{Guest Post} Beachy Peach Pie with Rosemary Sugar

Kirsten, our favorite cocktail queen, shares her first pie making experience:

First of all, I admit I had never made a pie before this month. Give me a crumble, a crisp, a cobbler, no problem. But pie has always intimidated me, even though I will take a fruit pie over cake any day. (See Exhibit A: the pie bar instead of cake at our wedding).

Recently my husband and I went to the Oregon coast to join my parents for a long weekend. After spotting these gorgeous, organic peaches it seemed like they were meant to become a star ingredient in a pie. It also didn’t hurt that my mom was around to help, so I decided to brave it and attempt a peach pie, working from a Martha Stewart recipe my mom recommended.

I tweaked the recipe slightly (sorry Marth!) to incorporate an herbal element. I love the combo of fruit and herbs in cocktails, so I figured why not try it in a pie? And I can't resist a good crumble topping—with this recipe you get the best of both worlds, pie crust plus an amazing buttery and brown sugar topping. 

Rosemary sugar with a bit of lemon zest

We enjoyed our pie out on the deck followed by some prosecco, but this cocktail would also be delish (and use up any leftover ingredients!).

Beachy Peach Pie with Rosemary Sugar (adapted from Martha Stewart’s Fruit Pie with Crumble Topping recipe)

 

Pie Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling dough
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 tablespoons ice water, plus 2 more, if needed

Crumble Topping

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup light-brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Pie Filling

• 5 cups peach slices (about 4-5 large peaches)
• ½ cup granulated sugar (I used less than Martha’s recipe, adjust as needed based on tartness of fruit)
• 3 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
• Zest of one lemon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and sugar several times to combine. Add butter. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces remaining. (We didn’t have a food processor at the cabin, so we used a fork and it worked just fine).
2. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers (if needed, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time).
3. Turn dough out onto a work surface; form dough into a 3/4-inch-thick disk. Wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
4. Before baking, unwrap dough; place on a large piece of floured waxed paper. Roll dough to a 14-inch round. Using paper, lift and wrap dough around rolling pin (discarding paper); carefully unroll over a 9-inch pie plate. Gently fit into bottom and up sides of plate.

   

   
   

   My mom “helping.” I swear I did some of the work.

5. Trim overhang to 1 inch; fold overhang under itself. Pinch between thumb and forefinger to make a uniform edge around the rim. Crimp edge; refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
6. For crumb topping: mix all dry ingredients. Cut chilled butter into pieces. With your hands, work in butter pieces, until large clumps form.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine sugar with lemon zest, rosemary and salt and add to fruit. Add to fruit mixture 3 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Pour into pie shell; sprinkle with Crumb Topping.
8. Place on foil-lined baking sheet in lower third of oven; reduce heat to 350 degrees. Bake until fruit bubbles and crust browns, 1 1/2 hours. If topping begins to brown too quickly, tent with foil.