summer fresh peach pie

One of my favorite things about summer is all of the fresh, local produce. This past weekend, I took my girls to a local produce stand and bought a bunch of peaches. One of my daughters was especially excited about making a peach pie, so that is what we did on Saturday. I love peach pie. Love it. But, I don't think I had ever made one, and if I had, it's been so long that I don't even remember. After looking through some recipes, I came up with this version, and it was delicious. I was originally going to use a store bought crust, but realized I only had one and needed two, so decided to make my own. I used to make crusts from scratch often, but hadn't in a while (I tend to love shortcuts these days!). This one was worth it-it was so good. And my girls loved playing with the extra dough, rolling pin, and lattice cutter. Who needs play doh when you have all of that?

This pie is so good. Do yourself a favor and make one!

Because I didn't have enough peaches, I halved the recipe for the filling. It was plenty for a regular pie dish but for a deep dish, you would want to use the full amount. I had a deep dish pie plate and could have filled it with to the top had I had the full amount!

Peach pie

Adapted from this recipe at Two Peas and Their Pod

Crust adapted from one in my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook

(I'm sure the crust from the Two Peas site is good, I just didn't have all of the ingredients).

I N G R E D I E N  T S :

For the filling:

8 cups sliced peaches, skin removed
1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I did not use)

3-4 tablespoons cornstarch, depending on how juicy your peaches are 

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the crust:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 tsp salt

2/3 cup butter

8-10 Tbsp. cold water

1 egg, whisked, plus 1 Tbsp water for egg wash

sugar for sprinkling on crust

D I R E C T I O N S :

Begin by assembling crust. I prepared my dough in advance and refrigerated it for a couple of hours.

In a medium bowl stir together flour and salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in shortening until pieces are pea size.

Sprinkle 1 Tbsp of water over part of the flour mixture; toss with a fork. Push moistened pastry to side of bowl. Repeat moistening flour mixture, using 1 Tbsp of the water at a time, until flour mixture is moistened. Divide pastry in half; form halves into balls. 

On a lightly floured sufrace, use your hands to slightly flatten one pastry ball. Roll it from center to edges into a circle 12 inches in diameter. 

Wrap pastry circle around the rolling pin. Unroll pastry into a 9-iunch pie plate. Ease pastry into pie plate without stretching it. Trim pastry even with rim of pie plate. Transfer desired filling to pastry-lined pie plate.

Peel and dice peaches into large chunks. Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.

Roll remaining ball into a circle 12 inches in diameter. Cut slits in pastry. 

Place pastry on filling; trim to 1/2 inch beyond edge of plate. Fold top pastry under bottom pastry. Crimp edge as desired.

For a lattice-top pie: (You could google a video for this or at least a picture of how to do it if you aren't sure)  Prepare as at left, except trim bottom pastry to 1/2 inch begone edge of pie plate. Roll out remaining pastry and cut into 1/2" wide strips. Transfer desired filling to pastry-lined pie plate. Weave strips over filling in a lattice pattern. Press strip end into bottom pastry rim. Fold bottom pastry over strip ends. 

Brush egg wash over top pastry and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake in a 400 degrees F oven for 45 minutes or until the pie is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Let the pie cool completely on a wire cooling rack before cutting.

Serve with vanilla ice cream!