By Lidey Heuck
- Total Time
- 40 minutes, plus 2 hours’ chilling
- Rating
- 4(1,450)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This recipe is inspired by the fruit and cream pies at Briermere Farms, in Riverhead, N.Y., a fruit farm and bakery on the North Fork of Long Island. Here, a press-in graham cracker crust is swapped in for the traditional pastry crust, but otherwise the recipe stays true to the signature pie, with a giant mound of fresh sliced peaches concealing a lightly sweetened whipped cream filling beneath. Cream cheese acts as a stabilizer in the whipped cream, allowing you to assemble the crust and filling in advance — but once you add the peaches, the pie is best served within the hour. Perfectionists take note: This pie is a little messy, but that’s part of its charm. If you can’t find ripe, juicy peaches, this recipe is equally delicious made with fresh strawberries or blueberries. The quality and ripeness of the fruit is more important than the variety.
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- 1⅓cups/160 grams graham cracker crumbs (from about 10 or 11 graham cracker sheets)
- ¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
- ¼teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼teaspoon kosher salt
- 6tablespoons/85 grams unsalted butter, melted
- 2ounces/60 grams cream cheese, at room temperature
- ½cup/60 grams confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1cup/240 milliliters cold heavy whipping cream
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2pounds/900 grams ripe yellow peaches (5 to 7 peaches)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
406 calories; 28 grams fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 38 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 26 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 243 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the graham cracker crumbs, granulated sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter and toss until the crumbs are evenly moistened. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch pie plate and press into an even layer on the bottom and up the sides of the pie plate, packing the crust lightly with the bottom of a measuring cup. Place the pie plate on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until set, then cool completely.
Step
2
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat on low speed until combined, then raise the speed to high and whip until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the heavy cream and vanilla, and beat on high speed until the mixture forms stiff peaks. Scrape the filling into the cooled crust, smooth the top, and chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight, until set. (Cover with plastic wrap if chilling the pie overnight.)
Step
3
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and fill a large bowl with ice water. Immerse the peaches, a few at a time, in the boiling water for 30 seconds to 1 minute, depending on the ripeness of the peaches, until their skins peel off easily with a paring knife. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the peaches to the ice bath to stop the cooking. Peel the peaches, and cut into slices, placing the slices in a colander set over a bowl to drain any excess juices.
Step
4
Just before you plan to serve the pie, spoon the peaches onto the filling, covering the entire surface of the pie. Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 hour before serving.
Tip
- This pie is a little messy, but that’s part of its charm. Finally, if you can’t find ripe, juicy peaches, this recipe is equally delicious made with fresh strawberries or blueberries. The quality and ripeness of the fruit is more important than the variety.
Ratings
4
out of 5
1,450
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Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Lauren E.KP
Got out of bed to have another bite. It’s almost midnight, so perfect timing. Used leftover vanilla wafers in the crust sans graham & yum town (especially with touch of cinnamon!)In future would double cookie of choice base (I think I’m team v. Wafer on this one) because amount called for didn’t allow for hearty side over hang. Subbed Vermont origin marscapone w/ local Colorado palisade peaches and this peaches and Creme delight pleases from sun up coffee lover to midnight’s guilty pleasure.
chelcie
Made this last night and it was delicious. I doubled the filling recipe because to me it looked like there wouldn’t be enough filling to peach ratio. I loved the way it turned out doubling the filling
Julie the farmer
This is more than the sum of its parts. Scrumptious. For those who cannot serve the entire pie at once - do not top the whole pie but cut slices as needed and top them with fruit when serving. Not as spectacular but equally delicious.
Bell
Out of graham crackers? Other types of cracker crust could be saltines, Ritz, or Club crackers. Increase sugar to 1/3 cup. Or nut crust; combination of about 2/3s nut flour (very fine grind) and 1/3 very fine chopped. For this pie I used 2/3 cup almond flour, 1/3 cup graham crackers, 1/3 cup finely chopped blanched almonds, 1/4 cup sugar
J Bush
The tip provided at the bottom of the recipe was spot on: this pie is a little messy, and therefore difficult to serve neatly. Since my plan was to serve this at a socially-distanced cookout, I prepared the parts as directed but presented in a 'deconstructed' manner. That is, I crumbled the baked cracker crust into course chunks and assembled the parts 'parfait' style in single-serve parfait ware, layering crumbled crust, cream, & peaches twice and topping with a ripe raspberry. Delish.
suzanne
This recipe made a delicious dessert. For those who thought there was too little crust or filling when made in a 9" pie pan, try making it in an 8" pie pan. It does have a problem: 6 Tbsp of butter and 85g of butter are not equal quantities. 85g is about 3 Tbsp. Using 6 Tbsp turns the crust into a very delicious but hard crust that can only be cut with great force. Please correct this measurement.
Mina
When I bake a graham cracker crust I put it in the freezer for 20 minutes before placing it in the preheated oven. Keeps the crust from getting too brown. BTW I found that Aldi honey grahams are very good.
Randy
No. Creme Fraiche is not interchangeable with cream cheese. The point of the cream cheese is to thicken and stabilize the filling to support the fruit. Creme Fraiche will not accomplish that objective. The resulting filling will be too soft and the fruit will sink through it.Workable substitutes for cream cheese would include mascarpone, neufchatel, fromage blanc, or any variety of fresh "farmer cheese".If you want to employ your creme fraiche, substitute it for the heavy cream in the filling
Sheila
You can make with a regular pie crust. It is still excellent.
