Although I'm excited about the cooler weather and all of the Fall baking that comes with it, I couldn't ignore the ripe, juicy peaches that would be hard to come by in just a few months. The apples and pumpkins can wait a little bit longer.

Pairing this with a few blackberries really balances the sweet peaches. I adored this pie and couldn't stop eating it.

For me, an all-butter crust is essential. Although I've heard crusts using lard are delicious, it's a little harder to come by a quality lard source. I always replace the shortening with butter and have never found it to drastically affect the flakiness of my crust.

I used to make my crusts the old-fashioned way, but I tended to get hand cramps and then avoid making pie crust for too long...That's why I always use a food processor now. It may be less satisfying to work the dough, but I get pie faster! It's been a worthy investment in my eyes. Quick and dirty is the way to go.

The savory spices in this recipe are a bit unusual, but work fantastically with the fruit and the addition of vanilla!

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Peach Blackberry Pie
Filling adapted slightly from this recipe, and crust from Baking From My Home to Yours
Serves 8

Crust
Makes a 9-inch double crust

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, with 1 teaspoon removed
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
25 1/2 tablespoons butter (that would be just over 3 sticks...), cut into approximately tablespoon-sized pieces and frozen
About 1/2 cup water, refrigerated

Using a large food processor with a metal blade (mine has a 9-cup capacity and just barely handles this crust), add flour, sugar, and salt to bowl. Pulse twice to mix.

Add frozen butter all at once and pulse so the butter is just cut into the flour mixture. There should be some butter pieces that are pea-sized and smaller.

As you slowly continue to pulse, add about 6 tablespoons of the cold water. Make sure the water has been evenly distributed in your processor bowl by doing a few longer pulses. Continue to add small amounts of water until dough comes together when you pinch it, but is not sticky to the touch.

Dump the dough onto a clean work surface and divide in half using a sharp knife or bench scraper.

On a flour-covered surface, pat each half into a flattish disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap or wax paper. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

At this point, you can skip down to the filling instructions while your dough is resting in the fridge.

Butter a 9-inch pie pan.

Remove dough from refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. If large cracks form on the edges as you roll out the dough, let it warm up for 10-15 minutes at room temperature and try again.

Roll out dough to about 11 inches across, sprinkling with additional flour to prevent sticking, and place in buttered pan. Roll out top crust to approximately the same size and set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 with an rack in the middle of the oven.

Filling
6 medium-large peaches
1/2 cup blackberries
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, beaten for egg wash
1 tablespoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon for sprinkling over crust

Wash and slice peaches into about 10-12 pieces and put into a large bowl. If you prefer, you can peel the peaches, but I like leaving mine on. Add the blackberries, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, coriander, flour, lemon juice and vanilla extract to the bowl, give it a gentle stir, and let rest in the refrigerator until your crust is ready.

Once you have your bottom crust in the pan, pour your filling in and cover with your top crust. This is where you can be as simple or as fancy as you want. I went with a lattice crust, which is pretty simple, but you can also leave it whole and cut 4 small holes in the crust for escaping steam.

Brush the top crust with your beaten egg (and yes, fingers work if you don't have a pastry brush, but it's a little messier) and sprinkle with your cinnamon sugar mixture.

Trim both the bottom and top crusts so they are about the same size and pinch together to seal. You can crimp the edges with your fingers, press with fork tines, or whatever sounds good in the moment!

Place the pie plate on another pan with edges in case your filling bubbles over and put in oven at 425 F for 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 F and bake for another 30-35 minutes. Depending on your oven temperature, you may want to start checking after 25 minutes.

The pie is finished when your crust is a beautiful golden brown and the filling is hot and bubbly.

Cool to room temperature before serving or it will be soupy.



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