THE FOURTH OF JULY AND A GEORGIA PEACH PIE!!

Well, Happy Fourth of July, everyone! I hope you have a super fun time  with your family and friends. This holiday (like all holidays, really) always makes me sentimental for the Independence Days of my youth on Coastal California. My dad would always buy a big box of cheapo Chinese fireworks (truly amazing that we still have all of our digits and hearing) and my brother and friends and I would go NUTZZZ with sparklers and those snakey things that you lit on fire and firecrackers and S'mores and hotdogs and such. Good times, good times. These days, we usually take in the firework spectacle at our town's lakefront, along with about 10 trillion other people. Which we totally love....

Our daughter will be getting back from her trip to South Carolina / Georgia later on tonite (Georgia in July, nice and sticky and hot!), and Big Daddy's been working his fool head off all weekend long, so I've had a nice and quiet holiday weekend to myself, which I love. Got to garden and cook and decorate and chat on the phone and watch one of my all-time favorite movies......

Yup, Waitress, starring Keri Russell. The movie is ALL about pie, one of my favorite things to bake. If you haven't seen this delightful little flick yet, you might want to rent it soon....it's just one of those feel good movies that will stay with you for days. Hey, while we're on the subject of PIE--I also had time to catch up on one of my subscriptions, Southern Living. Just look what was on the cover this month.....

That's right---Peach Pie! Why, I was just in the grocery store a couple of days ago and picked up these gorgeous Georgia peaches......

Aren't they pretty? And since I've never seen a pie recipe that I didn't want to try, I gave Southern Living's version a whirl....I will give you their exact recipe at the end of this column, but I must confess that I deviated from their pie crust recipe by using my food processor instead of cutting in the butter by hand. SOOOO much easier. What's really really important with a good from-scratch pie crust (you can always use the store bought pie-dough in a pinch, but I try to make my own so that I know exactly what ingredients I'm feeding my family) is keeping the butter and water ICE cold--that's my biggest hint. First thing I did was to process the butter and flour in my food processor....

Adding icy cold water until dough begins to form into a ball.....

Turn your dough out onto plastic wrap.....

Shape into 2 round discs and wrap well, then chill for at least 1 / 2 hour. While it's chilling out in your fridge, you can slice your peaches....mine were sooo sweet and juicy I was almost blushing (a little peach porn for you--hah!). ..........

Stir together sugars, cinnamon and salt and combine well with peaches. Roll out one disc of dough, and place dough over a rolling pin, then unroll over pie plate (a neat little trick)..................

Trim edges, then fill with peach mixture and dot with butter.........

I decided to use a lattice crust on my pie (just like on the cover!), so I found my little fancy pie crust cutting tool in my ridiculously cluttered utensil drawer......

Cut dough from remaining disc (after rolling out) into about 3 / 4 inch strips.....

 and create your lattice design on your pie...then trim and crimp edges.....

 So much fun! Brush the top with one beaten egg, then sprinkle with sugar...

Bake as directed...be sure to place a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan under pie to prevent it from leaking all over your oven, causing your smoke detector to go off and a burning sugary smell to fill up your kitchen! Okay, look how my Georgia Peach Pie came out.....I'd say it's as pretty as the cover of Southern Living Magazine......TA DA!!!.......

I really can't tell you how this tastes yet, because I'm not allowed to dig in until tomorrow night with the family and some vanilla ice cream, but I'm pretty stinkin' sure it's gonna be gooooooddd, reallll goooooodd! I'll let you know in my next post. Here's the recipe...

SOUTHERN LIVING'S BROWN SUGAR-CINNAMON PEACH PIE

Serves 8

1 1 / 3 cups cold butter

4 1 / 4 cups all purpose flour, divided

1 1 / 2 tsp. salt

1 / 2 to 3 / 4 cup ice-cold water

8 large fresh, firm, ripe peaches (about 4 lbs.)

1 / 2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 / 3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 / 8 tsp. salt

1 1 / 2 tblsp. butter, cut into pieces

1 large egg, beaten

1 1 / 2 tblsp. granulated sugar

Cut 1 1 / 3 cups butter into small pieces and chill 15 minutes. Stir together 4 cups flour and 1 1 / 2 tsp. salt. Cut butter until flour mixture resembles small peas. Gradually stir in 1 / 2 cup ice water with a fork, stirring until dry ingredients are moistened and dough begins to form a ball and leaves sides of bowl, adding more ice water, 1 tblsp. at a time, if necessary. Turn dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap; press and shape dough into 2 flat discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap, and chill 30 minutes to 24 hours. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place 1 dough disc on a lightly floured surface; sprinkle dough lightly with flour. Roll dough to about 1 / 4 inch thickness. Starting at 1 edge of dough, wrap dough around a rolling pin. Place rolling pin over a 9 inch pie plate, and unroll dough over pie plate. Press dough into pie plate. Peel peaches and cut into 1 / 2 inch thick slices; cut in half. Stir together brown sugar, next 3 ingredients and remaining 1 / 4 cup flour in a bowl; add peaches, stirring to coat. Immediately spoon peach mixture into pie crust in pie plate, and dot with 1 1 / 2 tbslp. butter. (Do not make mixture ahead or it will become to juicy). Roll remaining disc of dough to about 1 / 4 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut into strips (I did 12), using a fluted pastry wheel. Make a lattice design. Trim and crimp edges and brush lattice with beaten egg, and sprinkle with sugar. Freeze pie for 15 minutes. Meanwhile heat a jelly-roll pan in oven for 10 minutes. Place pie on jelly-roll pan. Bake at 425 degrees on lower oven rack for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees--bake for 40 minutes. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes longer, or until juices are thick and bubbly. Transfer to a wire rack; cool for 2 hours before serving.

TODAY I'M SO THANKFUL FOR....

*My blog followers....you make my day, each and every day! Thank you so much from the bottom of my pie-loving heart.

*Fresh Georgia Peaches--wouldn't be summer without 'em!

*My creativity, which has seen an upswing lately....must be feeling better after my liver restored itself, thankfully.

*The Frey family, for taking our daughter on an amazing vacation, where they experienced a plantation tour, sightseeing around Charleston and Savannah, boogie-boarding on the ocean, and even ate (gasp!) fried chicken at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House, a Savannah must-do, if you're ever in the area. Thank you, sweet John and Sarah!