Peach Pie

Sometimes I just need to take a breath and let go of my old cooking notions. Even though its been three years since my diagnosis, oftentimes, I still try to do things the same way that I used to. I forget that I need to cook things differently. Yesterday, making peach pie was one of those times.

I hadn’t made a peach pie yet this summer. Somewhere deep in the chasms of my mind, there is a rule that one has to make at least one peach pie every summer. Yesterday was Sept 1st. The guilt of breaking my nonsensical mind rule was weighing heavily upon me when my husband brought peaches to me. “Look!” he said. I saw peaches about to go bad so I finally moved on the pie.

I’ve made other pies with my mobility challenges. Because of this, I know there is no way for me to make a homemade crust. Using a food processor to make the crust works beautifully. Still, there is no way I can roll out a crust. This has been tough to accept. Even though it is the only way I can now make a pie, I’ve had a bad attitude about store bought crusts. But, I really have no other option. Slowly, I have come to respect the pre-rolled pie crust from the grocery store.  

I was adding ingredients to the sliced peaches when I figured out there was no ground nutmeg. My husband found the at least 15 year old whole nutmeg pods and nutmeg grater he had bought me. I tried grating the tiny nutmeg pod against the grater but dropped the pod about 5 times and grated my finger. Feeling very frustrated (an understatement), I  gave up for the first time. I reconsidered, because wasting a whole bowl of fresh sliced peaches wasn’t going to fly. At this point, I turned the nutmeg grating over to my husband.

I got the peach pie most of the way assembled when I realized I was too tired to make the lattice top. I had planned to use my pizza cutter to make the strips. My hands and whole self weren’t buying it at that point. I gave up for the second time. Nope, I was so close to the finish line. What to do? Staring at the pie, I tiredly thought about why peach pie usually has a lattice top. I decided it was because of the juices, which would make a more solid crust soggy. Maybe I was just making stuff up, but at this point I went with it. It needed to breathe, so the solution was I needed holes in the crust. The only thing that came to mind that would make holes about the right size was my vacuum wine pump. Hah!

Because, a lot of the time, I am so close to giving up, I just go with whatever will put an end to the madness and let me go lie down.

The peach pie ended up being DELICIOUS! This time the madness has become my new go to peach pie recipe.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Peach Pie

A Sweet Summer Pie!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Course: Dessert

Keyword: Peach, Pie, Summer

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. of 2 Refrigerated Pie Crusts pre-rolled
• 6-7 cups Fresh Peaches pits removed, peeled and sliced
• 2 teaspoons Lemon Juice
• 1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1/4 cup Sugar granulated
• 1 teaspoon Nutmeg
• 4 Tablespoons Cornstarch 1 extra if you want filling thicker
• 3 Tablespoons Butter cut up into roughly 12 pieces

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF
• Toss peaches with lemon juice, sugars and nutmeg. Add cornstarch and stir to evenly coat the peaches. Let sit while preparing the crust.
• Place one of the prepared crusts into the bottom of a deep dish pie plate. Place the other crust on a cutting surface (I use a white polyethylene dishwasher safe cutting board that doesn’t pick up odors or tastes for this). Use any shape 1-2 inch cutter to cut some holes into this top crust. 
• Put peach mixture into the pie plate with the bottom crust. Dot with the butter pieces. Carefully drape the top crust onto the top of the peaches.
• With your fingers, fold the top crust under the bottom crust and pinch together to form a tight seal.
  
• Place pie on a lipped baking sheet and place in the middle of the oven.
• Cook from 55-65 minutes until the crust is golden brown. Cool for 5-6 hours.

Modifications

I started out a bit tired because I had to skin, pit and slice about 10 peaches. I think I could have done them earlier in the day, put the lemon juice on them to keep them from discoloring and put them in the refrigerator. I needed to take a break rather than run straight through this recipe.

This may go without saying, but make sure to have all the ingredients before you start. I forgot to check on the ground nutmeg and assumed it was in alphabetical order right over where I was baking. Nobody in their right mind has a nutmeg grater and nutmeg pods in their home kitchen. Although this time it saved my pie, it cost me in energy, time and skin. The real kick in the pants of this is that the ground nutmeg was put back on the wrong spice shelf last week by my daughter who just put it back where she found it. Good organization and communication with other household members would have helped.

Also, I probably should have anticipated that the lattice crust was going to be too much for me. Always have a contingency plan for the hard parts.