Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Canned Pie


I had some local, organic peaches that had to be used soon but I'm not one to sit down and get covered in sticky peach juice.  I like the taste, I don't like the mess.  So I decided to make some cobbleresque pie.  My pies generally have a bottom crust and the top is a mix of oats, brown sugar and butter.  I don't really know where I came up with this except to say I'm not real crazy about pie crust.
I've also learned in the past few years that if you can bake it, you can can it.  Mason jars are awesome to bake in and if you put the lids and rings on when they are straight out of the oven they seal air tight.  Even if a couple don't seal, the jars are freezeable so none have to be wasted.  You just have to remember to let them cool completely before putting in the freezer so they don't shatter; however, they are making jars specially made for the freezer that can go straight into the oven.  Pretty cool.

I made these in tiny 4 oz jelly  jars.  What I've noticed is that there is just enough there to make me want more.  My next batch will be in 8 oz jars and will be blackberry, maybe even some cherry too.  

You can use any pie recipe you like.  The only thing to keep in mind is that you don't want to fill it all the way to the top. Things tend to puff a little when baking so I recommend only filling to the bottom of the rings on the jar.  This should leave just enough room for the lid to seal after it's baked.

Can't you just imagine come those cold, dreary winter months opening up one of these.  Hmm, I think I just figured out Christmas presents for this year!