Okay, so you know the feeling. You’ve baked up a perfect peach pie, and everyone is oohing and aahing and holding out their plate for a slice, and you cut out that first perfect wedge, and those naughty peaches spill out the side and dang!
Not that it’s not going to taste delicious – it definitely is – but if you are like me, you want to spend your peach pie time eating it and not chasing peach pie filling around your pie plate.
So one day a light bulb went off in my peach pie-loving head, and I realized that what worked for my beloved apple pie recipe (same issue!) could work with peaches too, and that is to make it into a slab pie instead of the traditional round pie.
The two main tricks to a slab pie are to make it in a square baking pan instead of a round pie plate – which helps with the cutting of the pie later on – and (secret ingredient time!) to cover the bottom crust fwith crushed corn flakes. (You can 100% use the frosted kind, by the way.)
The cereal softens up and helps absorb some of the fruit juices, which is going to help your pie filling stay nicely in place when you slice it up. The rest of the recipe is pretty similar to a traditional peach pie. Let’s start with the peaches!
How to peel peaches
Honestly, the hardest part of making any peach pie is peeling the peaches, but happily there is also a great trick for this!
Take your peach in one hand and a paring knife in the other, and run a paring knife all around the peach, pressing just deep enough to cut through the skin. Now do it again on the other side of the peach.
Drop the peaches into a pot of simmering water for about 30 seconds, and then scoop them out with a slotted spoon and pop them into an ice bath. When they are cool enough to handle, you should be able to simply slip the peel off with your fingers.
Now slice the peaches in half – you can either pull the pit out with your fingers, or if it is really in there, use the tip of the paring knife to pull it out – and chop them into bite sized pieces. That’s it – the hardest part is over!
How to make a peach slab pie
Preheat your oven to 375. Line an 8×8 inch baking dish with nonstick foil, using 2 pieces so you have some overlap hanging over all sides.
Cut two pieces of piecrust dough into rough 9×9 inch squares. Place the first square in the baking dish, pressing the edges a little way up the sides.
Scatter a cup of cornflakes (or Frosted Flakes!) cereal over the dough, and then put 4 cups of peeled and chopped peaches in a layer on top of the dough.
Pour half a cup of brown sugar evenly over the peaches.
Top with the second crust and press the edges down towards the bottom crust. They don’t have to be sealed – promise. Cut a few steam slices in the top crust and bake your gorgeous slab pie until the crust is golden, 45 to 50 minutes.
Cool in the pan for about ten minutes and then carefully remove your pie from the pan, using the foil edges as handles. Cool on a rack in the foil until completely cool. The waiting is the hardest part!
When the pie is cool, carefully invert it onto a cookie sheet, and then again onto a platter. This will crush the top crust just a tiny bit, which we don’t care about because we are about to cover it with a gorgeous vanilla glaze.
Make the glaze by drizzing 3 tablespoons of milk and a half teaspoon of vanilla into a cup of powdered sugar – I like to do this in a two cup measuring cup so you and pour this on to the pie directly from the measuring cup. If your glaze feels too thick add a little more milk and if it feels too thin add a little more sugar.
Drizzle the glaze over the top. Use it all!
Now all that’s left to do is to cut your pie into lovely obedient slabs of peach deliciousness.
More tips for making a peach slab pie!
A perfectly ripe peach will have a little bit of give to it when you squeeze it ever so gently. If your peaches are still hard, they might need a few days out on your kitchen counter to keep ripening. And (this is going to sound obvious but I promise it helps)…the best peaches smell wonderfully like a peach.
I promise it is! But if you want to try making your own, here’s a great recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction (a great baking blog!)
You sure can! Thaw them in a strainer and let any liquid drain off before you put them in the pie, and you will be all set.
And by the way, if you want to take yourself to peach pie heaven, try a scoop of ice cream on top of your perfectly perfect slab of pie. Or two.
So the next time you see a basket of peaches as you are doing your shopping, pop them in your basket and bake yourself up a peach slab pie. It’s like summer on a fork!
OTHER PEACHY RECIPES WE LOVE!
Peach Slab Pie
Homemade peach pie is a breeze with this peach slab pie recipe! Easy to make, easy to serve and perfect for a peach loving crowd.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 9
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 2 refrigerated uncooked pie crusts
- 4 cups peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced (about 6 to 8 peaches)
- 1 cup crushed cornflakes (regular or sweetened)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup confectioner’s sugar
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Line an 8×8 inch baking dish with nonstick foil, using 2 pieces so you have some overlap hanging over all sides.
- Cut the piecrust dough into rough 9×9 inch squares. Place the first square in the baking dish, pressing the edges a little way up the sides.
- Scatter the cereal over the dough, and then put the peaches in a layer on top of the dough.
- Pour the brown sugar evenly over the peaches.
- Top with the second crust and press the edges down towards the bottom crust. They don’t have to be sealed. Cut a few steam slices in the top crust and bake until golden, 45 to 50 minutes.
- Cool in the pan for about ten minutes and then carefully remove from the pan, using the foil edges as handles. Cool on a rack in the foil until completely cool. The waiting is the hardest part!
- When the pie is cool, make the glaze by mixing the milk and vanilla into the powdered sugar. If it is too thick add a little more milk.
- Carefully invert the pie onto a cookie sheet, and then again onto a platter. Drizzle the glaze over the top. Use it all!
- Cut into slabs and serve.
Notes
Need to add something to your kitchen equipment to make this recipe? Below are some of the items we used in the Framed Cooks kitchen to help cook this up. These are affiliate links to things we use and love, which helps to pay for all that bacon I keep buying (without any extra cost to you)! Thanks for using them to keep our kitchen cooking…xoxo!
Updated (and made even more delicious!) from a previously published Framed Cooks post!
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