My un-recipe for perfect peach pie

For Labor Day weekend, I traveled to Biloxi to play some poker. (I haven't been able to bring myself to write about the trip yet, and maybe never will. It wasn't bad at all, but stuck alone with my thoughts for the weekend and the long drive back, I feel like I have already done more than enough self-analysis about the trip.) When I returned, I discovered four huge, perfect Georgia peaches sitting in my refrigerator just begging to be eaten or cooked. I decided that since it was Labor Day, and I was in Georgia after all, the only answer was to make peach pie.

I didn't really have a recipe, but I was undeterred. First, I decided to try peeling the peaches with a carrot peeler rather than using the traditional boil then plunge into ice water method of peeling. This worked beautifully! I will always peel peaches this way from now on, and they are much easier to slice when still firm and cold. I peeled, pitted and sliced the four peaches and added them to a bowl. In with the peaches went the juice of one lemon, an eyeball approximation of roughly 3/4 a cup of brown sugar, a splash of almond extract, a healthy dose of cinnamon, 4 heaping spoonfuls of flour, and what was left of a stick of butter. (I think it was about 5 tablespoons' worth, softened.) I mixed all of this with a spatula until the peaches were completely coated, and let it sit for a few minutes.

I had a Pillsbury pie crust in the fridge, so I cheated on this part rather than making my own. I rolled out the bottom crust and pressed into a pie plate. Then I re-mixed the peaches mixture one more time, and poured it into the pie plate while making sure the peaches were as level as possible. I rolled out the top crust and put it over the peaches, carefully pressing the sides and fluting the edges. I cut four small vents in the crust, and placed into a 425 degree oven for 30 minutes. After that, I turned the oven down to 350 and baked for another 45 minutes, until the pie was just golden brown.

This was the end result:



I was a bit nervous about how well the pie turned out, given that I had completely made up the recipe for the filling from nothing. When I finally tried it...holy jeebus this was good. I warmed a slice in the microwave with a scoop of ice cream and then tried not to die from the deliciousness of it all. Seriously, if every food this tasty were this easy to make, I would weigh 300 pounds.

So now, you too can make perfect peach pie before the peaches go out of season!