Fresh Peach Pie

Mountain Road Ranch Fresh Peach Pie

(I created this one and I believe it is the BEST fresh peach pie recipe EVER!!)

Bake Pastry (or use 9” single pie crust)  Use any pie crust recipe OR….      

Sugar Cooky crust: this one is easy and good: (recipe is for 3-4 9" pies or a 13 x 9 dripper plus a 9".  It can be spread a little further, depending on what you want)

Cream together: 1 c. sugar, 1/2 c. margarine or shortening, 1 egg.

Then add; 1/2 C. sour cream or milk and 1 Tbl. vanilla extract

Mix and add; 3 1/2 to 4 C. of white flour, 1 Tbl. baking powder, 1/2 t. baking soda.  Mix thoroughly.  Add more flour until the dough is stiff.  Take handfuls of it, roll in a little more flour and spread with fingers onto the bottoms of the pan so it looks like pie crust. You can punch it with a fork like you would a pie crust. Bake at 350 for about 10 mins.  Remove from oven and cool.  (This recipe may be doubled and the extra dough frozen for later use.)

Optional:   Raw Nut crust, finely chop or blenderize walnuts and/or almonds. Add a little honey to hold together.  Spread in pie pan.

Pie Filling:

   In a bowl, mix well with whisk attachment:

          16 oz. cream cheese, 3/4 c. sugar, 1 c. marshmallow crème’

          1 c Cool whip or whipped heavy cream, 1 Tbl. Vanilla, 2 Tbl. Milk or enough to make it spreadable. Add more or less sugar to taste if needed.

          Spread evenly over baked crust. Chill.   

Blenderize (these ingredients are generous for one pie, may be doubled or tripled)

Option #1    1/4 c. sugar, 1 c. peaches,  2 Tbl. orange juice concentrate,  or Tang made double strength, 1/2 T. lemon juice, 1/4 c ultra-gel (available at most Kitchen supply outlets. It is a corn starch thickener that thickens without heat)  Option #2:   Make 1 pkg. Orange or Peach Kool-Aid made with using half the water or juice, 1 cup sugar, 1 c peaches and 1/4 c. ultra gel.  Slice your peaches right into the mixture after it has been blenderized.

Add Approximately 5-7 c. or more sliced peaches (add until looks right) to glaze, then stir.  It should be mostly peaches with just the glaze.  Keep in mind the ultra gel takes a while to set up, so it’s best to make this ahead of time and chill. (Also, the gel is very sensitive to the digestive enzymes in saliva, so beware of “eating out of the bowl” or you may have “Peach soup”.) Scoop the peaches out of the glaze using a slotted spoon onto cream cheese mix in crust.  You will have some glaze left over which you can use in milk shakes, as ice cream topping or put more peaches in it for another batch.  If you don't drain the glaze from the peaches, the topping will be too runny.

 Chill until firm, about 3 hrs.  May be served with whipped cream, sweetened, flavored with grated orange peel, but is just wonderful without topping. 

THIS IS A VERSATILE RECIPE!  THE KEY IS THE FABOULOUS WHITE LAYER AND USING FRESH PEACH SLICES.  If you don't have access to ultra-gel, try a few tablespoons of instant vanilla pudding mix.

For Blackberry or raspberry pie, use white grape juice or apple juice instead of orange in the filling.