This Peaches and Cream Pie is made with a flaky and buttery pie shell, filled with an almond flavored mascarpone whipped cream, along with macerated juicy fresh peaches. True to its name, this peach pie is bursting with peaches and cream, a perfect summer dessert that will leave your guests smacking their lips asking for second.
In Asian cultures, peaches have been associated with immortality and longevity, which has spurned many mythical tales featuring peaches, such as Momotaro, and Peach of Immortality. Here’s another mythical story about peaches that is destined to be rewritten throughout history.
Many moons ago, we bought a peaches and cream pie from Polly’s Pie. It was the best peach pie I had ever tasted! We came back year after year looking for it. But unfortunately, they never brought it back. So, I had a mission to bring this Peaches and Cream Pie to life and that’s just what I did.
How to Make Peaches and Cream Pie
How to prepare fresh peaches for this creamy peach pie
Ripe but firm peaches are the best for this recipe since they are served fresh in the pie filling. When picking peaches, you want them to smell sweet and peachy but not too soft when squeezed gently.
Unripe peaches can continue to ripen at room temperature within a couple of days. Or you can blanch them in boiling water, this will help remove the skin as well as make them a little softer and bring out their peachiness.
Do I have to peel my peaches?
Many readers have made this pie without peeling the peaches and it will work fine. I like to peel them to give the pie a cleaner and more uniform look, but they will still be delicious unpeeled like in these Peach Shortcakes.
Should I slice my peaches into wedges or cut them into cubes?
When I made this peach pie the first few times, I cut them into wedges because they are easier to arrange into a pretty presentation, like this Peach Crostata. However, I prefer them cut into bite size cubes now, because they are easier to eat.
How to prepare the pie crust
My go-to pie crust is this all-butter pie crust. It has an exceptional buttery taste, and also very easy to make. Refer back to the full tutorial if you need a little refresh on how to make homemade pie crust.
Peaches and Cream Pie Process Photos Step 1 – 2
- Roll the pie dough out to about 2” larger than your pie dish. Place it over the pie dish, let the excess dough hang over the side, trim the excess and flute the edge.
- Bake the pie crust until completely cooked and golden brown, without the filling in it. Allow it to cool to room temperature before adding the filling.
Can I use premade pie dough?
Yes, certainly. To save time, you can use premade refrigerated or frozen pie dough. I’ve only personally used Pillsbury frozen pie crust; it was pre-shaped in an aluminum pie tin and you can just bake it straight from frozen.
Try to get a deep dish pie shell if you can. If you can only find the regular or smaller pie shells, you might be able to squeeze two pies out using the filling from this recipe.
How to put this peach pie together
Mascarpone whipped cream filling & substitutions
The cream filling is a mixture of whipped cream and mascarpone cheese, flavored with almond extract.
- I recommend using Cello brand mascarpone cheese. Other brands can give a chalky aftertaste.
- You can substitute vanilla extract if preferred.
- You can substitute cream cheese like the filling in this Strawberry and Cream Pie if desired.
Assembling peaches and cream pie
You should assemble the pie only when the pie crust has cooled completely. I also recommend assembling it the day you plan to serve the pie for the best crust texture.
Peaches and Cream Pie Process Photos Step 4 – 6
- Add half of the cream filling to the pie crust.
- Arrange the first layer of peaches, or just spoon in about a third, try not to add too much of the juice with it.
- Now add the rest of the cream filling on top of the peaches, even out the top with a spatula.
- Arrange the rest of the peaches on top, or just spoon it over if they are cut into cubes. Drizzle the juice over the peaches, or you can reserve it to add to individual slices when serving.
Can I prepare this peaches and cream pie ahead of time?
I don’t recommend putting this pie together days before your event since the cream filling and the fresh peaches can make the crust soggy. But you can make the macerated peaches, cream filling, and crust separately ahead of time and then assemble the pie the night before or the day you plan to serve.
- The unbaked pie crust can be made weeks in advance and kept in the freezer. Use a metal pie dish, or keep the frozen crust wrapped in plastic and foil. Glass and ceramic pie dish can crack if baked from frozen.
- Bake the frozen pie crust just the day before for the best crust texture. If you bake them too much ahead of time, they can go stale.
