When autumn arrives in Paris, thoughts of classic fall flavors like cranberries and cinnamon are just around the corner. Yet, we often want to hold on to the warmth of those sunny summer days along the Seine just a little while longer. Here’s a special recipe from Madelyn, Paris Perfect founder, that celebrates the flavors of both seasons. This fabulous peach pie has an autumnal twist – a delicious hazelnut crust. Madelyn shares, “For years I’ve made a cranberry pie for Thanksgiving and Christmas with a hazelnut crust. There’s something about hazelnuts that adds a wonderful contrast to the tart cranberries. It just melts in my mouth!” Add a bright touch of summer sweetness with this peach pie and the delightful toasty flavor of a hazelnut crust.
Preparing the Peaches
Skin the Peaches:
Poach pieces in boiling water for a few minutes. General instructions say 30 seconds, but it can take several minutes. Once they’re done, it’s so easy to simply peel off the skin. Once peeled, slice peaches as usual.
Ingredients
With the sweetness of peaches, a low sugar recipe works well for this pie. In fact, ever since we tasted the delicious chocolates at Aleno et Rivoire, where Chef Rivoire uses birch sugar as a sweetener, we’ve started to bake and cook with birch sugar as well – also called Xylitol.
6 peaches
1 tsp vanilla extract (I actually added 2 tsp; we love vanilla and peaches!)
¼ C lemon juice
3 Tbsp cornstarch
½ C brown sugar or ½ C Xylitol
½ tsp cinnamon
Xylitol is the name of the sugar from birch bark or corn cobs. You cook in the same relationship as sugar. For me there is no aftertaste, which is why I like it.
After preparing the peaches, combine above ingredients and cook while whisking together. Bring to boil.
Then cook for 4 more minutes until thickened.
Toasted Hazelnut Crust
We loved the crunchy crust from Sally’s Baking Addiction for a Nutella Tart with Toasted Hazelnut Crust and used that as inspiration for this pie recipe.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C)
1 C (120 grams) hazelnuts
1 C (120 grams) flour
(recipe calls for 2 TBSP sugar but I didn’t add)
¾ tsp salt
115 grams butter, cubed and cold
3 TBSP ice water
Chop hazelnuts and toast in the oven at 300 degrees, about 7 minutes. Keep your eye on them.
Put hazelnuts, flour, salt and butter in food processor and mix.
Pour into bowl, and add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time until you get a good dough-y consistency. Press into a pie pan.
I cover with aluminum foil and bake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees.
Remove, pour in your peaches and let cool off. It’s delicious!
For another sweet treat, try our Peach Tarte Tatin recipe too. Bon appétit!
