my first peach pie — sara priddy

I really, really like the pie crust recipe from the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. The vodka evaporates, leaving the crust super flaky. But I still can't, for the life of me, figure out how to make my pies look pretty. Pretty or not, this was awesome with Blue Bell vanilla bean ice cream (alongside pie or cake is the only way to eat vanilla ice cream).

By the way, this is kinda torture becase this pie is long gone. I made it last weekend with peaches I brought from Kansas (that came from Georgia). The filling recipe was also from the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook and it was awesome (though I think 3 pounds of peaches would have been better than 2.5). I like that cookbook, but I prefer the latest Cook's Illustrated cookbook for most other things (even though they share a lot of recipes). This weekend, maybe cherry (that would be a first too)...

For fun, my chocolate pie recipe (it started as Emeril's Chocolate Meringue Pie):

baked pie crust (see above recipe link, but halve)
8 ounces 60% cocoa Godiva chocolate, melted in the microwave (5 min at 50%)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large egg yolks, beaten
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 cups milk
6 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix the sugar and salt and cornstarch in a pot over medium heat. Then slowly poor in the milk. Whisk constantly until it starts to get thick. Add the eggs. Once it's as thick as it needs to be, turn off the heat and add the chocolate and butter. Poor into the pie shell and refrigerate. I top with homemade whipped cream (1 cup whipping cream, a half teaspoon of vanilla, a half teaspoon of almond extract, and 2 tablespoons of sugar: whipped).