- The cream filling and macerated peaches can be prepared 2 – 3 days in advance, but keep them separated.
- Assemble the peach pie the night before or the morning of your event. It takes 2 minutes to do this.
What to do with leftover mascarpone?
This recipe calls for just 8 oz of mascarpone cheese, but I’ve only seen a 16 oz container from Cello brand. So what to do with the leftover?
- Make Mascarpone Ice Cream or Orange Mascarpone Ice Cream to cool down in the summer heat.
- Bake an easy cake, perfect for weekend brunches, like this Mascarpone Mixed Berry Cake or this Tropical Peach Mango Coconut Cake.
- Or whip up a batch of these Pistachio Cupcakes with Orange Mascarpone Frosting to share at the office.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment, send me a photo, rate it and don’t forget to tag me @wildwildwhisk on Instagram. I’d love to see what’s cooking up in your kitchen. Cheers!
📖 Recipe card
Peaches and Cream Pie
Ingredients
Pie dough
- 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (198 g)
- 2 rounded tablespoon granulated sugar (35 g)
- ¼ rounded teaspoon kosher salt (3 g)
- 5 oz unsalted butter (141 g, cold & cubed)
- 3 tablespoon cold water (44 g)
- Extra flour for rolling
Mascarpone Whipped Cream Filling
- 8 oz mascarpone cheese (226 g, room temperature)
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream (240 g, cold)
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar (61 g)
- ½ teaspoon pure almond extract (3 g)
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (3 g)
Macerated peaches
- 3 lbs fresh peaches (or nectarines)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (44 g, more if peaches are not sweet enough)
- ½ teaspoon almond extract (3 g)
- 1 tablespoon of fresh squeezed lemon juice (14 g)
- A pinch of kosher salt
Instructions
Prepare the fruit filling
- Peel and slice peaches into thin wedges or cut into bite size cubes. Toss peaches with sugar, salt, lemon juice and almond extract in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until needed.
Make the dough
- Add flour, sugar and salt in a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Then transfer to a food processor fitted with the dough blade.
- Cube the cold butter and add to the flour mixture. Pulse several times until butter is about pea and bean size, variation in size is okay, but no smaller than a pea.
- Turn the food processor to “on” position and drizzle cold water over the dough mixture through the water hole, as soon as the dough starts to pull together turn the food processor off. You may need to stop the food processor in between and get a spatula to get the flour at the bottom to mix up.
- Turn the dough out on the counter or cutting board and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for an hour.
Prepare and bake crust
- Take pie dough out of the fridge and roll into a circle about 2” larger than your pie dish. Use extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter and roller.
- Carefully place the dough over the pie dish, lightly press the dough into the bottom and side of the pie dish, let the excess dough hang over the side.
- Trim some of the excess dough if necessary to create an even edge, but leave enough to fold under and flute the edge.
- Cover the prepared pie dough with plastic wrap and freeze for 10 - 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Take the frozen pie crust out of the freezer and poke holes with a fork on the bottom and side.
- Line the frozen pie crust with parchment paper, large enough to cover the crust completely, including the edges.
- Add pie weights or dry bean on top of the parchment paper, enough to fill to the top.
- Bake pie crust for 20 minutes.
- Remove pie weights or bean, and bake for another 10 - 13 minutes until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack, about 2 hours.
Prepare the cream filling
- In the stand mixer bowl, beat the heavy whipping cream with half of the sugar, and the extracts to stiff peak.
- In a small bowl, beat the softened mascarpone cheese with the remaining sugar until smooth with a hand whisk.
- Add cheese mixture into the whipped cream, and set the mixer on “stir” or fold by hand using a spatula until thoroughly mixed. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
Assemble the pie
- Spoon half of the cream mixture into the cooled crust; level out the top. Then spoon about a third of the peaches on top of the cream using a slotted spoon. Add the rest of the cream on top of the peach layer and add the rest of the peaches on top.
- Drizzle the juice over the top or reserve the juice to drizzle over pie when served.
- Keep refrigerated.
Notes
- If your peaches are not sweet enough, you can increase the amount of sugar used in the macerated peaches to your taste.
- You do not have to peel the peaches for this recipe but it will give a more uniform look.
