In March I traveled to California to visit my daughter and her family shortly after my birthday. When I got there, Cara gave me the delightful book Sweety Pies, An Uncommon Collection of Womanish Observations, with Pie by Patty Pinner. The stories in this book were so fun to read that I couldn't put it down and had it finished before I headed home. Along with the stories of wit and wisdom by women in the author's life, there are beautiful pie pictures and yummy sounding recipes....but I hadn't gotten around to making any of these pies until last night. My dear husband invited some people over for pie, so I needed to figure out what to make with what I had on hand. There were still a few very ripe peaches in the fridge, but I wanted to try something new so I pulled out this book and found a recipe quite different from any I had made before. This pie is a bit sweeter and less "peachy" than the baked peach pie I usually make, but it was delicious with some vanilla bean ice cream on the side. The sugar and spice mixture was very thick when I "poured" it over the peaches, which had me worried, but after baking and mixing with the peach juice it oozed out onto the plate....yummy!
My directions here are shortened from the recipe in the book. I am not putting in all the details of getting the crust into the pan and making a lattice top.
Mayor Ham's Brown Sugar Peach Pie
Dough for a double crust pie
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 Tablespoons light corn syrup
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
5 cups peeled, pitted, and sliced ripe peaches
1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Preheat the oven to 425*
- Place rolled out pie dough in pan and put in refrigerator until ready to use.
- In a medium-size, heavy saucepan, thoroughly combine the brown sugar and flour. Stir in the corn syrup, butter, and spices. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is dissolved.
- Arrange the peaches over the crust, then sprinkle them with the lemon juice. Pour the brown sugar mixture evenly over the peaches.
- Roll out remaining pie dough and arrange in a lattice on top of the pie. Crimp edges.
- Place the pie on the lowest rack in the oven and bake until the filling bubbles and the crust is golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes on a wire rack before serving each portion warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
