10.28.2011

50 Women Game Changers in Food: #21, Ree Drummond


Do I really need to say anything about The Pioneer Woman? After all, her blog has more than 
23 million page views per month and 4.4 million visitors! But if you'd like some extra skinny on Ree, check out this lovely article about her in The New Yorker.

Briefly, Ree grew up in Oklahoma and after college in California, planned on moving to Chicago to study law. Her plans got interupted when she met and married a cattleman and found herself right back in Oklahoma, this time on a cattle ranch in Pawhuska.
A familiar refrain, Ree started her blog for fun, not expecting it to lead to anything. She's a writer, photographer and home-school teacher to her four children; telling us all about her experiences on the ranch has led to a cookbook: The Pioneer Woman  Cooks and to top it all off, Ree is about to star in her own Food Network show.



I confess, I am not among the 23 million who regularly visit her blog. But someone gave me her cookbook a while back so I had already perused it. I completely agreed with a comment about it in a New York Times article: "
Vegetarians and gourmands won’t find much to cook here, but as a portrait of a real American family kitchen, it works." 
And I think that's exactly what Ree wanted to do with her highly popular blog AND her cookbook: she wanted it to be the story of a real American family kitchen.



I chose a basic fruit crisp recipe from her cookbook to highlight our blogger game changer Ree. It's a nice recipe using lovely fresh peaches but what drew me in was the maple cream topping. I had some left over and used it over some baked apples (yum!), but what I'm going to pour it over next are Hannah's Whole Grain Pumpkin Pancakes! 

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce
From The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree Drummond



Ingredients:
5 to 6  whole fresh peaches 
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter (1/2 Cup)
1/2 whole lemon
7 tablespoons real maple syrup, divided
1-1/2 cup whipping cream
3 tablespoons light corn syrup

Method:
In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt using a 
fork or pastry cutter. Cut butter into small pieces and gradually add to flour mixture until evenly mixed. 
Peel peaches into a bowl. Add the zest from half a lemon. Squeeze juice from lemon half and stir in with peaches and zest. Add 2 tablespoons real maple syrup to peaches, stir well. 
Pour peach mixture into a small pan (8” or 9” square) and cover evenly with crumb topping. 
Cover with foil and bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes or until crisp and brown on top.

Maple Cream Sauce: 

Pour whipping cream into a saucepan. Add 5 tablespoons real maple syrup, 3 tablespoons corn syrup and stir over moderate heat until thickened and reduced by about one-third, approximately 15 minutes. Refrigerate mixture until it is cold and thick, or set the saucepan into a small bowl of ice (the ice will melt and turn into ice water). Stirring your mixture, it will cool and thicken in about 15 minutes. Drizzle sauce over peach crisp.



Serve warm.


Join Mary from One Perfect Bite and all the other participants in this fun series.

Val - More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne - Eats Well With Others
Taryn - Have Kitchen Will Feed
Susan - The Spice Garden
Claudia - A Seasonal Cook in Turkey
Heather - girlichef
Miranda - Mangoes and Chutney
Jeanette - Healthy Living
April - Abby Sweets 
Katie - Making Michael Pollan Proud
Mary - One Perfect Bite
Viola - The Life is Good Kitchen
Sue - The View from Great Island
Kathleen Van Bruinisse - Bake Away with Me 
Kathleen - Gonna Want Seconds
Martha - Lines from Linderhof
Amy - Beloved Green

Linda
 Ciao Chow Linda

Nancy - Picadillo
Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits
Veronica - My Catholic Kitchen

27 comments:

  1. Barbara this is a wonderful recipe---I can't get enough crumbles and crisps, but as you say, the Maple Cream Sauce is the real star here. I can envision it on so many things. I love your bowl and pitcher, they're perfect for this dish!
    Now if I can just find some fresh peaches...

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  2. A delightful recipe! That crisp looks amazing.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  3. This is such a nice family recipe. It looks and sounds delicious and I love the background you've provided about Ree. I'm so glad you joined our band of merry women.I hope you have a great day. Blessings...Mary.

