Pie #2: Southern Peach Pie with a Nutty Cornmeal Crust

So, as it turns out, Pie #2 was somewhat more involved than the first pie attempted from this book. Since peach pies apparently tend to be especially drippy and soggy, the author recommends cooking the peaches prior to adding them to the crust. So, the 1-inch slices of 8 fresh peaches were de-juiced in a skillet for 5 minutes in a mixture of brown sugar and 2 TBSP of water.

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The filling was then slotted-spooned into a bowl with a mixture of tapioca, cinnamon, and corn starch while I painstakingly rolled-out my nutty cornbread crust. You know, the one I had to make using a food processor, and since I have a 1-cup capacity food processor the large-recipe crust had to be done in five portions, alternately adding the 1 egg + 1 egg yolk and 3/4 cups of cold butter divided into equal-ish portions to the pecan, flour and cornmeal crust base... (**Note to self: Purchase larger food processor before the next attempt so that neighbors will not be bothered by banshee-esque screams of rage.)

Before laying the top crust, I sprinkled some fresh lemon juice over the fruit and "dotted" it with butter. All hell broke loose when I laid the top crust, as the peaches immediately broke through the thinner sections and I had to spend 30 minutes attempting to patch it up un-noticeably. (**Note to self again: Get a better crust-rolling surface so that I don't have to scrape the dough off of my scratched silicone cutting board, thus tearing it.)

Once the top crust was on, I painted it lightly with milk, sprinkled the top with sugar, and baked it on 400 degrees for 45 minutes. The crust was supposed to be a delightful golden brown, and I was instructed to wait a MINIMUM of 3 hours to cut it. Check, check, and check.

Rating: *One Pie-lette

Where to begin... Not only was the pie kind of a pain to make, but the end result was exceptionally underwhelming. First of all, peaches are *clearly* not yet in season - they were dry and slightly brown from the get-go. I am sure this skewed the end result. Additionally, I do not like pecans, so the crust was already at a disadvantage. However, the pie was just overall bland, dry-ish, and booooooring. 45 minutes on 400 degrees also seemed odd, and the "golden brown" goal was more of a "I have to take this out after 35 minutes because it's about to be a burnt pie" situation. I guess I would make this again with drippier peaches just to see if it made a difference, but I think maybe cobbler is the way to go with peaches... I'm just saying. Throw it in a bowl, sprinkle with some sort of streusel-y topping and pop it in the oven at 350 for 45 min. Kind of thing. Ya know.