My kitchen has been undergoing renovations for the last two months and it’s been driving me crazy. I know, I know, first world problems. But still, the inability to cook or bake anything has been making me a bit nuts. It’s always been a great creative outlet for me and I’ve really been missing it.
This week we’re lucky enough to be saying at a friend’s cottage, and while the kitchen isn’t exactly top of the line, it’s got a stove and a counter, and that’s all I need! Since we’re nearing the end of summer and peach season is almost over I decided a peach pie was in order. I grabbed a few ingredients before leaving home, but since I’ve never actually made a peach pie it was a bit of a guess.
First up, peaches. You can’t go into a grocery store at this time of year without seeing baskets and baskets of them lining the shelves.
After that I grabbed some flour, sugar and a couple of frozen pie shells from the freezer. I know a lot of people are horrified at frozen pie shells, but they’re easy and they taste great, so when I’m kitchen-less I will use them without shame! Honestly, room in the car was tight and I just couldn’t be bothered bringing all the ingredients for homemade pastry. Let’s move on.
I’ve made a lot of fruit pies in my day so I figured peach would follow a similar path. Sugar, a bonding agent like flour or cornstarch and some cinnamon. I forgot the cinnamon but fortunately there was some at the cottage. Nutmeg too. I love including nutmeg in fruit pies even though it’s not everyone’s cup of tea.
To start, I cut up 8 peaches. I thought I would only need 6 but it didn’t look like enough so I kept going until the bottom pie shell was full. I took a guess and mixed 2/3 cup of sugar and five tablespoons of flour. Five felt like a lot but there was a lot of liquid once I added the sugar and I wanted to thicken it. Then I sprinkled it with cinnamon and nutmeg and mixed it all together in the bottom shell. Then I used my mom’s old trick – I added a few pats of butter before putting on the top shell.
With pies you always want to bake it at a high temperature for 10 minutes before lowering it. So I did 450F for 10 minutes and then lowered it to 350F. I started with 30 minutes but it didn’t seem fully cooked so I ended up leaving it for 45 minutes (55 in total).
Peach Pie – The Result
The result? Amazing! I couldn’t believe how well it turned out. In fact, it’s one of the best pies I’ve ever made. If this is how well things turn out without a recipe, I may forgo recipes completely in the future. (Well, maybe not…).
Easy Peach Pie
Ingredients
- 2 x frozen pie shells (I prefer Tenderflake)
- 6-8 peaches
- 2/3 cup white sugar
- 5 tablespoons all purpose flour
- Sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg (to taste)
- 4-5 pats of salted butter
Directions
- Place two frozen pie shells on the counter to thaw while you prepare the pie filling.
- Slice 8 peaches and set aside in a bowl.
- Mix 2/3 cup of sugar and five tablespoons of flour in a bowl. Sprinkle with your desired amounts of cinnamon and nutmeg.
- Toss the peaches in the sugar mixture until they’re all coated
- Place the peaches and remaining sugar mixture in the bottom pie shell (it should be thawed by now). Pat with butter and attache the top shell. Secure the sides of the shell and remember to poke a few holes in the top shell for the steam to escape.
- Bake at 450F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F for 45 minutes.
Let me know your thoughts. Do you have any fruit pie tips? Sound off in the comments!
