After a long, lush and somewhat swelter-y summer, we ready to dive deep into the multi-coloured leaf pile known as autumn…
But first, instead of tackling a figurative pile, we dive into a literal pie, with a recipe that has us very happily enjoying those end of summer peaches.
We cobbled this together from a selection of sources in order to tick a few recent craving boxes: peaches, a frangipane and a crumble.
This Franken-pie – with it’s cookie-like crust, subtle almond cream, juicy peaches and buttery crumble top – will have the villagers chasing it with dessert forks and cream.
Peach Frangipane Crumble Pie
Preheat the oven to 300°F / 150°C.
Make the CRUST
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
150g unsalted butter, softened
Mix the two dry ingredients well, add the butter in chunks and work until combined. Press into the base and up the sides of a 11-inch (28cm) buttered tart pan with a removeable bottom. Bake for 15 minutes. If it has puffed up, press it down gently while still warm with the back of a spoon.
As it cools, raise the oven temperature to 350°F / 175°C and proceed to make the frangipane, peach filling and crumble as follows:
FRANGIPANE
¾ cup ground almonds
⅓ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 egg
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 Tbsp melted butter
Beat everything but the butter with a hand mixer. Add in the butter and beat until smooth. Pour into the cooked and cooled crust.
PEACH FILLING
8 ripe medium peaches, peeled, pitted and roughly chopped
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
Toss the peaches in the flour and brown sugar. Spoon over the frangipane.
CRUMBLE
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
⅓ cup all-purpose flour
⅓ cup old-fashioned rolled oats
85g (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Mix dry ingredients well, then add the butter and work with your fingers until it forms a crumble. Sprinkle over the peach filling.
Return this to the oven, bake for 20-30 minutes uncovered (or until edges have browned and the crumble has lost its sheen) then cover with foil and continue to bake for a further 30-45 minutes.
This tastes best when thoroughly cooled to room temperature as it needs to set. We controversially like it refrigerated.
