Peach Pie

I picked our last peach today. It's always sad when the summer fruit season ends. We eat so much fresh fruit during the summer when we can just pick it off the tree, or go to our close farmer's market. We are lucky to have 2 peach trees that ripen at different times, so we have fresh peaches from mid June through mid August. As we do every year, we enjoyed all things peach- homemade ice cream, kuchen (tart), smoothies, sorbet, short cake, cobbler and of course peach pie.

Mimi Jr. made these cute mini pies on a day that we picked a few too many to eat right away. For most of us they are big enough for two to share, but Boy Mimi insists that they are the perfect size for one growing boy!

She started with our favorite pie crust from Julia Child and lined four mini pie pans with crust and placed them on a rimmed baking sheet.  This makes it easier to get them into and out of the oven and catches any filling that bubbles over.

Peach Pie

adapted from America's Test Kitchen

2 1/2 lb peaches, peeled pitted and sliced about 7 cups

1 to 1 1/4 cup sugar

3 to 4 tablespoons corn starch

1 Tablespoon instant tapioca

Juice and zest of one lemon

Pinch salt

Freshly grated nutmeg

Toss the sliced peaches with lemon juice and zest, 1 cup of sugar, 3 tablespoons cornstarch and 1 tablespoon tapoica, salt and nutmeg.  If your peaches are tart add up to 4 tablespoons more sugar. If they are very juicy add an aditional tablespoon cornstarch. Divide filling among 4 mini pie tins or 1 nine inch pie pan lined with unbaked pie crust.

Strussel Topping

Adapted from America's Test Kitchen

Although cormeal seems like a strange strussel ingredient, we liked that it added texture to the topping without making it overly sweet.

1 cup all  purpose flour

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon fine gorund cornmeal.

pinch salt

6 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

.

In a small bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients together. Drizzle with the melted butter and stir with a fork untiul roughly combined.

Cover pie(s) with streusel topping and bake in a preheated oven at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.  Reduce heat to 375 degrees and continue baking until the juices are bubbling and the crust is golden brown, about 25 minutes longer. Cool before serving.

printable recipe

Perfect with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream.

We are taking this to the Foodie Friday Party at Designs by Gollum and to the Fresh Friday blog hop at La Bella Vita