First-Prize Peach Pie with Lattice Crust

This recipe won first place in my town's peach pie contest and oh my! what a pie! There's a secret technique for unforgettable peach sweetness here and the best news is, that technique is way simpler than other peach pies. No blanching! No peeling! In fact, whole peaches, skins and all, are what draws out so much peach flavor. This is a blue-ribbon pie, for sure!

Sweet & Deeply Peachy With a Flaky Lattice Crust. A True Summer Classic.

~ Skip Straight to the Recipe ~

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• First-Prize Peach Pie Made the List!
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"Baby don't you cry, gonna make a pie
Gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle
Baby don’t be blue
Gonna make for you
Gonna make a pie with a heart in the middle
Gonna be a pie from the heaven above
Gonna be filled with strawberry love."

~ Quincy Coleman song from the
pie-inspiring film Waitress
(To listen along as you read,
open Baby Don't You Cry
on YouTube in another window.
You'll be pie-baking in no time!)

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An Inside Look at a Small-Town Peach Festival

A couple of years back, my town held its first-ever peach festival. And me, I got to judge the peach pie contest! What a kick!

The organizers expected local grandmas to appear bearing pies oozing peach juice, filling the air with the scents of cinnamon and nutmeg and hmm, would anyone choose a pinch of ginger?

Instead, there were seven entries, including yes, a nice grandma or two.

And then the young pie bakers arrived. A mother-daughter team was inspired by the movie Waitress, right down to the heart-shaped pastry in the center. A pair of giggly twenty-somethings entered on a lark, looked up recipes online and made not one but two very creditable pies; they laughed that their mothers don’t make pie – but now, thanks to the contest, they had!

My fellow judges and I nibbled at pastry and swooned over sweet peaches. Second prize went to a young baker only 15 years old.

RESOURCES The movie Waitress My Disclosure Promise

The Trick to Capturing Peach Flavor for Peach Pie

But first prize was no contest.

All the judges were seduced by one pie with an over-the-top, picked-prime peach flavor.

The winning pie baker was Chris Berg, she's pictured on the left. She captures all the ripe-peach flavor by gently sweetening the peaches with their skins on!

The amazing thing is how the peach skins sort of melt into the filling, you don't even know they're present. Perhaps that's because all you can think about is the intense peach-y flavor in every single bite.

So here's the thing, my fellow pie bakers. This prize-winning peach pie recipe is:

• Simpler – No blanching! No peeling!
• Better – Oh so peachy!

But nobody needs two peach pie recipes. And I already have my peach pie, I call it Fresh Peach Pie because the pie isn't baked. In fact, I even turned that pie into Peach-Pie Pudding, it's peach pie without the crust.

There's just too many things to make with peaches. Muffins. Cobbler. Ice Cream.

But in the end, there was no resisting this pie's deep, rich peach flavor. Two peach pie recipes it is!

Our Youngest Peach-Pie Bakers, Baking With Love, Just Like In the Movie

Left – Pie bakers Morgan and Rian, helping Morgan's mom Ashley Herrick bake a peach pie filled with love
Top Right – A pastry heart in the center of the peach pie, inspired by the movie Waitress
Bottom Right – Peaches from Missouri and Illinois are "the best"!

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FIRST-PRIZE PEACH PIE with LATTICE CRUST

Hands-on time: 35 minutes (plus the crust)
Time to table: 4 – 5 hours
Makes one deep-dish or shallow-dish pie to serve 8 – 12 (see TIPS)

PIE CRUST
• Unbaked pastry for a two-crust pie (use your favorite recipe or use mine, see Flaky Tender Pie Crust or use a commercial pie crust)

FILLING
• 6 – 8 cups (see TIPS) ripe peaches, pitted but leave the skins on
• 1-1/3 cups (225g) sugar
• 4 tablespoons (31g) flour (use 6 tablespoons flour for 8 cups peaches)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoons butter

CRUST Mix the pastry dough, let chill for at least 30 minutes. Roll out the bottom crust and arrange in a pie plate. Trim the pastry, leaving an inch hanging over the side. Refrigerate.

FILLING Slice the peaches in six or eight pieces lengthwise, then each piece into three or four pieces. In a large saucepan, gently stir together the peaches, sugar, flour and nutmeg. Let rest at room temperature for 20 – 30 minutes until a peachy syrup forms. (See TIPS.) With a slotted spoon, move the peach pieces to a bowl. Bring the remaining liquid to a boil over medium heat, reduce to low, cook for about 10 minutes or until just beginning to thicken. Stir in the peaches; stirring often, cook for another 10 minutes or until the peaches are tender. Take the pan off the heat, stir in vanilla and butter, stirring until butter melts. Let cool to room temperature. (The peach filling can be made ahead of time and refrigerated.)

ASSEMBLE Preheat oven to 425F/220C. Roll the top crust, cut into nine long narrow strips. Working quickly, pour the filling into the bottom crust and arrange the pastry strips in a lattice, five strips running left to right, four strips running up and down (see TIPS). Turn the overhang over to form the crust’s edge, pinch to seal.

BAKE Bake at 425F/220C for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350F/180C, bake for another 25-35 minutes or until the crust is golden on top and bottom and the filling is bubbly.

COOL & SERVE Let cool for 2 hours or more. Slice, serve and savor. For extra decadence, top the slices with scoops of vanilla ice cream.

SAVE the SCRAPS! Don’t waste the leftover pastry scraps! But don’t re-roll the pieces either. Just arrange all the odd-shaped scraps on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with a little sugar and cinnamon, bake until golden and crispy. I usually stick the scraps in with the pie, setting the timer for about 10 minutes, then checking every minute or two until done.

ALANNA’s TIPS For consistency, Kitchen Parade recipes slice pies into eight pieces. But this pie is so rich and good, no one will feel cheated if it’s sliced to serve 10 or 12. I use 6 cups of peaches for a shallow pie pan, 8 for a deep-dish pie. I’ve adapted Chris Berg's filling recipe, cooking the syrup alone for a bit to thicken, adding the peaches at the last. This creates a thick syrup without overcooking the peaches. Should a lattice top be woven? Sure, if you insist. But to my aesthetic, weaving the lattice is more fuss and fret than fetching.

NUTRITION INFORMATION Per Slice (assumes 10 slices): 303 Calories; 23g Tot Fat; 13g Sat Fat; 39mg Cholesterol; 145mg Sodium; 21g Carb; 2g Fiber; 17g Sugar; 2g Protein. WEIGHT WATCHERS Old Points 8 & PointsPlus 8 & SmartPoints 15 & Freestyle 20

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More Peach Recipes

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~ All Recipes, By Ingredient ~
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Kitchen Parade is written by second-generation food columnist Alanna Kellogg and features fresh, seasonal dishes for every-day healthful eating and occasional indulgences. Quick Suppers are Kitchen Parade favorites and feature recipes easy on the budget, the clock, the waistline and the dishwasher. Do you have a favorite recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. If you make this recipe, I'd love to know your results! Just leave a comment below.

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