peach dessert

Fresh Peach Pie Recipe

/ sandramervillehart

This recipe is from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, which was originally published in 1896.

Prepare a double-pie crust dough for a 9-inch pie. I used my mom’s pie crust recipe.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

The recipe calls for 4 cups of fresh peaches, peeled and sliced. I used 5 large peaches, which provided more than 4 cups. Fruit cooks down while baking so I tend to be generous with the amounts.

The cookbook gave a hint on peeling the peaches that I remember using years ago. Submerge the peaches into boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Immediately place the fruit into cold water. This softens the skin for easier peeling.

You will need 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. If using fresh lemon, prepare the juice now.

Stir together 1 cup of sugar with 4 tablespoons of flour in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Add the peaches and lemon juice. Toss these together until the sugar mixture coats the peaches completely.

Arrange the fruit in the bottom pie crust and then cover it with a top crust. Crimp sides together and cut several vents.

Bake for 10 minutes on 425 and then reduce to 350 for 30-40 minutes, until browned.

This pie is delicious! Though it is a little sweet, I loved it. Fresh peach pie is a delicious dessert on a hot summer day.

Abby Cox, the main character in my Trail’s End novella in “The Cowboys” collection, runs a restaurant in Abilene, Kansas, in 1870. Wade Chadwick, a Texas cowboy, takes a temporary job in her kitchen, freeing Abby to cook for her guests. One dessert served in her diner is peach pie. Writing those scenes made me hungry for the delicious dessert!

-Sandra Merville Hart

Sources

Revised by Cunningham, Marion and Laber, Jeri. The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, Alfred A Knopf Inc., 1983.

Trail’s End by Sandra Merville Hart

Wade Chadwick has no money until his boss’s cattle sell, so he takes a kitchen job at Abby’s Home Cooking. The beautiful and prickly owner adds spice to his workday. Abby Cox hires the down-and-out cowboy even though the word cowboy leaves a bad taste in her mouth. Just as she’s ready to trust Wade with her heart, money starts to disappear … and so does her brother.

Amazon

Peach Cobbler Recipe from 1877

/ sandramervillehart

I bought 4 large peaches from a neighborhood vegetable and fruit stand. It’s the middle of a hot summer and a great time for a peach cobbler. There is a recipe for it by Miss S. Alice Melching in my cookbook from 1877.

Alice’s original recipe made a cobbler 9×18 so I halved the ingredients. It called for canned fruit so I cooked the peaches.

Peel and slice the peaches. Put them in a kettle with just enough water to cover them. Cook over medium heat. When it comes to a low boil, continue cooking about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. The water has become a very light syrup.

To make pie crust for the cobbler, add 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and ¼ teaspoon salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Melt 2 tablespoons of lard (I used Crisco shortening) and stir into the dry ingredients. Stir in 2/3 to ¾ cup of milk or water (I used milk) until it is the right consistency for pie crust, which is not too wet and all dry ingredients have been incorporated.

Divide the dough into 2 sections—roughly 1/3 and 2/3. The smaller section is the top crust.

Lightly flour the surface and rolling pin. Then roll into a thin pie crust. Arrange it on the bottom and sides of your dish (I used a 9×9 casserole dish.)

Mix 3 tablespoons of flour with 2 tablespoons of sugar. Sprinkle this over the crust to keep the fruity filling from seeping into the lower crust.

With slotted spoon, remove peaches from kettle. Arrange these over the crust. I took ¼ cup of the syrupy peach water and poured it over the peaches. The original recipe didn’t call for this, but this small amount of liquid added flavor and moisture without destroying the crust.

Sprinkle ¾ cup sugar over the peaches.

Roll out the rest of the dough and place it over the top. A lattice top will work nicely too.

Bake at 400 for 25 – 30 minutes or lightly browned.

The peaches cooked perfectly except … there weren’t enough of them. I’d double the amount of peaches for the same sized dish next time. Adding extra syrup (cooking water) to the dish was an excellent call. I added ¼ cup—next time I’d do at least ½ cup, especially with more fruit.

The cobbler tasted delicious, with a wonderful peach aroma and flavor. I will make this summery dessert again.

Blackberries, apples, and other fruit can be substituted. If using fresh fruit, cook the fruit for about 5 minutes as above; if canned, there is no need to cook it before baking.

-Sandra Merville Hart

 

Sources

Compiled from Original Recipes. Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, Applewood Books, 1877.