Peach Pie with Mascarpone Cheese

So, it seems to me that a running theme this week is having too much of a good thing.

Well, I had the same experience. As we're nearing the end of peach season, I decided to go to the local fresh fruits and vegetables stand and buy a basket of peaches. I thought I'd treasure them for a week, one a day - yum - but to my dismay, they were really ripe and needed to be used immediately. I couldn't enjoy a peach sliced on my cereal for a week. I had to make something now!!

One of my all-time favorite foods in the world is peach pie. I adore it. Once made, I'll eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner until it's gone. I can't resist. (Yes, I make it gluten-free, but this recipe can be made either way.)

Now I could have given you a straight peach pie recipe, one that I've made since I was little girl, but I wanted to try something a little different, adding cheese to the pie, seeing as I'm always using cheese or a cheese kind of product nowadays.

I had made a cheese crust for my apple pie last year...picture on left. [For the life of me I can't find the recipe on the MLK site, which means I didn't tag it well, so I'm including the link to that recipe that is on my Avery Aames site: APPLE PIE WITH CHEESE CRUST.]


ANYWAY... like that experiment, I wanted to try using cheese in this peach pie. Literally "in." I hope you enjoy the result.

I used mascarpone. Mascarpone is an Italian dairy product, usually made from crème fraîche. It’s a lovely milky-white color and spreads like sour cream. It’s used in lots of dishes. It is the main ingredient of tiramisu.  And some people use it instead of butter or Parmesan cheese in risotto. Delish!

PEACH PIE WITH MASCARPONE 

(Gluten-free or regular)

Ingredients:

1 gluten-free 8-9” pie shell (may use regular if you're not celiac)

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup gluten-free flour (I used sweet rice flour; may use tapioca starch) (You may use regular white flour if you're not celiac)

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1/8 cup butter, room temperature

4 ounces mascarpone cheese

4 large peaches, skinned *

Directions:

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

 

In medium bowl, mix sugar,  flour, nutmeg. Cut in the butter. The mixture will start to form small “pea-sized” balls. Put half of the mixture at the bottom of the uncooked pie shell.

Remove the skins from the peaches. *The easiest way to do this is to heat a pot of hot water. Using tongs, dip each peach into the water for about 20 seconds. This loosens the skin. With a paring knife, peel off the skin. Slice the peaches into thick slices. Arrange the peaches in a pinwheel on top of the mixture in the pie shell.

Pour the rest of the mixture over the peaches. Drop dollops of the mascarpone on top of the mixture. This will mound high, but rest assured, it will all cook down in the oven.

Place the pie on a cookie sheet with an edge. Juice will drip off the pie.

Bake for 10 minutes at 450, then reduce the heat to 350 and cook another 25 minutes, until the top of the pie is brown. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. 

Note: if you serve warm, the insides of the pie will ooze out, and it’s definitely harder to serve. If you cool overnight in the refrigerator, the insides of the pie will set and serve up more easily. It’s tasty either way. 

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