NanceG
When cutting your peaches, dip them in lemon juice to prevent oxidization/discoloration, then leave them to drip dry on a p.towel. I use apple-jelly as the glaze.
Rosie
I think they do that by heating a bit of red currant jelly (or apple jelly) on the stove until just liquified, then brush over the fruit with a pastry brush
Nicole
Increase crust, increase filling by half. Delightful and delicious! Can’t wait to try with Mango next!
taffy
Made this straight up and got insane raves. I could making any number of alterations but then one would have to say...why?
Kaitlyn
Made this for a lake park picnic yesterday with a delicious Washington peach. I tried to half it and use a tiny pie pan I have to serve 2. Altogether it turned out too sweet for me and I ended up just eating the peaches off the top, which were deliciously in season. A lot of effort on my part to eat sliced peaches!
Richard Schillen
Didn't have graham crackers so I cheated and blitzed raisin bran cereal, yeah the one with the raisins, in the Cuisinart and made the crust. It came out great! Love the macerated peaches on top of it. But next time I'll make more of the vanilla cream with cream cheese, maybe double. This recipe is a keeper!
Rachel
If you want a crazy easy version of this recipe, use Keebler mini pie crusts & don’t peel the peaches. Threw it together before a dinner party (maybe chilled for a half hour?) and they were soooo good. I’m sure a homemade crust is much better, but the peaches were divine, and that’s what counts.
Yvonne
It's peach season here in southern France. I fixed this desert last week and it was a great hit with a few changes to adapt to French products and container sizes: speculoos for the crust (no need for cinamon, salt or sugar), 160 g-container of Saint-Moray + 20 cl of cream whipped up with only 2 TBSP of sugar. In a rectangular-sized pirex pan, I put crust on the bottom only, added the cream mixture. Peaches with 1 TBSP lemon juice and 1 TBSP sugar were added at the last minute! "Une tuerie!"
Christine
This recipe calls for a 9” pie plate but after incorporating recommendations to increase crust and filling, wonder if a 10” deep-dish would have been better? Resulted in a thicker crust & more filling which reduced surface for the 2 lbs. of peaches.
Frances
I made this a couple of weeks ago and am making it again. It is so simple & delicious. I did not add the 1/4C of sugar to the crust but I did add 1T of maple syrup to the peaches. Everyone loved it!
Ian
Tried this recipe but found it a little like the no-cook cheesecake recipes from my childhood. Then tried Gabrielle Hamilton’s recipe for Crème Diplomat in NYT cooking app: used 1 package (1 tbsp/7 g/0.25 oz) of powdered gelatin (instead of 1 tsp of granulated gelatin) and it worked perfectly! Used a pat in the pan shortbread crust (pate sucrée) from Joy of Cooking then coated the fruit with 2 tbsp melted apricot jam then placed on top of the pie filled with chilled crème diplomat- perfect!
Sourdough Gal
Change the verbiage in step three from “Meanwhile” to “just before you serve the pie”. Otherwise your prepared peaches will have to wait around for the two hours the pie needs to chill in the fridge. On another note, I didn’t have cinnamon so I used cardamom. Wonderful!
maria
I can’t believe this has four stars and not five. The best dessert I’ve ever had. Used whipping cream instead of half and half and slightly reduced the sugar in the filling (because of stuff written here). Amazing. Maybe I’m a fantastic cook but I doubt it. This recipe is A Plus.
Howard K
any tips on preventing the peaches from turning brown?- prepared the peaches couple of hours in advance of finishing pie - decided to add some lemon juice to slow down browning process -
Tini Campbell
Ive made this pie a few times and love it. Went to the store to get ingredients and saw Trader Joes triple ginger cookies and used it for the crust. Knock yourself out......sooooo delicious !
Heather W.
No graham crackers, so I made a ritz cracker crust with brown sugar. The buttery saltiness of the crust was a PERFECT complement to the cream filling and the peaches. As others suggested, I topped each slice with peaches as I was plating and the uneaten pie is in the fridge, not getting soggy.
Amanda M
I have a pretty shallow 9” pie pan. So for my specific pie pan, the crust recipe was enough as is but I did need to double the filling. It’s the end of summer here in SC so peaches it is.
AvanB2
Made crust with more crackers, no sugar, added some ginger. upped filling by 50 % except left sugar amount same. Also added lemon zest to give it a more interesting flavor.Topped with peaches, not quite ripe enough so nuked them for a few minutes to soften. Also added touch of cinnamon to those. Chilled everything before assembling. Added blackberries for color contrast. Big hit- but messy is right. Might do as parfaits next time...
Melissa Nagy
Now that I live in the South this may be our new “house dessert”. Can’t think of a better vehicle for fresh peaches (or other ripe fruit). This pie is crispy and sweet and creamy, but somehow still light. It fills in the cracks after dinner in the nicest way.I used Gentilini osvego biscuits for the crust as they were in the pantry. Added 1 teaspoon of sweet masala instead of cinnamon. It added a note of mysterious spice to the crust. Upped the filling to one half per other reviews. A
jessica f
1.5x crust, 1.5x filling. 2x filling too much
ChiaviDiBasso
After really enjoying this with fresh native peaches, I made it with native strawberries and grated a couple of ozs of bittersweet chocolate in the cream filling. Incredible!
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