dreaming of peach pie

i have been sitting on this one.

first of all, i like peach jam. this year we were down to the last pint just as peaches came into season. peach jam is painfully simple to make & so much less work than say... strawberry. or at least it feels that way to me.

maybe it's because our ginormous strawberry patch can really suck the life out of me, or maybe it's just the simple mathematical fact that peaches are bigger than strawberries & therefore, less work in the longrun. who knows?

anyhow, i picked up enough peaches to make my jam & maybe a pie & some left for the guys to eat fresh. everyone's happy.

so, as i normally do when i don't have a tried & true recipe handy, i turned to allrecipes.com for a pie recipe. this site rarely fails me when i'm looking for something new.

i lucked out & found a simple but oh so delectible peach pie recipe.

some of you may be bakers extraordinare.
you may be experts at making the perfect crust or the aesthetic presentation of your pie may put you in a class all your own.

i'm not a "fancy" baker. i am sure that a really neat looking pie would 'look' neat, but what i'm concerned about is how it t a s t e s! i've been baking since childhood & i sort of have a natural knack for it - it's very intuitive to me. but i would classify my baking as more "down-home" baking.

and once i find something that works, i stick with it. if you check out my archives, you'll probably get the idea that we actually eat more baked goods at my house than anything else - and you would not be far off the mark!☺

mostly, i can make a mean apple pie, a super yummy strawberry pie and that's about it. i don't do lots of pies, but i do prefer fruit pies. oh, and i'll make the acception for pecan pie.

oooh, pecan pie sounds goooood.

but now i've found a new favorite that literally, i am certain is like a little bit of heaven in your mouth. really.

*this image was taken the next morning after the pie was baked. i can't seem to bake a pie early enough in the day to actually cut it while there's still good natural light. so before you wonder why it's not all ooey & gooey with filling spilling out of the crust, now you know.

peach pie
8-10 fresh peaches, peel, pit, slice

1/3 c. flour
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. butter

cut butter into sugar/flour, mix till crumblyish

my "best" 2 crust pie crust recipe
2 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. butter
1/3 c. shortening
1/4 c. cold water + a little more to get the consistency i like
mix flour & salt, cut in butter & shortening with pastry blender, add cold water, mix with a fork

line pie plate with crust. layer of peaches, sprinkle on some of the sugar filling mixture. continue layering peaches & sugar filling till finished. cover with crust and pinch together. cut a few slits in the top crust.

bake at 350 degrees for about an hour. place a sheet cake pan below the pie to catch any overflow of filling. this happens to me every time, so be warned. check at 45 mins. if you need to. bake till lightly browned crust.

* i learned a new tip for baking a pie like this: in order to avoid an overly runny pie, turn the oven off when it looks finished & leave the pie in there until the oven cools. unless you've overdone it to begin with, it shouldn't burn. leaving it in there will help to set up the filling of the pie. it actually works, so give it a try!

go ahead, you know you wanna try some!