How to Make a Spectacular Peach Pie the Easy Way

How to make mini peach pies

This recipe is for cute little mini peach pies baked to golden brown perfection, using only simple ingredients. The final recipe came about by accident, so read on to get the instructions for what we MEANT to do and what ended up happening to Jodie instead! 

We love peach season. Can you ever go wrong with anything you make from fresh peaches picked straight from the tree? The right answer is absolutely not! If you’ve always wanted to learn how to make the perfect peach pie, this easy recipe is your ticket.

It’s basically a hack using store-bought pie crust to create the perfect individual-sized pies for peach lovers. As you will see, homemade pies don’t have to be made completely from scratch to be delicious.

What’s the difference between a peach pie and a peach cobbler?

Let’s get this question out of the way. While cobblers and pies are both delicious, they are not quite the same.

• A pie is made from pastry and has a top and bottom crust.
• A cobbler has the same kind of filling, but it has no bottom crust and is topped with a sweet biscuit batter.

We are making a peach pie with a top and bottom crust today. 

What makes a peach pie runny?

A fruit pie usually has a lot of liquid; that’s just how it is. As fruit bakes, it releases liquid, which makes that delicious syrupy goodness it swims in.

However, if you don’t want a runny pie, you can add a thickener to the filling. A good option is a mixture of cornstarch and water. This won’t affect the taste, but it will take care of some of the liquid.

How to make peach pie filling

Now let’s talk about the homemade peach pie filling. You can make it first and set it aside while you work on your crust. 

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Do you need to peel peaches for peach pie?

According to Jodie, the answer is yes. She finds the skin adds a texture to the pie filling that she’s not not a fan of. However, this is a matter of personal choice.

The skin is perfectly edible, so you can choose to leave it on. Some people like the rustic look that the peach skin gives the finished pie. It’s really up to you.

Ingredients needed to make a peach pie:

• 8-10 juicy peaches, cut into slices with a paring knife
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or almond extract (Optional, I didn’t use it in mine, but some people like to)
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

We parboiled the peaches to get the skins off.

Seasonal Note: This recipe was refined during peach season, but if you’re reading this recipe in the dead of winter (or if you live where fresh peaches are hard to come by), don’t worry. Frozen peaches will work just fine. Canned peaches from the store will work too.

Put all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and combine. Then set your peach mixture aside and turn your attention to your pie crust.

How To Make Jodie’s Perfect Peach Pie Crust

I am so excited to share my pie crust secrets with you all. Since the star of the show is really the fresh peaches in this recipe, I made things easy on myself and used store-bought crust. Sometimes there is just not enough time and energy for from-scratch pies, and that’s just fine. 

When making a fruit pie, do you bake the crust first?

When making fresh fruit pies, baking the crust first is highly recommended. It prevents the crust from getting soggy while the fruit bakes in it. I pre-baked my crust, and the pies turned out beautifully. 

How so you make a fruit pie without a soggy bottom crust?

This is a very commonly asked question in the baking world, and the answer is really just a combination of making sure your filling and your pie crust are made correctly and baked the right way. If you pre-bake your crust, as suggested above, you should have no problems with this. However, if you’re concerned, there are a couple of other things you can do.

• Make sure you thicken your filling slightly so less liquid can run into the crust. For this recipe, I found that pre-baking the crust was enough. I did not need to thicken the filling. But do whatever feels comfortable for you.
• If you decide to top your pie with a full layer of dough, cut slits in it so the steam can escape as it bakes. You can also bake your pies on the lower rack and use a dull-finish metal muffin tin. Both these baking strategies allow the pie to cook evenly and thoroughly from the bottom up. 

If you follow all these tips, you should have no problems with a soggy crust.

The Pie Crust Process

Let me first share the way I was SUPPOSED to make pie crust, and then what actually happened. I will let you be the judge and decide which option would give you the best results for your taste buds.

The actual recipe that inspired me calls for Pillsbury pie dough. How’s that for an easy ingredient list?

I used a rolling pin to roll it out to the right size. Instead of a standard 9-inch pie plate, I decided to make my peach pies mini, so I used a 5″ plastic container rim to cut out the bottom pie crust for my purposes. 

After the dough circles were cut out, I used a muffin pan to form my mini pies. I used the back of the muffin tin (turned upside down). Just be sure you flour the muffin pan well so your dough doesn’t stick when you take it off.

You can also poke holes in it with a fork like a regular pie crust.

Bake according to the package instructions, about 10 minutes. Make sure they don’t burn. Yes, that is experience talking.

When they are done baking, carefully take them off the muffin tin backs, turn them right side up, and place them INSIDE the muffin tin. They will probably be too big to fit snugly inside the muffin tin cups, but they might slide down inside while baking with the peach pie filling, so I recommend spraying with cooking spray and flour just to be safe.

Once your mini pie crusts are in their muffin tin pie dish, fill them with your fresh peach pie filling.

Then, put a top pie crust on. You can either use a full coverage circle like you did for the bottom or cut some of the pastry into strips and make a lattice pattern on the top. 

Pro tip: A beautiful lattice pie crust on the top of your pie gives it a look of glamour and authenticity that is so easy to achieve. Especially if these are being served to guests, I highly recommend it. 

 

My Personal Twist

I told you I made a pie crust substitution at the last second, and here’s why. Unfortunately, I burned the first batch of bottom pie crusts. I don’t know if the oven was just too hot or if I got distracted and left them in too long, but the damage was done. The crusts were burned and inedible. But I was so looking forward to that first slice of warm peach pie that I decided not to give up. 

I hunted around in my freezer and discovered I had no more pie dough. But what I DID have was Pillsbury sugar cookie dough. I decided to try it and see how it would compare. 

The finished pie was incredible. You can’t tell the difference between the crusts visually, but the sugar cookie dough is tender and just slightly sweeter than regular pie dough. Julie agrees, and I am definitely going to make it just like this again.

We learned several lessons here:

• Mistakes are a great way to learn.
• Don’t give up.
• Creativity is king in the kitchen (and everywhere else).
• Challenges are often blessings in disguise.

How to Serve Your Mini Peach Pies

Whichever crust you choose to make, when your mini pies come out of the oven, serve them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or some whipped cream to your guests. Presentation is everything. We love to present these on a wood tray or wood cutting board.

If you are serving a lot of people you might want to use our favorite Big Board. We have a coupon code to save. Use code THEDESIGNTWINS.

Now you get to enjoy the fruits of your labor (pun intended), and let the compliments for your delicious peach pie roll in! 

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container on a piece of parchment paper, so they don’t stick to the bottom. 

I think this accidental crust is our new best peach pie recipe, and we cannot wait to make them this way again.

Have you ever had a happy accident while baking? Share it with us in the comments. We’d love to hear.

Happy pie-baking!

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