Saying goodbye to summer with a homemade peach pie

After a week or two of 30+ temperatures and humidity, Hurricane Earl swept through Halifax on labour day weekend, bringing autumn with it. Since the storm, I can feel the fall winds along the coastline of Point Pleasant Park while I'm out for a run.

With a bowl full of over-ripe sub-par peaches on my counter, I decided to bid summer farewell by baking one last summer dessert - peach pie. Something about home-made pie has always been elusive and daunting to me. I have always thought it would be too difficult to do, so I stuck with home-made cookies and cakes for dessert.

It wasn't until this year, that I made my first-ever pie from scratch. It was a gluten-free strawberry rhubarb pie to share with a celiac-friend during our ritual John Cusack movie night back in March. It turned out pretty well, a bit lopsided, and leaked all over the bottom of the oven, but it tasted okay. The gluten-free dough was difficult to work with though.

So, what better to do with a bunch of rotting peaches than try to make my second-ever pie from scratch! And, this time I challenged myself to a lattice crust on top. I browsed the internet for recipes, as usual, and found a nice looking recipe at one of my favourite food blogs, Dinner with Julie. But, I made some changes to that recipe. So, look below for my version of the ingredients, and follow her instructions if you'd like to use up some peaches in your own kitchen.

Jen's Peach Pie

Pastry for a double crust pie, chilled (I use the recipe from Dinner with Julie for Never Fail Pastry. I usually add a bit more sugar for a sweet pie, and leave out the sugar for a savoury pie or quiche)

Filling
- 10 ripe peaches
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground ginger

After that, I pretty much just followed Julie's instructions, except that I blind-baked the bottom crust for 15min at 400°F before adding the fruit filling. The lattice crust on top really wasn't so difficult, and it sure looks fancy!

We'll be enjoying this pie all week, an excellent way to say goodbye to summer and welcome the fall.

Now, bring on apple and pumpkin pie season.