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  4. Pioneer Woman was one of the first blogs that I started reading. Although, I liked her blog, she reminded me too much of the early Martha Stewart days-Was there anything that Maratha could not do in a twenty-four day? (laugh).

    I do enjoy her "down home cooking" style. She is good at what she does and she inspires many bloggers.

    Great recipe.

    Velva

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  5. Hello Barbara!

    I have never heard froml this woman before but she must be famous in the USA!

    But this tasty recipe is a real winner! I must make this next summer when there are fresh peaches & that maple sauce looks excellent too! thanks for introducing this woman blogger to me! I learned a lot! :)

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  6. I agree with your assessment of Ree...family friendly food...and there's nothing wrong with that. This sounds amazing...and yes, just the words maple cream bring on a craving. Yum!

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  7. Who doesn't love a great fruit crisp ??? My husband's in the kitchen right now, making an apple crisp to take to his brothers' hunting weekend outing ... the domestic God! Maybe I should tell him to dress it up further with that maple cream! Yum! That Ree! What a woman!

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  8. Oh yes, that maple cream sauce is the shining star of the recipe, right? I could eat it with a spoon, over pancakes, or just about anything else! Love that pic of Ree and her family. Fun post.

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  9. This looks like an absolutely delicious dessert and I love the maple cream sauce for the crisp. I think there are still some local peaches in the market. I'll check it out tomorrow.

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  10. I used to follow her blog -- for Charlie, her basset hound (who has his own book - don't tell Sissy) -- but the only recipe I used from her blog was for someone else's spiced nuts...

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  11. doesn't she look like one of the desperate housewives?
    Pierre

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  12. I love crisp, and so 'fallish' served with maple cream sauce.

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  13. Une recette gourmande qui a tout pour plaire.
    J'aime beaucoup.
    See soon

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  14. Peach Crisp... What a delicious idea! I'm glad you choose this recipe because I'd never heard of peach crisp before.

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  15. Tha maple cream sauce with the apples is what does it for me.

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  16. She has such a great sense of humor too. I love her writing style and delicious, homey recipes.

    This one is no exception - it sounds great!

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  17. I have been to her blog but struggled with it since we're pesce-veggie. I was glad to read that others have also noticed that. Your dessert looks amazing (and I am completely stunned with the beauty of your china).

    I'm playing the video on chicken-fried-steak as I write this comment. I did used to love that when I lived in Dallas--though my fave was the so-called chicken-fried-chicken. I've always wondered about that name but never worried when it appeared on my plate.

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  18. Oh my, that maple cream sauce just puts this dessert over the top...so Ree Drummond - she loves her cream.

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  19. I don't know Pioneer woman as well as I should.. know the rep but the food style is way off my path. Bless her for doing so well with it and the photos I've seen of hers are really splendid.... what a life. I could see myself on a ranch... but probably more in Maryland than out west!!

    Great recipe though.. nice work Barbara.


    PS. I think we would have a blast hanging out... next time you come up NYC way... let's get together!!

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  20. I have heard of Pioneer Woman, but haven't actually visited her blog, or maybe if I have it was years ago. I do love this Peach Crisp though and the gorgeous bowl you served it in. I think if I had more room I would go mad buying different plates and bowls.

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  21. Did you say whole grain pumpkin pancakes? I'm definitely trying those--who needs peach crisp when there's pumpkin on the menu?

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  22. I love crisps and yours looks lovely. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  23. This topping does look fantastic - thanks for sharing.

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  24. i've had my eye on that sauce for awhile now--it looks every bit as amazing as i suspected it would. nice post on ree, barbara!

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  25. I didn't use to follow her blog either, but I have in the last few months out of spite, when the new yorker (which I love) published an article on her that highly irritated and disappointed me, and that I found very catty. I don't read her recipe posts, though - too many photos, and I question the concept: do we really need to have a visual image of every single step of real american family cooking?

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  26. Makes my mouth water! Delicious with the maple cream!

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