Peach pie recipe

What could be nicer than a delicious peach pie served warm or cold with custard or ice cream? This pie is easy to make and something just a little bit different for the family to enjoy. Make sure the peaches are ripe and juicy and as there are several varieties of peach available in supermarkets these days you can use any variety you like in this pie. This recipe uses ready-made chilled puff pastry but you could use shortcrust or dessert pastry instead if you prefer. Nectarines can be used in place of the peaches and are just as good. If you don’t like peach skins they can easily be removed by putting them into a bowl of boiling water for a minute or two and then peeling them away.

Ingredients

• 8 large, ripe peaches, halved and stoned
• 75g caster sugar
• 3 tbsp water
• 50g butter
• Few drops vanilla extract
• 300g ready made chilled puff pastry
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200⁰C/400⁰F/Fan 180⁰C/Gas Mark 6.
2. Put the caster sugar into a large pan with the water and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Turn up the heat and boil for 2 – 3 minutes to make a syrup then add the butter and stir until it has melted. Stir in the vanilla extract.
4. Add the peaches and cook gently for 3 minutes until the juices run out.
5. Spoon the peaches and syrup into a 1.7 litre pie dish.
6. Roll out the pastry just a little larger than the pie dish.
7. Cut a 1cm ribbon of pastry and press it onto the rim of the pie dish. Brush the pastry ribbon with water.
8. Cover the peaches with the remaining pastry round, pressing it on securely and then indent the edges with a fork or flute the edges to seal.
9. Brush the pie with milk and sprinkle on the granulated sugar.
10. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 180⁰C/350⁰C/Fan 160⁰C/Gas Mark 4 and bake for a further 10 – 15 minutes until the pie is golden brown.