Peach Crumb Pie
Peach crumb pie, with its delightful blend of juicy peaches and a buttery, crunchy topping, is a quintessential summer dessert that brings people together. We’ll guide you through the simple process of creating this classic pie, ensuring a perfect balance of flavors and textures in every slice.
Served slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, this will be the hit of any picnic or gathering.
Why Should you Make it?
- This crumb pie is easier than a double-crust pie. You don’t have to crimp the edges or make two crusts.
- The flavor is arguably better than a double-crust pie. The buttery, rich topping, with brown sugar and nuts, gives it more character.
- It’s a great use for many peaches after you’ve harvested your trees.
- This pie is the perfect summer dessert to feed to your guests at a picnic or barbecue.
- It’s easy for beginners to master.
Ingredients you Need
- Peaches: For best results, use fresh, in-season, perfectly ripe peaches. Peaches that are slightly under-ripe won’t produce a great outcome. Over-ripe peaches will get too soggy.
- Sugar: We use half granulated sugar and half brown sugar for a more well-rounded flavor.
- Cinnamon: Ground cinnamon is fine.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch will produce a nicer consistency than flour.
- Lemon juice: Fresh or bottled lemon juice are both good options.
- Pie crust: Single recipe for pie crust. You can also use store-bought, packaged pie crust or your favorite gluten-free pie crust.
For the Crumb Topping
This topping resembles a streusel topping since it is so buttery.
- Oats: Quick-cooking oats are the best option here.
- Flour: All-purpose flour is fine. Feel free to use gluten-free flour to make the recipe gluten-free.
- Sugar: Use brown sugar for the topping.
- Salt: A bit of salt will even out the flavor of the pie.
- Butter: Always use unsalted butter for baking.
For the pie crust
- Flour: Use all-purpose flour.
- Butter: Use unsalted butter cut into small cubes. The butter should be very cold. After you cut it, place it back in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes.
- Salt: Any fine-grained salt will work.
- Ice water: The dough must be cold, so use extra ice so that the water is cold.
How to Make it
How to Make Pie Crust
Pie crust is really ridiculously easy to do. You can use a store-bought pie crust if you don’t have time.
Cut butter into squares. Place it back in the refrigerator. The butter must be very cold.
Measure the flour and salt and place them in a food processor bowl.
Add the butter to the food processor.
Pulse until the butter resembles small peas.
Add ice water, dropping one tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together. 5-7 tablespoons total.
Gather dough. Wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for at least one hour to several days.
To Roll the Crust
Place the pie dough on a floured cutting board.
Roll to a 12″ diameter circle.
Crimp the edges.
How to Blind Bake the Crust
**For a single-crust pie.
- Blind bake the pie crust. This is a very important step. If the crust isn’t blind-baked, it will end up a soggy mess because of the moisture in the filling.
- Poke holes all around the bottom of the crust with a fork to minimize the formation of bubbles. Spread a large sheet of parchment paper or waxed paper onto the crust. Spread pie weights evenly along the bottom of the crust. (If you don’t have pie weights, use dried beans. Keep the beans for pie weights in a canning jar. Don’t use them for food.)
- Bake the crust at 350°F for about 30 minutes.
The Filling
Peel the peaches if you would like. You can leave the skins on if you’d like. It will add more fiber to the pie and add a nice color.
Step One:
Add the filling ingredients to a medium bowl.
Step Two:
Mix well. Pour the filling into the prepared crust.
For the Crumble Topping
Step One:
Add the crumble ingredients to a small bowl.
Step Two:
Mix well.
Step Three:
Melt the butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds or on the stovetop over medium heat in a small saucepan for 2-3 minutes.
Pour the melted butter over the crumb mixture.
Step Four:
Mix it well. There shouldn’t be any dry spots in the mixture.
Top the peach filling that you poured into the pie crust evenly with the crumble topping.
Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for 50 minutes or until the topping is golden brown, the filling is bubbly, and the peaches can easily be pierced with a fork. Protect the crust from getting too brown with a pie guard or aluminum foil.
Variations
- Add some ginger, cloves or nutmeg to make the pie even more warmly spiced version.
- Try adding berries to the filling. Raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries are delicious.
- Use sliced almonds to make a peach almond pie.
- Drizzle caramel sauce over the peaches before adding the topping for a peach caramel version.
