All Things Southern

Open Faced and Covered Peach Mini-Pies

Last week I headed home to spend some time with my family before the craziness of the market season took over for the rest of the summer. I love going home for several reasons. One reason is to hang out with my family. Second reason is to ride roller coasters with my dad. Third reason is Chick-fil-a. Fourth reason is peaches. I can go on and on and on.

Living in Louisiana, we always frequent farm stands that were dotted along the backroads and highways. One stand we hit always had Ruston Peaches from Mitcham Farms. Mitcham Farms is the state's largest peach orchard in Louisiana. Biting in to one of these peaches was heavenly. The taste was amazing and the peach was very juicy that you needed several napkins. It was definitely something to savor. 

Peaches are grown in zones 4-8 here in the United States and are usually available mid-June to mid-July. Having a tree-ripened peach is the best and I am always disappointed when I pick up peaches in a local grocery store. They look good, they smell good, but the taste is nasty. For this reason alone, I stopped wasting money on buying peaches here in New England. So you can believe it when I say, I was super happy about bringing back a case of peaches from South Carolina. Before I left South Carolina, I hit a local farmers market held in the Market Common. I picked up some peaches from a farmer and when I got back to the family, we all bit into one and the first words uttered were "Oh my, that is SO good!" My sister stated she needed to hit a stand on the way out of town to get some to take back to Ohio. We stopped along Route 501 with the intention of getting a few more, well I grabbed a case instead along with some plums. (This is another reason why I love going home).

So I ate some peaches and brought some peaches back for my husband and decided to make some peach pies for a local market.  They got rave reviews. Here's a recipe for Peach pie. I recommend using tree-ripened, Southern peaches but if you can't get them, local peaches grown here by a farmer would be the next best option. If you have to, you can use frozen peaches or canned peaches. I would shy away from purchasing peaches at a local grocery store UNLESS you have had them and know that they are good.  Enjoy.

Ingredients: 1 c sugar, 1/4 c flour, 1/4 tsp cinnamon*, 1 tsp lemon juice, 2 TBSP butter, pie crust of your choice (we use my granddaddy's pie crust recipe for all our pies), 5 c sliced fresh peaches*

Instructions: 1. Preheat oven to 425F.   2. Peel and slice peaches. Make sure not to have any of the pit in your slices. 3. In a bowl, add peaches then add other ingredients except the butter. 4. Pour peach mixture into a prepared pie plate and dot with butter. Cover with an additional second layer of crust or leave open. 5. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes.

*I usually use a tad bit more cinnamon then what is listed above.
*Overripe peaches are best for pies. Mixture will be soupy. You can substitute peaches for apricots.