Paula Deen's Make a Fresh Peach Pie and 2 Peach Fillings to Freeze.

Fresh Peach Pie, YUM.

This is a "Why didn't I think of that moment!"  Yesterday while visiting my favorite sewing/quilting blog I read a comment made about having tried Paula Deen's frozen peach pie filling recipe, which peeked my interest.  I Googled above topic and found her site which gave her recipe using a peck of fresh peaches and making 1 fresh pie and 3 disks of peach pie filling to freeze.  OH THE NOVELTY OF THIS!  What a great idea and the technique could be applied to many fruit fillings I would think.

I have adapted Paula's recipe to utilize the quantity of fresh peaches I had on hand as well as to my normal recipe ingredients.  But it is certain it was HER IDEA, not mine and a good one at that!  Her recipe held a 5 star rating out of 38 reviews which also tells the tale!  As any home cook will tell you  it is just as easy to mess up the kitchen for 3 or 4 pies as it is for 1 plus freezing the filling in foil and plastic wrapped disks that is ready to bake is just a wonderful idea.

Ingredients for a Fresh Peach Pie and 2 Fillings to Freeze:

10-12 C. peeled and sliced fresh peaches, 20-24 peaches
2 T. butter to top each pie before baking
1 t. salt
juice of 3-4 fresh lemons
5-6 T. instant tapioca
2 C. sugar + 2 T. for sprinkling top crust
2 t. Fruit Fresh (ascorbic acid)
1 t. cinnamon
1 T. vanilla extract
pastry for 2 unbaked pie crusts, one top and one bottom

NOTE:  Peaches vary in size and if they are "free stone" so the recipe may vary and need to be adapted per the amount of sliced peaches netted from peeling, slicing, and removing the pits.

Peeling and preparing the peaches:  Bring a large kettle of water to a rolling boil and prepare a large bowl with ice and cold water.  Drop 7-8 peaches into the boiling water and return to the boiling point. Time for 1-1/2 minutes depending on the size and ripeness of the fruit.  Use a slotted spoon and remove the peaches to the ice water bath.   The peels should easily slip off.  If not return to the boil an additional 30-60 seconds and test again.

Squeeze the juice of 3-4 fresh lemons into the bottom of a large bowl.  Place the prepared peaches into the bowl of juice as you prepare them.  Mix well as you go to retard darkening the fruit.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Line 2 nine inch pie plates with wide heavy duty foil then line again with plastic wrap.  I use 2 sheets of plastic wrap placed as a cross across the foil lined plate.

Sprinkle the Fruit Fresh and sugar into the peaches and stir well.   Add the remaining ingredients and mix together until distributed evenly.  Place 3-4 cups of the filling into each of the two foil and plastic lined pie plates.

Roll and place half of the pastry into a 9" pie plate.  Roll the second half of the pastry and cut slits into it for the steam to escape.  Place 3-4 cups of the filling into the prepared pastry lined plate.  Dot with butter and top with the rolled pastry.

Crimp the edges and trim.  Sprinkle with sugar.  I usually place the unbaked pie on a half sheet pan lined with foil to catch any boil over mess!

Bake on the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes.

Meanwhile fold the plastic wrap in over the filling.  Then fold the foil in over the plastic and place the pie plate with the disk of filling into the freezer.

Freeze overnight then remove the pie plate and push the wrapping tighter.  Label and store for another days pie.

Enjoy.  Paula directed that you in using the frozen fillings place a frozen filling directly into the 9" pie plate without a bottom crust and then to top with a single crust and bake 1 hour.  I haven't tried this yet but it seems reasonable.

To find Paula Deen's recipe I Googled Paula Deen's Peach Pie Recipe.