- Layer cream cheese under the filling for a tangy and sweet peach cheese pie.
How to Store Leftovers
Storage: Store any leftover pie on the counter for 3-4 days. Store it in the refrigerator if it is very warm in the house.
Freezing: Leftovers can be frozen for a couple of months. Wrap the leftovers in multiple layers of aluminum foil. Remove it from the freezer and place it directly into a preheated 350°F on very low for about 30 minutes. Leave it wrapped in the foil.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can use frozen peaches. For the best flavor, use local peaches that you have frozen instead of buying them from your grocer.
Fresh, ripe, slightly firm freestone or clingstone peaches work the best. Don’t use hard and underripe peaches or too soft and overripe. Overripe peaches will get to soggy and underripe peaches will not get soft and will have less flavor.
Blind bake the crust first. You can blind bake for as little as 15 minutes or as long as 30 minutes, depending on how solid you would like the crust.
Yes, you can certainly use canned peaches. BE sure to drain the liquid syrup well so the filling isn’t too wet.
Absolutely. Make it the day before you need it. Once it is cooled thoroughly, loosely cover it with aluminum foil and store it on the counter. If the temperature is over 80°F, store it in the refrigerator.
Let the pie for a minimum of three hours to give the filling time to set. If you cut it before that, the filling will fall out.
Absolutely! Wrap the pie very well with several layers of aluminum foil. To bak the pie, preheat the oven to 350°F. Remove the pie from the freezer and place it in the oven, still frozen. Bake for 1-1½ hours. Protect the crust from over-browning with a pie guard or aluminum foil sheets.
Helpful Equipment
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Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Peach Crumb Pie
Ingredients
For crumb topping
- ¼ cup flour
- ⅔ cup gluten free oats
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter melted
For Filling
- 5 cups peaches sliced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 tablespoon cornstarch
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 single pie crust, homemade or store bought
For pie crust
- 1¼ cups all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter
- 3-4 tablespoons Ice water
Instructions
For the pie crust
- Cut the butter into pieces. Place it back in the refrigerator.⅓ cup unsalted butter
- Add the flour and salt to your food processor bowl.1¼ cups all purpose flour, ¼ teaspoon Salt
- Get the ice water ready, then add the butter.
- Run the food processor until the dough resembles pea-sized pieces.
- Add one tablespoon of water at a time until a smooth dough forms. (usually between 3-4 tablespoons.)3-4 tablespoons Ice water
For crumb topping
- Mix together all ingredients, except butter in medium bowl.¼ cup flour, ⅔ cup gluten free oats, ½ cup brown sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
- Pour in melted butter. Mix until no dry spots remain.¼ cup unsalted butter
For the filling
- Toss peaches with lemon juice to coat.5 cups peaches, 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- Add remaining ingredients, except cornstarch. Taste for your family's taste. Add more sugar, or lemon, as needed.⅓ cup brown sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Add cornstarch. mix well.3 tablespoon cornstarch
To assemble pie
- Roll out pie crust. Lay in pie plate.1 single pie crust, homemade or store bought
- Add all of the peaches, mounded high, because they shrink as they cook.
- Top fruit with all of crumb topping.
- Bake in 350°F oven for 45 minutes to one hour, until fruit is tender, filling is bubbly and crumb topping is golden brown.
- Let cool thoroughly on a wire rack before slicing, or fruit will spill out.
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!Notes
- To save time, buy a store-bought pie crust. The flavor has improved greatly.
- Pie can be made with double crust instead of crumb topping.
- If using two pie crusts, make sure to cut holes for steam to escape.
- There is no reason to peel peaches, but you can if you’d like.
- As soon as peaches are sliced, toss them with lemon juice so they don’t discolor.
- Taste the filling for salt and sugar before adding cornstarch so that you can add enough sugar for your liking. Start with less. Add more, if needed.
- If you add too much sugar, counter it with more lemon juice.
- Always cook fruit pies on a large, rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment to minimize cleanup.
- Cover the top of the pie with foil if the crumb layer is getting too brown.
- Let the pie cool thoroughly. Although warm fruit pies are so appealing, if cut before they are totally cool, all the fillings will spill out. The flavor will still be awesome, but you will lose presentation points!
- Lasts 4-5 days.
- Store in refrigerator.
- Pie can be frozen prior to baking. Bake pie from frozen for about 20 minutes longer.
