Hello everyone,

Over the last couple of years, my mom and I have formed a wonderful habit of making pies. In the past, we have made strawberry rhubarb pies in June, when the rhubarb is at its best. Additionally, we’ve made apple and blueberry pies in August when those fruits are in season. John and I are both a big fan of my buttercup squash pies in the fall.

This year, we decided to try something new, and boy did our efforts pay off! As peaches are in season in early August, we kept our eyes peeled for a sale. When we saw it, we hustled over and bought about 50 peaches and made some peach pies!

I got peeling and cutting peach after peach. One nice thing about ripe peaches is that they peel quite easy, and often you can just pull the skin right off. We made the dough together and my mom got rolling out pie crusts. We went with the classic Tenderflake crust, which are always great. Some tricks with the dough include:

• Use a pastry cutter and finish with knives to get the dough to the consistency of oats before adding liquid
• Don’t add too much liquid! You would be surprised how little you actually need for the dough to cling together
• When you are rolling out the crust, flip the flattened dough while rolling, using flower. This will keep it from sticking to the table.
  

  

  

We found that when you add sugar to the peaches, a heck of a lot of liquid comes out of the peaches. It is a very important step to thicken the liquid using cornstarch on the stove before you add the peaches to your pie. This will keep your peaches from swimming in a liquidy pool of peach juice and sugar.

With the two of us working together, we made 10 pies in about 4 hours. It’s definitely easier and more fun to make pies with someone then it is by yourself. It seems like a lot of work, but think of the hours you will save making desserts for your dinner parties over the year! Pies freeze just wonderfully, and it’s so easy to pop a frozen pie in the oven for an hour when you have guests over. Serve your peach pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and voila – a quick and easy dessert.

The one problem with pie-making is it generally leaves your kitchen in an atrocious mess, with flour and sticky peach juice everywhere! Good thing there were two of us to clean up!

TIPS:

• Try substituting a peach with a cup of raspberries for a peach raspberry pie!
• Make sure your peaches are nice and ripe. This will make them more delicious and easier to peel. I preferred to slice the peaches into quarters and pulled the skin right off each piece.
• Brush your crust with egg whites and cream and sprinkle with sugar before baking.

In the end, it was well worth the effort as our pie turned out just wonderfully! The peaches we used were beautiful Okanogan peaches that were perfect fully ripe, which helped produce a wonderful product.  And of course, I now have a freezer full of pies to hold me over until next summer.

So go find yourself a pie making companion and give this a shot! Special thanks to my mom for being mine for the day!

Bon appetit,

Julie

Click here for the printable Word version of the recipe:
Peach Pie

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Peach Pie

CRUST INGREDIENTS:

Pie Plates
Tenderflake (yields 2-3 pies, follow directions on box)

FILLING INGREDIENTS: (yields 1 pie)

6 medium-sized ripe peaches
½ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
¼ tsp cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of salt
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter

INGREDIENTS FOR BAKING:

Egg whites and cream/melted butter
Sugar

CRUST DIRECTIONS:

1. Follow instructions on Tenderflake package.
2. When rolling dough, use plenty of flour and flip crust on table a few times while rolling so it doesn’t stick to the table.
3. Repeat for top and bottom of pie
4. Be sure to seal the edge of the pie and add holes to the top of the pie. You can just stab with a fork, or use a knife to create some designs!

FILLING DIRECTIONS:

1. Peel and slice peaches.
2. In a large bowl, add peaches and sugars. Mix well and let sit for at least 10 minutes.
3. Drain liquid into out of peach mixture into a small pot.
4. Add cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt to pot with peach and sugar juices.
5. Heat on medium-high heat, whisking, until liquid thickens.
6. Remove from heat. Add lemon juice and melt butter in pot.
7. Add contents of pot back to peaches. Mix well before adding to pie crust.

BAKING INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Brush crust with egg whites and cream and sprinkle with sugar. Alternatively, brush crust with melted butter and sprinkle sugar.
2. Place pie on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes, until top is golden
3. If pie is frozen, bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour – 1 hour 10 minutes.

Pies freeze wonderfully!