zatim. Remove from heat and let them cool.
Beat the egg with the powdered sugar until creamy.
Stir in the almond meal and in the end the rum.

Take 2/3 of the dough and roll it thin into a rectangle.  Press it into a 35x10 pie/crostata mould.
Put the amaretti cookies on the bottom.
Pour the almond batter over the cookies.
Arrange the peach wedges over the batter.

                

Roll out the remaining 1/3 of the dough and cut a lattice with the approprite lattice cutter or a simple knife following the pattern in the picture (otherwise just cut into strips and make a woven lattice top). It's easier to work with the chilled dough, so if it has softened, refrigerate it again after you've rolled it out.
Transfer the lattice top and cover the filling.

                                      

Brush the top lattice with a little milk or egg wash or (like I did) with the syrup you cooked peaches in and sprinkle with some brown sugar.l
Bake the pie in the oven preheated to 180°C for about 40 minutes.

Pie alle pesche e amaretti

Pasta:
* 200 g di farina 00
* 1 cucchiaio di zucchero di canna
* 110 g di burro freddo
* 6-7 cucchiai di acqua molto fredda
Ripieno:
* 60 g di amarett - circa 18-20 biscotti.
* 2 pesche grandi (mature, ma sode)
* 2 cucchiai di zucchero semolato
* 1 egg
* 40 g di zucchero a velo
* 50 g di farina di mandorle
* 20 g di rum

Preparate la pasta:
Mettete la farina e lo zucchero nel robot da cucina e pulsate un paio di volte.
Aggiungete il burro freddo tagliato a cubetti e pulsate di nuovo per qualche secondo senza esaggerare, dovete ottenere delle briciole piuttosto irregolari e grossolane.
Aggiungete l'acqua molto fredda, 2 cucchiai alla volta pulsando qualche volta dopo ogni aggiunta.
La cosa importante per ottenere un buon impasto è non mescolare troppo per non permettere al burro di ammorbidirsi troppo. Se alla fine i pezzetti di burro sono ancora visibili nel impasto, tanto meglio.
Rovesciate l'impasto su un pezzo di pellicola alimentare e raccoglietelo formando una palla senza impastare, però. Avvolgete la pasta e riposatela in frigo per almeno due ore (o fino a 2-3 giorni).

Preparate il ripieno:
Sbucciate le pesche e tagliatele a fette spesse 1 - 1,5 cm.
Mettete lo zucchero semolato con 1 cucchiaio d'acqua in una padella e scaldatelo finché non si sia sciolto. Aggiungete le pesche e fatele cuocere nello sciroppo fino ad ammorbidirle un po'. Toglietele dal fuoco e lasciatele raffreddare nello sciroppo.
Sbattete bene l'uovo con lo zucchero a velo.
Aggiungete la farina di mandorle e rum.

Prendete  2/3 di pasta e stendetela sottile con un mattarello formando un rettangolo. Rivestite con la pasta stesa uno stampo rettangolare per crostate (35x10 cm).
Distribuite gli amaretti interi sul fondo.
Versate la crema alle mandorle sopra i biscotti e distribuitela uniformemente.
Arrangiate le pesche sopra la crema.
Stendete la pasta rimanente e incidetela con il rullo per losanghe oppure tagliatelo a strisce e formate una griglia sopra il ripieno.
Trasferite la griglia nello stampo coprendo  bene il ripieno.
Spennellate la griglia con un po' di latte o un uovo sbattuto con un po' di latte o (come ho fatto io) con lo sciroppo delle pesche.
Infornate la pie a 180°C per circa 40 minuti.

Pita s breskvama i amarettima

Tijesto:
* 200 g brašna
* 1 žlica smeđeg šećera
* 110 g hladnog maslaca
* 6-7 žlica ledeno hladne vode
Nadjev:
* 60 g amaretta (keksića) - oko 18-20 kom.
* 2 breskve
* 2 žlice kristal šećera
* 1 jaje
* 40 g šećera u prahu
* 50 g mljevenih badema
* 20 g ruma

Priprema tijesta:
Stavite brašno i šećer u multipraktik i kratko izmiksajte.
Dodajte hladan maslac narezan na kockice i opet vrlo kratko izmiksajte (par sekundi).
Dodajte 2 po dvije žlice jako hladne vode (iz hladnjaka) i svaki put kratko izmiksajte.
Ne miksajte dugo da se maslac ne zagrije i ne otopi. Ako se i vide komadići maslaca u tijestu, u redu je.
Istresite tijesto na komad prozirne folije i prikupite sve u lopticu, ne mijesite, omotajte i stavite u hladnjak na par i sati (može stajati i dva, tri dana).

Priprema nadjeva:
Breskve ogulite i narežite na ne kriške debljine oko 1 - 1,5 cm.
Stavite u tavu kristal šećer s 1 žlicom vode i zagrijavajte da se šećer otopi. Dodajte zatim breskve i pažljivo miješajući kuhajte ih u sirupu tek toliko da malo odmeknu, ne da se raspadnu. Maknite s vatre i ostavite da se ohlade.
Umutite jaje sa šećerom u prahu.
Dodajte mljevene bademe i na kraju rum.
Odvojite 2/3 tijesta i razvaljajte ga tanko pa utisnite u niski kalup za crostate/pite. Moj kalup je 35x10 cm.
Preko tijesta rasporedite cijele amarette.
Prelijte smjesu s bademima preko amaretta.
Preko kreme rasporedite breskve.
Preostalu trećinu tijesta razvaljajte i narežite rešetku (odgovarajućom spravicom ili nožem) ili ako vam je lakše izrežite na uske trakice pa ih složite u rešetku.
Lagano raširite rešetku i prekrijte nadjev.
Uz pomoć kista premažite tijesto s malo mlijeka, jajetom razmućenim s malo mlijeka ili (kao ja) sirupom u kojem su se kuhale breskve, i pospite kristal šećerom.
Stavite peći pitu u pećnicu zagrijanu na 180°C oko 40 minuta.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin