OK, I know, everyone who makes peach pie has a favorite recipe. But in case you don’t have a favorite recipe, I am going to share mine with you. Because I strongly believe that peach pie is one of God’s greatest gifts to the human race. And that peach pie should be made as simply as possible. No gilding the lily in the preparation of this pie. But, of course, served with vanilla bean ice cream.

But no pudding over the peach slices, or streusel on top, or other fancy enhancements. Just a great crust, not too much sugar, a touch of good almond extract to bring out the inherent almond like flavor of the peaches, and a bit of cinnamon. Because cinnamon always makes most fruit or berry pies taste better. I don’t know why that is. But give me a piece of apple pie without any cinnamon in the mix, and I’ll give it right back to you!

So, without further ado, my recipe for a peach pie for the masses.

Now don’t get me wrong. There are other perfectly wonderful recipes for peach pie worthy of your time and energy. Of course, there are. But I have been basically making this pie since I was 20 years old. And every time I would pull one of these babies out of my oven, a good friend of mine would magically appear on my doorstep. How he knew I had just made his favorite pie will forever remain a mystery. But there he was as sure as God made little green apples.

So, I’m just sayin’, if you want company, this is the pie to make.

Well, today is a day for both Mr. C. and me with no commitments. And believe it or not, that is a rare occurrence. Because of all the musical adventures Mr. C. is involved with, and at our ages the myriad doctor’s appointments, follow-ups, shots, and other medical and cosmetic requirements to keep our bodies in good working order and acceptable to be seen in public, we are rarely allowed a day off. So, I am taking advantage of this delightful hiatus to catch up on my blog posting and make Pork Paprikash Stew with Egg Noodles for dinner. I made this stew while we were on vacation and it turned out to be not only easy to prepare, but quite tasty. So, look forward to finding it on this site in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay committed to making your own life and the lives of those around you better.  

And as always, peace and love to all.

pie crust for a 9-inch two crust pie (see my favorite pie crust recipe below)

7-8 fresh peaches, peeled (see my method of peeling a peach below) and sliced  

¼ tsp. good almond extract

½ c. granulated sugar  

¼ c. brown sugar, packed

½ tsp. cinnamon

1/3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

3 T. unsalted butter

Place the peach slices in a medium sized mixing bowl. Stir in the almond extract. In another bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour together. Gently mix the flour mixture with the peaches.

Place the bottom crust in the pie pan.  

Pour the peaches into the pie shell. Dot with butter and cover with the top crust and crimp the edges as desired. Cut small slits in the top crust to allow steam to escape. Cover edges of pie crust with strips of aluminum foil.

Bake in a pre-heated 425-degree oven for 35-40 minutes. Remove the foil strips for the last 5 minutes or so before the pie is ready to come out of the oven. The pie crust should be a very light golden brown and the filling should be bubbling a bit into the slits in the top crust.

Remove pie from oven and let sit at least 25 minutes before serving. Great with vanilla bean ice cream.

BTW, I recently made this pie using frozen peaches. For whatever reason, the peaches remained crunchy. And there was a lot of liquid in the bottom of the pie plate. And I had baked the pie for at least 30 minutes longer than usual! I either did something wrong, or those peaches were as hard as rocks when they were picked and packaged. Lesson learned for me. Use fresh peaches or make apple pie!

PIE CRUST

¼ c. + 2 T. very cold water

2½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour, fluffed

1 tsp. salt

heaping 2/3 c. Crisco

Step 1 – Pour cold water into a small bowl. 

Step 2 – Measure flour and salt into a mixing bowl. 

Step 3 – Take 1/3 cup of the flour back out of the mixing bowl and stir it into the water. Make a paste. Set aside. 

Step 4 – Add the Crisco (heaping 2/3 cup) to the flour and salt mixture. Mix together. (I use my KitchenAid mixer.) 

Step 5 – Add the water/flour paste to the flour/shortening bowl and mix just until blended. Do not over-mix.

Roll out a little less than half of the dough and place in pie plate. Then roll out the top crust to be about an inch all-around larger than the pie pan. This recipe makes enough dough for a double crust 9-inch pie.

Best way I have found to peel fresh peaches:

Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Carefully add your peaches. (I lower the peaches into boiling water with a slotted spoon.) This technique, officially called blanching, helps to loosen the peach skins so they peel easily using either your fingers or a paring knife. The process is quick (about 30 seconds), so take care not to leave the peaches boiling for too long.

Using the same slotted spoon, remove the peaches into a large bowl filled with ice water. (You should set this up before starting the boiling process.) Shocking the peaches stops the cooking process and allows you to hold the peaches without scalding your hands.  

Once the peaches are cooled, remove the peaches from the ice bath. Using your hands or paring knife, gently peel away the skin. The skin should release from the flesh with minimal effort.

I have found that cutting the peaches by making the initial cut around the middle rather than from stem to stern works best for me. And I personally like Clingstone peaches best. But I take what’s available and always remember to say thank you. I love peaches just that much!