Texas Peach Pie 

JUST LOOK at these golden sweet Texas peach slices.  They don't grow them like this in the grocery store.  You'll only find these sugary juicy wonders around the farmers' markets of East Texas from late-June to mid-August.  I couldn't help but make a Texas size pie when I brought them home from my own local farmers' market.  And instead of a pie plate, I pulled out the 13-inch by 9-inch casserole dish and went to town.

I made the pie crust from scratch and it wasn't hard at all.  I don't know why 'they' make it sound so mysterious like it can only be made by the masters of baking.  Whatever.  I've watched the Barefoot Contessa and America's Test Kitchen make it enough, I just went for it.  It turned out just like a pie crust should.

HERE'S ALL IT TAKES

Pie Crust

• 1 cup or 2 sticks COLD butter, cut into tablespoon slices
• 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt, (if you use salted butter, then do not add this extra salt)
• 7 to 8 tablespoons ice cold water

In a food processor, pulse and cut butter into flour and salt until mixture makes small pea size crumbs.  With the processor on, add ice cold water through the top until all the flour is moistened and pastry almost cleans the side of the bowl.

Gather pastry into a ball; shape into flattened round. Wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.  When you're ready to assemble the pie, then divide dough in half.  Roll out each half onto a lightly floured surface to the size of your baking dish.  Lay the pressed dough over the rolling pin to help pick up and move the dough to the buttered dish.

Texas Peach filling

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 6 to 8 cups fresh sliced peaches (about 7 to 10 peaches)
• 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons butter

HEAT OVEN 425ºF.

After slicing all those peaches, make sure there will be enough to fill the casserole dish before prepping the dish for baking.  You may need extra peaches or you may have too many, it's good to check before going further.

Mix the sugar, flour, cinnamon and vanilla.  Stir in the measured peaches and lemon juice.

Prepare bottom layer of pastry and lay into bottom of the buttered 13-inch by 9-inch casserole dish. Don't worry about it being pretty, no one will notice the bottom.

Pour peach mixture into pastry-lined dish. Dot with 3 tablespoons of butter.  Cover with top crust that has slits cut in it; seal and decorate to your fancy.

Seen here sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar and hearts smeared with softened butter.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.  Allow to cool so the peach filling has time to solidify, otherwise it will run out and fall apart as you try to move it to your plate.  Trust me on this one.

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I made this big casserole size pie thinking it would be the dessert for the weekend.  Well, after sharing about two-thirds of it with dear friends and neighbors, my own family DEVOURED the remaining portion in one day.  So much for the weekend.