seasonal plant-based recipes
After having to cull a few of my dying plants from the garden the past few weeks I was feeling a bit defeated. Instead of focusing on what I have that is thriving, I was focusing on what was lost and gone. I decided to give myself the task of photographing what is growing out in the garden as a way to appreciate what I have and to capture the beauty that persists despite the summer heat. Enjoy <3
Sweet and juicy summer peaches are paired with fresh thyme and lavender leaf from the garden in each lovely little peach hand pie. Enjoy them as-is or perhaps with a scoop of your favorite vanilla bean ice cream!
Oh August. You’ve never been my favorite. As a kid it meant back to school. The return of routines, hard work, and rigid schedules. Once leaving school and working outside it meant relentless and oppressive heat. The August sun feels like it could bake your skin and eyeballs if you even dare glance at it the wrong way. Up until this year I would spend all of August waiting for September 1st so that I could declare it fall, decorate with pumpkins, and bask in the warm scents of cinnamon, clove, and cardamom while simultaneously willing the temperatures to drop. But I decided my perspective needed a little shift. I needed a different approach so that I could appreciate this month and not hate it so vehemently.
August has swiftly become my month for planning and re-evaluating for the Fall season. In terms of my garden, I’ve been planting many different types of seeds to have around in the fall. I’ve also been harvesting what needs to go and giving care to what is showing signs of stress from the heat. And of course weeding. ALWAYS weeding. In my house I’ve been organizing my never-ending lists of ideas and brainstorms, clearing my space frequently with palo santo, and making plans to keep on track with things I’d like to see materialize in the last months of this year (more on that soon!).
Since it is so hot during this month and there’s nothing that can be done to change that fact, I’ve been aiming to keep myself busy with indoor projects during the hottest parts of the day. Inspired by incredibly fragrant and juicy local peaches, I decided to make one of my indoor projects these peach hand pies. The process of putting them together is a bit involved. But, for me, it becomes a sort of meditation. My hands nimbly work the dough, falling into a familiar pattern. Roll, cut, fill, seal, repeat. In the oven the peach juices bubble up and out of the vents in each pie letting you know something magical is happening beneath that top layer of dough. Maybe the hardest part about this recipe is waiting for each peach hand pie to cool down enough so you don’t burn your tongue eating one!
To bring in a bit of earthiness from the garden I flavored these peach hand pies with fresh thyme and lavender leaf. If you’ve never had lavender leaf the scent and taste are similar to rosemary but with more of the floral and camphorous notes of lavender buds. Though you’ll still have a pretty tasty hand pie without these herbs, I highly recommend them for the contrast they bring to the sweet and slightly tart peaches. You can sub in a bit of rosemary for the lavender leaf if you don’t have access to any or simply double up on the thyme.
Want more peachy recipes? Try this lemongrass peach shrub or this spiced maple peach pancake stack.
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Sweet and juicy summer peaches are paired with fresh thyme and lavender leaf from the garden in each lovely little peach hand pie. Enjoy them as-is or perhaps with a scoop of your favorite vanilla bean ice cream!
for the dough
for the filling
To make the dough, mix together the flour, salt, and lemon zest. Add the melted coconut oil and maple syrup next, mixing until the dough begins to look crumbly and sandy. Add the water a tablespoon at a time, mixing until you have a soft and smooth ball of dough. Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it with cling wrap, and let it sit on the counter at room temperature for 30 minutes to rest.
While the dough is resting, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment or silpats. In a bowl, mix together all of the filling ingredients then set it aside.
When the dough is ready, dust your work surface with a bit of flour. Remove half the dough and roll it out on your prepared work surface to between 1/8 and 1/16 of an inch in thickness. Choose your cookie cutter of choice, then cut out shapes and transfer them to your lined baking sheets. Repeat with the remaining dough. Count how many shapes you have. You will be filling half of these and the other half will form the tops.
Once you have all the dough cut, add about 1 tablespoon of filling to the middle of half of the shapes you have cut. Brush a bit of water with your fingertip around the outer border of each shape (this will help the top layer of dough to seal). Place the remaining dough shapes on top of those with filling, then gently press the dough down onto the filling. Using a fork, crimp the edges of the dough to help it seal. Cut a small slit in the top of each hand pie to help vent steam. Bake the hand pies at 350 degrees for 18-23 minutes or until the peach juices are bubbling up through the vent and the edges of the dough turn golden brown. Cool slightly before eating.
Makes approximately 14-18 depending on what size cookie cutter you use.
I’ve been experimenting with einkorn flour lately and am loving it. Feel free to use standard all purpose flour in its place. I haven’t tested this out with a gluten free mix yet but if you have success let me know in the comments below! If all you have access to are dried herbs, use a third of the total amount called for here. As for the cookie cutters you use, I went with clouds because I love the shape. A large round or square cutter will suffice. Make sure whatever cutter you use is around 2 1/2 to 3 inches in size (any smaller and they will be harder to fill.
