The girl went peach picking with her daycamp and brought back a couple of pounds of fresh, delicious peaches with a request for peach pie.

Peaches are now in season!

I put her in charge of researching the recipes and decided on Peaches and Cream pie with an all-butter crust. My pie experimentation has led me to determine that all-butter crusts are particularly suited to fruit pies and so that was my crust of choice for this pie.

Peaches and Cream pie is simple, really. The ingredients include fresh peaches, heavy cream, powdered sugar and a sprinkling of brown sugar. What could be easier?

After preparing the crust, the first step with the filling is to skin the peaches. So, I donned a negligee, poured myself a sloe-gin fizz and told the peaches, in a Southern drawl, how I’d always depended on the kindness of strangers. Nothing happened. You can’t Blanche peaches, you must blanch them to remove the skin. That “e” sure makes a big difference.

Blanch your peaches, don't Blanche them.

To blanch a peach, boil a big pot of water and lower each peach into the water using a slotted spoon. Count to 15 and lift the peach out and let it cool for about a minute. This makes the skin slide right off effortlessly.

Some people are peach-skinning whizzes but I find this retains more of the fruit and is kind of fun to do, anyway.

I hadn’t made a peach pie since I was a kid. We had a peach tree in our backyard and I lived in it for about three years. I’d climb up there with a book and come down covered in sap, just in time for dinner. The smell of peaches holds strong memories of my childhood. We had so many peaches from that tree that I remember making several peach pies each summer. I haven’t done it since because my husband simply does not like peaches. I love peach pie! I had enough peaches and so made two, one for the family and one to share with friends.

Peaches and Cream Pie

My friend Linda invited a few of us to her home for a get-together. This group of women are all involved in communications and design in one way or another; we enjoy one another’s company and had a wonderful time chatting and updating one another on our professional and personal lives.

You CAN make friends with pie!

The pie was a success! One friend even said it was the best pie she’d ever had. It was good, too — I served it with fresh whipped cream for an extra-special touch.

I think what I like best about baking pie is sharing it with others who appreciate it. Here are my friends Linda, Anne, Maggie and Caroline digging into the pie (they graciously agreed to let me post this photo). Thanks guys!