I’ve never given much thought to August. It’s just that awkward month, sometime between summer and fall without much to distinguish it. After decades of marginalizing August, I had somewhat of an epiphany this week. August is amazing, at least here in Southern Colorado. 

So, what sparked this change of heart, removed my blinders and allowed me to see August for all her amazing beauty? In a word … peaches! 

The western slope of Colorado grows some of the most amazing peaches in the world and August is the month they become widely available. It’s my personal opinion that no finer fruit exists anywhere! 

Some years I can as many as 200 pounds of ripe, yellow-orange peaches to be enjoyed by my family throughout the year. These home canned peaches are essential to an important family tradition dating back to my childhood. 

When I was a small girl, my Gramps, breakfast cook extraordinaire, introduced a new recipe to our family. He called them Swedish Pancakes, otherwise know as crepes. He would fill them with fruit, butter, powdered sugar and whipped cream. Though we sometime use fresh strawberries, through the years, we’ve dialed in on peaches as the fruit of choice. If you’ve ever had home canned peaches, you know the store bought varieties can’t begin to compare. 

With fewer people at home, I no longer have to can as many, but the canning tradition continues, none-the-less. This week I’ll start with the two boxes I bought from our high school wrestling team. Being able to help the boys while getting something I use and would buy anyway makes it one of my favorite annual fund-raisers! 

If the thought of freshly canned peaches isn’t enough to get your mouth watering, you need to try my Fresh Peach Pie recipe!

It was inspired by the Fresh Peach Pie recipe in my Grandma’s old Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I’ve tweaked it and adjusted it until I finally ended up with the recipe I now use. 

Fresh Peach Pie

• Favorite Pie Crust recipe (click here for the printable recipe and here for a detailed post with instructions.)
  TIP: I make 3 double crusts every time and I freeze the extra. If I want to make a pie, it’s easy to pull the frozen crust of the freezer, thaw and use it. 
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 8 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
• 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Submerge peaches in boiling water for a minute or two, depending on how ripe the peaches are, then move them to an ice water bath. This will allow the skins to peel right off. Peel and slice peaches.

Mix the sugar and flour in a  large bowl. Add the peaches and lemon juice and carefully mix.

Line a pie pan with pie crust. Pile the fruit into the pie plate. Place another crust on top, draping in over the fruit. If desired, you can trim the crust then crimp or flute. I like crust, so I roll the extra, tuck it under and then flute the edges to seal the two crusts together. 

Using a sharp knife, create vent holes in the top crust. 

Fruit pies can tend to bubble over and leak, especially if you fill them full like I do. So, create a little “pan” out of aluminum foil and place it on the rack below your pie in your oven. This will catch any drips and avoid making a smoking mess of your oven. 

If desired, lightly brush the top of the crust with a egg whipped with a little water and sprinkle with sugar. This helps create a beautiful golden brown top. I was rushing out the door to pick up my daughter when I made this pie, so I skipped this step. The pie would have been prettier if I’d done it! 

Bake the pie for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 40-50 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a rack.

If you cut it before it cools sufficiently, the fruit and juice will still be wet and runny. It’s now an exercise in patience! 

Serve with vanilla ice cream and enjoy!

(Click here for a printable version of this recipe)

BONUS TIP!

If you love it as much as I do, you might find yourself craving it in the middle of February. Trust me, when snow is piled up outside, fresh peaches can be hard to come by. Even if you could find them, and even if the quality was decent, you’d probably have to auction a kidney to afford them. That leaves you two choices. Either suffer through the cravings while counting down the days until August and the next peach harvest or plan ahead … and that’s easier than you think. 

Simply prepare the peaches according to the recipe. Add the lemon juice, sugar, and flour. Place them in a pie plate and immediately place them in the freezer. In a day or so, when they are frozen solid, or when you remember, remove them from the freezer. Place the pie plate in a shallow sink with hot water. The water really should be shallow here. You don’t want water coming over the edge of the pie plate and it should not touch the peaches. If it does, it will be fine and no one will ever know. It will just be one of those cook’s secrets! 

Allow the pie plate to rest in the hot water until the peaches are released from the pan. Wrap the frozen bundle in the aluminum foil, taking care to remove all the air. Wrap again in plastic wrap. This double wrapping will help prevent freezer burn. I then put the whole thing in a large zip lock bag. That way, if one of the kids fails to get the freezer door closed tightly and things start to thaw, I won’t have a sticky, peachy mess all over the freezer. This is, of course, hypothetical. My kids have never done anything like that! 

When you’re craving pie, simply prepare your crust, remove the frozen peaches from their packaging (placing the zip lock in a hot water bath briefly helps with this), place them in the crust in one solid, frozen lump and continue with the recipe. Because you froze them in the pan, they will fit perfectly!

You will need to bake the pie a little longer. Just add about 20 minutes to your time, allow the crust to turn golden and check to make sure the juices are bubbly. You’ll be able to tell because they will be on the aluminum foil pan you made to catch them.