Year-Round Peach Pie Recipe

If you are daydreaming of a warm summer day in the middle of winter, a fresh slice of peach pie might help to satisfy your summer cravings. Peach pie is deliciously juicy, fresh, and shouldn't be considered a summer-only dessert. Thanks to recipe developer Miriam Hahn, who shares this recipe for year-round peach pie, you can be dishing up some peachy goodness in January or June.

"I actually like working with canned peaches better than fresh because they are picked at the peak of ripeness, and are naturally sweet. Plus, it adds quite a bit of simplicity to pie-making when there is no peeling or slicing involved, and the mere waiting around for the peaches to perfectly ripen." This peach pie works well to follow any meal, and is a perfect for weekend entertaining, Sunday brunch, a baby shower, or birthday celebration. This juicy pie needs to firm up for 4 hours before slicing, so making it the day before you need it is a good idea.

To make this recipe, you will need 2 frozen pie crusts. Hahn says these usually come in a 2-pack. If you have frozen pie crust sheets on hand, these will work just fine too. The star ingredient is the peaches, so pick up 2 cans of sliced peaches that are packed in their own juice, instead of the version that's packed in syrup. They are naturally sweet on their own, and we will be adding our next ingredient, sugar for added sweetness. The last few items to pick up are cornstarch, cinnamon, a lemon, vanilla, butter, and brown sugar.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Also, pull out 1 of the frozen pie shells, remove it from the pie plate, and turn it upside down on a large board. Rinse and drain the peaches, and pour them into a large bowl along with the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla. Stir, then pour this mixture into the second piecrust that is still in the foil baking tin.

Now, it's time to make the pretty lattice top for our pie. The pie crust that is on the board should be thawed, and starting to flatten out. If you have some flour handy, you can dust the board, then flatten out the pie crust, and roll it with a rolling pin until smooth. Using a pizza cutter or a pastry wheel, slice the dough into 1-inch-long strips.

Lay 5 of the strips vertically across the pie, about ½-inch apart. To achieve the lattice effect, pull back the first, third, and fifth vertical dough strips. Then, lay down 1 dough strip horizontally across the vertical pieces and place the vertical pieces that you had brought up on top of the horizontal piece. Now repeat this process, lifting up the second and fourth vertical strips and lay on your second horizontal strip. Continue this process 2 more times, until the full lattice crust is complete.

To add a little more finesse to our pie, brush it with the melted butter, and sprinkle with the brown sugar. Hahn says you can also use an egg wash for topping, if you prefer, which is 1 beaten egg with 1 tablespoon of water or milk. Bake the pie for 20 minutes, then lower heat to 350 F, cover with foil, and bake for 25 more minutes.

When you take the pie out of the oven, let it cool on the counter for 4 hours. At this point, you can cut and serve it as is, or add whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. We hope you love making this year-round pie, whether it is snowing or sweltering outside.