Peaches and Figs in Pies, Oh My!!

As far as I'm concerned, baking might as well be the final frontier. I've made numerous attempts to conquer it. Sadly, my efforts consistently result in flat biscuits, cakes that sag in the middle, and pies so runny I serve the insides as "crisps" or "ice cream topping." I have marveled as I have watched friends effortlessly whip up pies that look and taste just like those made by the magical hands of grandmothers. To put it succinctly, I do not bake...

...Except in the instance of friends coming over, the need for a dessert, and a kitchen with no fresh berries to dust with powdered sugar and serve in small tea saucers (a clutch dessert that never fails and involves zero baking.) In the panic of realizing I had but forty-five minutes to finish everything, I sliced up the peaches in our fridge, thinly quartered two figs, and essentially winged it on how much sugar, salt, brown sugar, flour, and butter to add to the mixture. Trying to remember what I had seen Suzanne and Rebecca do to their yummy pies three nights earlier, I quickly tossed the powder and butter with the fruit, poured the whole thing into my waiting pie crust, decided 350 degrees sounded good, covered it with tented tin foil, and hoped the whole thing didn't burn as I set the timer for thirty minutes.

I pulled the pie from the oven, dutifully warned my guests of the potential danger of the pie I was about to serve them (they all thought I was being humble. I was not.) and then I dished it up. As I timidly tasted the first forkful, I was shocked at what had occurred in the oven- the pie was edible! So edible in fact that each of them ate their whole piece, as did I.

Here's to wishing I had bothered to measure and record what I put in the pie.

-Domestic in the District