Rustic Peach Pie

Peaches are in season and there is nothing better than peach pie.  In the past I have always bought pie crust from the grocery freezer.  As I expand my cooking skills, I wanted to learn how to make pie crust.  After pouring through old family cookbooks I found a few of my Grandfather's recipes.  He was a baker and made desserts all of the time.  One of the things I found was a very old piece of paper with 19 different pie recipes.  For my Grandfather, simple was better.  I hope this recipe makes him proud.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour
1 cups chilled butter, cut into squares
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup ice water

Put first 4 ingredients in food processor and pulse.  Add a little water at a time - continue pulsing.  Stop when the dough forms into a lump.  You should still see chunks of butter - that is good!  Take the dough and wrap it in plastic and place in refrigerator to rest.

Peaches - I don't like peach skin in my pie.  To rid the peaches of their skin, blanch them in boiling water for 2 minutes and put them in ice water.  The skin will fall right off.  Then you can slice the peaches away from the peach pit.

To make the peach filling I added 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.  My grandfather's recipe incorporated white sugar and a little orange flavoring. 

Now, I love cream cheese in my desserts.  I wanted to incorporate some cheese in this pie.  To do this I mixed 1/2 block of cream cheese, 1/3 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla. 

Time to roll the dough!  Take the dough out of the refrigerator and put in on a floured surface.  Put some flour on your rolling pin and roll the dough out.  When it is 1/4 inch thick, roll it up and place it in a buttered pie pan.

Place the peaches and spoonfuls of cheese in the pie.  Fold the sides over.  This has a rustic look instead of a June Cleaver look.  If you know me at all, I in no way resemble June Cleaver!

Bake the pie at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until the pie crust browns.