A Vintage Recipe Box + The Peach Truck = Summer Peach Pies (Food on Fifth)

A few weeks ago I was rummaging around in an antique mall and found an old recipe box (see below) with each recipe carefully written out in old-fashioned beautiful “Cursive”. As you can see the box has been mended with tape multiple times and bears all the tell-tale signs of being much used. I fell in love with it.

Don’t you think it is beautifully interesting? Whose was it? Why does some daughter or son not have it in their kitchen right now? Whoever you are, or were, your recipe box is going to be well taken care of.

As I was looking through the recipes I noticed something interesting when it came to the desserts…cakes, pies, puddings. They all call for about half as much sugar as what I am used to seeing in newer recipes. Perhaps this was just particular to the owner of this box, perhaps someone in the family needed to watch their sugar intake, or maybe these dessert recipes are from a time where our palates had not become so used to “sugar overload”? I wanted to try this recipe for “Peach Pie (Fresh)” because it just sounded so simple and “fresh”.

This same week I had purchased my first bag of “The Peach Truck” Georgia peaches (featured in the Summer Issue of “Sweet Paul” magazine) at the Downtown Nashville Farmer’s Market. I left them in the bag for a few days to ripen. A great pair…this recipe & the ripe peaches!

What you will need to make this “Peach Pie (Fresh)”

6-8 fresh ripe peaches

1/2 cup raw sugar or white sugar extra for dusting on top of the finished pie

1 pie crust for a double crust pie – 1 to line the pan 1 for the lattice top (I used a wonderful slightly sweet pie dough recipe based on one found in Alisa Huntsman’s cookbook “Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe”(see end of blog for directions for this wonderful crust which I highly recommend.) If you do not “make pie crusts” then use a store-bought one dusted with a bit of powdered sugar.

Before we make the pie I am going to show you the easiest way in the world to peel a peach……

Cut an “X” in the bottom of each peach.

Gently drop peaches into softly boiling water.

Remove peaches from simmering water after about 2 minutes & quickly plunge into ice water.

Using your fingers gently peel back peach skin from the bottom of each peach where you made the “X”. The skin will slip right off with just a bit of coaxing.

Now we will make our basic lattice topped “Peach Pie (Fresh)”.

1. Roll out and fit one of the pie crusts into the bottom of 8 or 9 inch regular pie pan somewhat “fluting” the sides if you like. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Cut peaches into wedges away from the pit & place in a bowl. You should about 6 cups of cut-up peaches for this pie. Add 1/ 2 cup white granulated sugar as the recipe calls for or raw sugar if you prefer. Toss the peaches & sugar together.

3. Fill bottom pie crust with sugared peaches & their juice.

4. Roll out 2nd/top crust to make the lattice. Cut into random strips with a sharp knife. Place the strips over the top of the peaches weaving them over and under each other in opposite directions. I do not even try to make my “lattice” tops perfect but a bit more artful and random which I think is prettier. As you may have guessed I am not a lover of perfection, just things that are perfectly, beautifully not perfect.

5. Tuck ends of lattice strips under the bottom crust edge and re-flute.

6. Place the uncooked pie on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Dust with some additional sugar if desired, pop in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 and cook for another 30 minutes or until the peaches are hot and bubbly and the crust is golden brown and crispy. Serve warm as is or with a scoop of ice cream.

Okay, now let me tell you a couple of things about this recipe. It was indeed not icky sweet nor “gloopy” as fruit pies can sometimes turn out with too much cornstarch. The bottom crust was not soggy, the top crust was flakey and over all this pie tasted like I think a peach pie should taste. This is how a fruit pie should taste…like the ripe fruit used complementing a flakey crust & just enough sugar to call it dessert. No soggy crust or gloopy-ness!

Here are a few other variations on this peach pie recipe I made with the extra dough…

“A Wee Fresh Peach & Blueberry Pie”

Made the same way with the addition of fresh blueberries & a cookie cutter cut out crust top in a little 6″ pie pan.

and…..”A Very, Very Wee Fresh Peach Pie”

Just fresh sugared peaches, pie crust leftovers rolled out in a 3 inch tartlet pan.

And here is how to make this very good pie crust. Thanks Alisa!

Here is my version of Alisa’s pie crust:

1. Measure 2 1/2 cups flour 1/2 cup confectioner sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse a couple of times.

2. Cut 1 1/2 stick of butter into small cubes & freeze for 5 minutes. Then sprinkle over the flour-sugar mixture & pulse a few times to mix in.

3. To the processor add 3 cold egg yolks & pulse again 3 or 4 times to blend somewhat.

4. To bring it all together drizzle 1/4 to 1/2 cup cold buttermilk or regular milk over the flour mixture through the feed tube of the processor until a dough ball begins to form. Remove dough & form into 4 dough balls flattened. Wrap each one with plastic & chill for 10 minutes before rolling out to make your pie crust.

Oh no!!!! we are finished yet…here’s a few tips for fitting your wonderful crust into your pie pan. Roll it, fold it in half…