Today Was Just Peachy... Peach Pie Recipe

Had a blast at Eckert's Farm in Belleville, IL today!  Hopped on a tractor for a ride to the orchard, 
strolled down beautiful peach tree adorned paths and watched Adelyn and friends pull fresh peaches straight from the tree and into their mouth.

 
It was a hot one but nobody cared.  We had a picnic lunch and treated the kiddos to fresh fruit sundays.  When we were ready to leave everyone was sweaty, dirty and exhausted and the long car ride home was wonderfully silent with sleeping little ones.  The day cost us $10 (which is a splurge for me!) but totally worth every penny!  Can't wait for September apple harvesting!

Once the stinkers were asleep, I decided to fight pure exhaustion and surprise my late working husband with a homemade fresh peach pie.  It wasn't bad for my first attempt at pie making.  Here's the method...

Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) package pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie
3 eggs
5 cups sliced peeled peaches
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup light cream or milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tbsp ground cinnamon

Step 1:  Blanch the peaches.  I know a lot of people say to boil water and soak and then place in ice water but this did not work for me.  I put them individually in the microwave for 30 seconds and then let them sit for 2.  This worked much better.  Once peeled, I sliced them into 1/2 in segments.  Place them in a strainer.

Step 2: Beat one of the eggs.  Using a pastry brush, brush some of the egg onto the pie crust.

Step 3:  Pour the lemon juice over the peaches and toss so they are evenly covered.  Allow the leftover juice to run out of the strainer.

Step 4:  Place the peaches into the pie crust.

Step 5:  In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugars, salt, cinnamon and flour; add cream/milk and vanilla and stir until smooth. Pour mixture over peaches.

Step 6: Cover with the other pie crust, and fold the edges under. Flute the edges to seal or press the edges with the tines of a fork dipped in egg. Brush the remaining egg over the top crust. Cut several slits in the top crust to vent steam. Mine broke into a hundred pieces when I tried this so it became more of a crumb topping :)

Step 7: Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes; (Mine started to burn early since my oven runs hot, so, I loosely covered it with foil) reduce oven temperature to 375 and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. 

Voila!  Let cool for 2 hours on cooling rack.  It was delicious!  Served warm with vanilla bean ice cream :)