fruit

In the few short days since summer began, we have been home resting, taking in the warm air, and baking up treats like the peach berry pie I’m going to share with you all today. I’m making a new effort to slow down in these moments that I have these summer months with my husband and darling babies.

Slowing Down

Aimee seems to run everywhere these days, jumping, dancing, or racing; walking is simply not an option. She sings and answers questions with logic, and with each passing day, I realize more and more how smart she’s becoming. We play and pretend, and she’s finally even gotten to the point where she will laugh at my jokes or a silly part in a movie.

In the quieter moments, she whispers to friends who aren’t there. She giggles with her brother and tries to put shoes on his chubby feet. She pats and soothes her babydolls, tenderly mothering them, even providing them with discipline, praise, and instruction. Now, more so than ever, I see so much of myself in her. The way she coos at George. When she tells me that I look beautiful like a princess. How she cheers for Brett when he finishes his supper. She’s a little lady in the making.

But there’s also the ugly… the parts of myself I see in her that make me cringe. She can be quick to frustration. Stubborn. Full of opinions. Contrary, at times, for no apparent reason… Just grouchy, just because.

I want to give Aimee all of the sweetness. Skills and manners and a sense of identity. I want her to have any goodness that I have to share and lock away the access to the parts of me that don’t bring life. I want to keep her good.

Learning from Our Kids

At the same time, I’m beginning to figure out that this tiny person might have a few things of her own that she could teach me- things that I need more of. I want to dance without embarrassment and not feel so serious all of the time. Or make time for quiet and daydreaming and whispering to the unseen. I want to take pleasure in small things like warm slices of fresh bread and the sound of the rain.

I wonder… what would it feel like to exist without the weightiness of adulthood? To be content and confident and willing to pop right up after falling flat on my face. What would it feel like to shrug off the small stuff and to allow myself time to take in the present? To quit busying myself with busyness. To loosen my grip on the need to control, to produce.

Aimee will continue to learn from me. She’ll pick up on habits and phrases and jokes. We’ll have silly moments and she’ll learn to count to 100 and before you know it, she’ll be grown. But for the time being, I want to try to be a little more like her. I don’t think we’re too grown up to change or to be someone different, and I refuse to believe it’s too late to be a better version of myself.

Someday I’ll teach Aimee to make pies. She’ll crawl up on the edge of the counter and steal sugared berries. I’ll teach her to cut fat into flour, quickly and methodically, just like my Mimi taught me. With four hands, we’ll wrestle the dough moving the rolling pin back and forth, using the leftover bits to cut out decorative flowers or stars. I’ll have to bite my tongue from correcting her too much, because deep down inside, I know that her small mistakes are more memorable than perfection. And we’ll sit cross-legged in front of the oven, watching it bubble and spill over, before sharing oversized slices from our seats in the kitchen.

Peach Berry Pie

Today’s recipe is a simple peach berry pie. No crazy ingredients or exaggerated methods. Just unadulterated pie.

Making the Pie

To make this peach berry pie, we need a solid, double-crusted pie dough. My favorite, no-fail, ultra-buttery and flaky recipe is yours for the taking if you don’t already have a fave of your own. A few simple ingredients, including butter and salt for flavor and shortening for unmatched flakiness, make up the crust. The filling for this peach berry pie is equally simple. Sliced peaches and several handfuls of berries mix with cornstarch and sugar to create the quintessential summer pie- juicy, yet thick enough to stand up on its own.

You can adapt the filling to your berry preferences. I love to use raspberries and strawberries with the peaches, but I had some leftover blueberries in the fridge that made it into the pie as well. As long as your berries are ripe, there is no need to adjust the sugar content of the pie. I used a lattice with a simple braid to top my peach berry pie, but you can skip that design if you’d like. Just slap the second half of dough on top, crimp the edges, and pop it in the oven for a golden, double-crusted peach berry pie that is sure to make your heart sing.

There’s some really neat recipes and tutorials coming up in the next few weeks, so if you haven’t already signed up to receive blog posts straight to your inbox, you can to do that in the side bar of this site’s homepage. Have a great weekend and please give this pie a try! If you do, be sure to snap a photo of it and share it with me here or on Instagram. Cheers!

If you like this peach berry pie, be sure to try:

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Berry Almond Streusel Pie

Strawberry Pretzel Tart

Cranberry Pear Pop-Tarts

Banana Coconut Chocolate Cream Pie

Print

Peach Berry Pie

Print Recipe

★★★★★

5 from 3 reviews

This peach berry pie is a double crusted pie with a sweet and gooey strawberry, raspberry and peach filling.

• Author: Kate Wood
• Prep Time: 30
• Cook Time: 60
• Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Yield: 9

Ingredients

• 1 double pie crust, prepared and chilled in fridge (see notes or link above)
• 2 pounds of peeled and sliced peaches
• 2 cups of mixed berries, sliced into ½” pieces (I used raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon water

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. I also like to place a layer of heavy duty aluminum foil on the bottom rack of my oven to prevent any bubbling pie filling from dirtying up my oven, but this is optional.
2. In a large bowl, combine the peaches and berries. In a small bowl, toss together the brown sugar, the sugar, corn starch, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the fruit and toss to combine. Set aside while you roll out your pie dough.
3. On a floured surface, roll out one half of the chilled pie dough to a 12” round. Lay carefully in the bottom a deep dish pie pan and gently press into the bottom of the pan. Leave about 1” of dough extending outside the perimeter of the dish and trim off any excess.
4. Spoon the fruitmixture into the pie dish, discarding any exorbitant excess of juices that may have formed. Arrange the top half of pie dough on top of the filling in any manner you please. If you plan to make a lattice or any detailed pie top, work quickly so that your bottom of pie dough doesn’t get soggy with juices from the fruit. If you roll out the pie dough flat on your filling, be sure to vent the top with a couple of slits from your knife. Crimp the edges once finished.
5. In a small both, whisk together the egg yolk and water and use a pastry brush to paint a thin layer of the egg wash on the top of the pie crust. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees. Decrease the heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional hour and fifteen minutes/ hour and thirty minutes, or until the middle of the pie has bubbling juices underneath and the top of the pie crust is golden brown. Allow the pie to cool on a cooling rack completely, or overnight. Cutting into the pie too soon can cause the pie to be too runny, but if this doesn’t bother you, you can cut into it as soon as it is a manageable and safe temperature. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream!

Notes

• I like to prepare any lattice strips or braids ahead of time and keep the in the fridge while I am prepping my filling and pie pan.
• Use any berries you’d like! Just make sure any large berries are cut into manageable pieces.
• If your peaches aren’t ripe enough and are tart to the taste, consider adding an additional tablespoon of sugar.