- I recommend dicing the peaches into bite-size cubes. It’s easier to eat this way.
- This peaches and cream pie is best when assembled the day you plan to serve it. But the three main components - the pie shell, the mascarpone whipped cream, and the macerated peaches - can be made in advance if you want to prepare ahead of time. (see post for more detail)
- You can use premade pie dough, prepare the crust according to the instruction that comes with the dough.
Nutrition
For some reason, we have not had mascarpone for a long time and I was wondering if I could use goat’s fresh cheese instead. The texture is almost like ricotta cheese, and instead of using the pie crust, use graham cookies?
Hmm… is it more chunky or smooth? If it is smooth when whipped, I think you can use it. But if it is chunky, I think would make the cream texture a bit odd. Though it actually sounds good with a drizzle of honey on top. Another option is regular cream cheese. Graham cookies crust is just fine.
Amazing! The almond flavor really brought it all together!
Thank you, Audrey! Glad to hear you like it 🙂
Made just the filling and layered it. Topped with toasted coconut. Tasted fantastic and looked great with the layers. Thanks for the recipe.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it, Mac!
Hi me again. How many cans of canned peaches (weight of each can) do I need to make one recipe. Fresh peaches are not easily available in my country and expensive if available.
I used 3 lbs of fresh peaches so you can try about the same amount of canned peaches, 3 lbs without the juice that they come in. I don’t know how much the canned peaches weight where you are but here they come in 14.5 oz or 29 oz cans. I would estimate 4 – 5 cans of the small cans, or 2 – 3 cans of the large cans.
I used 3 – 15.25oz (432g) cans sliced peaches in heavy syrup.
I drained the peaches, saving some of the syrup ( 1 tbsp) to add to the mascarpone mixture. I chopped the peaches for the first layer, and sliced the sliced peaches thinner for top layer. If you don’t slice the top layer of peaches thinner add a 4th can.
Note: I didn’t add any sugar to the peaches as you would to fresh peaches and everybody loved it.
Thanks for all the helpful info, Rick!
Mascarpone is not readily available in stores in my country. You said cream cheese can be a substitute. What is measurement for cream cheese for this one pie recipe.
Same amount of cream cheese as mascarpone, 8 oz.
Hi…. can l use frozen peaches? Thnx
I would probably use canned peaches instead of frozen. I’m not quite sure how the frozen peach texture will be like once defrosted, they might be too mushy or watery. If using canned peaches, you can skip adding sugar since most canned peaches already have sugar added, but try it to your taste.
Hi! I won’t be able to prepare this on the day I want to serve it; can I make a day ahead of time and have it not get soggy (if I didn’t pour the juice over it)? Or do you think the natural juices in the peaches will weep into the cream and the cream will soften the crust? Thank you for any help you can give!
Hey Kendra, how far in advance are you making this? If you cannot make it the day off, I recommend at least assemble it the day off. You can make and keep the peaches, cream, and crust separately and then just put the pie together closer to the day you plan to serve.
What I usually do is make the crust and actually keep it in the freezer (when frozen take it out of the pie dish, wrap in plastic and foil well and continue to freeze, or you have to use a metal dish since glass and ceramic will crack with a change of temperature) and bake it the night before or the day before you plan to assemble the pie. You can also prepare the cream and the peaches the night before or a couple of days before. Then assemble the day before you need it or the day off, it takes 2 mins to assemble.
Peach season is here! This pie is so delicious! Making it for second time and plan to make it again next week. Lots company lately and everyone has loved it!!
Thanks Marietta! I’m so glad you enjoy this pie and are sharing it with company 🙂
This pie was heavenly!! Thank you for the recipe!!
You’re most welcome Ali. So glad you enjoyed it!!
This pie is absolutely delicious!
Thank you so much Ann, I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
oh my goodness, this looks absolutely sublime. I can’t wait until peaches are in season here to try this.
One of our favorites now!
Does the mascarpone add an after-taste?
Not an after taste, it’s a very mild mascarpone taste, but sounds like you don’t really like mascarpone?
exactly…I don’t find it to my taste. But, the peaches and cream? Now, that’s another matter. delicious
You can always replace with cream cheese if you don’t like mascarpone 🙂