Peaches are everywhere! This means, it's time to make Fresh Peach Pie. This pie has a baked pie crust lined with cream cheese mixed with a little powdered sugar. Then fresh peaches are piled high inside and then topped with a fresh peach glaze. Sweetened, whipped cream is always a great garnish.
This fresh peach pie screams FALL to me. In Utah, where I live, peaches are fresh during the months of August and September. I start making this pie in August and keep making it until I cannot buy fresh peaches any more. I just can't get enough!
Your family will love this pie! Buying peaches at a local fruit stand is always a great idea, but the best peaches I have found, so far this season, are at Sam's Club. They are big, sweet and firm which are all the things you need to make a fresh peach pie.
Right after college, I worked at Marie Callendar's as a waitress. Does anyone remember the fresh strawberry pies they made loaded with huge, red strawberries? This fresh peach pie is my take on those wonderful pies. YUM!
How To Make A Fresh Peach Pie
1. Make a blind pie crust. Blind pie crust just means baking the crust before you fill it. Making pie crust can be intimidating. I know a ton of people that buy pre-made pie crusts, but I really believe you can make your own and be successful.
2. The secret to great pie crust is chilling the dough. Make your pie crust the day before you want to use it. This is the step I did not know about! Making pies before Thanksgiving, I would set a day aside and knock out 5-8 pies. I finally figured out that chilling your pie dough makes it so much easier to roll out the dough.
3. Using very cold butter is crucial. You cannot use room temperature butter. My new hack is to use a grater when getting the butter ready to use in my crust. The pie crust recipe below uses both shortening and butter. The shortening helps make my blind crust stand up without sagging while baking. Grated butter creates the right size of fat pieces. Mix the grated butter into the flour and salt mixture. Coat each piece of butter with flour and break apart the shortening into small pieces.
4. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour and salt. I like using a pastry blender, but I have used two knives and lately I have been using my hands to break apart the fat into the flour and salt. What I have learned is, I am not good at making pie crust in my food processor. I have a tendency to mix it up too much and the fat pieces are too small to hold the crust together. Stop cutting or breaking the fats apart when they reach the size of small, green peas. You need lumps of fat to hold everything together.
5. The other secret is to use your hands. All my life, my mom said, "Don't work the dough too much!" I wasn't sure what that meant, but I was fearful it meant, don't mix it together too much. I have learned, using your hands to smash the dough together and get it into a ball is, NOT working it too much. You want the dough to hold together and you have to work the dough to get together.
6. Using ice cold water is so important! Fill a juice glass with whole ice cubes and then fill it with cold water. Set this aside and use 5 tablespoons of water to bring the flour and fats together. I like to sprinkle the ice cold water over the whole surface of the flour. Then I use a wooden spoon to mix it all together. Once the dough starts clumping on the spoon, I put my hands in and push everything together until it is one ball of dough.
7. At this point, pull the dough apart and form two smaller balls. You can roll them out into a flat disc or push them down with your hands. Put them into individual plastic bags and put in the freezer or refrigerator for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375°.
8. Once you are ready to roll out the pie dough, you will find the cold dough is so easy to use. Roll it a little larger than your pie plate, pick it up and place in the dish. Gently push the dough into the pie dish. I like to trim the pie dough so it is only 1 inch over the edge of the pie plate. Roll the raw edges underneath and crimp with a fork or use your hands to make a fluted edge. Cut a piece of parchment the size of the pie plate and place inside the uncooked dough. Fill it with 2 cups of uncooked beans and place in the oven for 20 minutes.
9. After 20 minutes, take the pie out of the oven. At the point, take the parchment paper with the beans out of the crust. Use a fork and prick the crust so it will not bubble as you finish baking it. Put the crust back in the oven and cook for another 10-15 minutes until the crust is a golden brown.
10. While the crust is cooling, make the glaze. Peel and slice two peaches. Place these inside a blender with the sugar, cornstarch, salt and water. Blend until there are not chunks of peaches left. Pour this into a small saucepan and heat until it boils and thickens. Place this into a dish so it can cool. Cover with plastic wrap so the wrap touches the top of the glaze. Do not refrigerate. Once it is cool and everything in the pie is ready, put this in a plastic bag, clip the corner and pour evenly over sliced peaches.
11. Mix the cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Beat with a hand mixer and then drop into a plastic bag. Cut the corner off of the bag and pipe into the cooled crust. Use the back of a spoon to spread evenly over the crust on the bottom and on the sides.
The cream cheese layer creates a barrier for the liquid in the peaches. You need total fat cream cheese in order to keep the juices off the crust to keep it from getting soggy. There will still be some liquid that seeps through after you cut the pie. So be ready to eat it as soon as you cut a slice.
12. Cut the peaches in half and peel. Slice each half into about five slices. I used 7 large peaches to fill the crust. I laid them side by side until the crust was full. Once the pie is full of peaches, you are ready to put the glaze on. Pour it into a plastic bag, clip the corner and pour evenly over sliced peaches. Refrigerate until you are ready to serve. The glaze takes about an hour to set. If you love peaches and cream, whip some heavy cream. Add a little powdered sugar and then add big dollops of cream all around the outside of the pie.
Let me know on Instagram or Pinterest if you make this.
Post a picture and tag me @dinasdiner. I want to know how it turns out.
Fresh Peach Pie
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Pie Crust
1/2 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup Butter
2 1/2 Cups Flour
1/2 tsp. Salt
5 Tbsp. Cold Water
8 oz. Cream Cheese
1/4 C. Powdered Sugar
9 Large Peaches
3/4 C. Sugar
1/2 C. Water
2 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1 Tbsp. Lemon Juice
2 C. Heavy Cream
1/3 C. Powdered Sugar
1. Cut shortening and butter into flour and salt. Sprinkle cold water on top and use your hands to mold into a large ball of dough. Cut into two smaller balls. Push into two round discs and put into plastic bags and refrigerate overnight.
2. Roll dough out and push into a pie plate. Trim edges and roll underneath. Crimp or flute the edges. Fill the crust with parchment paper filled with unbaked beans. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes, take parchment paper and beans out of the crust and prick with a fork. Bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until golden brown.
3. Peel two peaches, slice and add to a blender. Add the cornstarch, sugar, water, salt and lemon juice. Puree until smooth.
4. Pour into a saucepan and cook until it boils. Once it has thickened, pour into a flat dish and cover with plastic wrap until cooled.
5. Beat cream cheese with powdered sugar until smooth. Place into a plastic bag, cut off the corner and pipe into the cool pie crust. Use the back of a spoon to spread and smooth over the bottom and sides of the crust.
6. Peel and slice seven large peaches. Place slices next to each other to cover the bottom. Keep placing slices on top of each other until all peaches have been used.
7. Pour the cooled glaze over everything and refrigerate until set, about an hour.
8. Beat heavy cream with powdered sugar until peaks form. Cut pie and add a dollop of whipped cream onto each slice.
