The recipe I got from the James Beard American Cookbook seemed too simple to be believed.  I thought he knew something I didn’t and so I followed it by the letter and I ended up with a sloppy wet mess of a pie — A pie that really wished it was a cobbler.  Don’t get me wrong – it was quite tasty, but not a pie I would not feel comfortable bringing to a party.

Compared to the sour cherry pie I made last week, this was much simpler in terms of prep, but I think I will try it again using the cherry pie technique to see if I can make something that holds together a bit better.

Filling:
4-5 cups fresh peaches, peeled and chopped into slices
generous handful of fresh blueberries

Topping:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsb allspice
1/4 tsb salt

James Beard’s recipe:
Preheat oven to 400.  Prick base pie crust (I do not have a mixer so I always use store bought) a couple times with a fork.  Fill with peaches and blueberries. Melt butter in a sauce pan and remove from heat.  Stir in topping ingredients and then spread the mixture over the top of the fruit.  Bake 40 mins until top is browned.

What I learned:
Without any flour or binding agent in with the fruit it becomes a soupy mess and really difficult to serve.  I will try making this again for sure, but here is what I think I am going to try the next time around:

- Mixing 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup brown sugar with the filling, stirring it all together in a large frying pan over medium heat releasing the liquid.  Then, I plan to add 1/3 tsb cornstarch to the warm mixture – stirring until the liquid starts to gel a bit.

- Since I really do not like to add more than 1 cup sugar to my pies, I would change the topping to 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup brown sugar, but add some pecans (1/2 cup chopped) to give it a little extra body.  Then, I would cut it all together with cold butter to give it a good crumble toping, instead of the candy crust, and sprinkle that over the pie.