Peach Pie

This fresh peach pie recipe from lawyer turned baking champion Vallery Lomas is a labor of love, but the reward is a slice of pure summertime sunshine. The nutmeg, vanilla, citrus juice and zest, and splash of optional (but highly recommended) toffee-like brandy all enhance that quintessential ripe peach flavor without overpowering it.

During peak season, forget the frozen peaches and canned peaches and instead look for semi-firm freestones (not clingstones), whose pits easily separate from the flesh. There are many ways to peel fresh peaches, but our favorite method is to lightly score an X on the bottoms, then blanch them whole in a large pot of boiling water for 30 seconds before transferring to an ice bath; the skins should slip right off.

A double pie crust (meaning there’s a bottom and top crust) steps up here to hold in all those juicy sliced peaches, ensuring every serving comes with plenty of fruit and flaky pastry. Using a glass deep-dish pie plate takes the guesswork out of monitoring how the pie dough is baking, so you can avoid the dreaded soggy bottom crust.

Let the pie cool fully for neat slices (we know, we know—it’s hard!) and serve them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

This recipe was adapted from Lomas’s equally fantastic peach cobbler recipe, which you can find in her debut cookbook, Life Is What You Bake It.