I’m loving rustic style foods lately. The weather is getting warmer and I want to be outdoors. This is where semi homemade comes in, and it’s alright by me. I’ve become a fan of the Pillsbury pie crust. I’ve used them in a few recipes and I couldn’t be happier. The crust comes out perfect every time! Light and flaky perfection. The best part is, while I love to bake from scratch, I love being able to bake and serve in half the time. Wouldn’t you agree?

With Easter Sunday only a day away, I want to be able to enjoy my time with family and not be stuck in the kitchen the whole day. I needed to come up with a few recipes that not only look great, but taste great too.

These rustic iron skillet peach pies are perfect for your Easter reunion. I used individual 5” inch cast iron skillets, but you can make one whole pie with this recipe too. While I like a traditional pie, I like the smaller individual more rustic approach. Plus, they’re super cute–don’t you think?

I used the two pie crust that come in the package and turned them into 8 individual sized pies. You have to be strategic when cutting the rounds, but you can easily get 3-4 5” inch rounds out of each unrolled pie dough.

Springtime brings so many choices when it comes to fresh produce. I absolutely love walking into the produce section and picking up some fresh fruit, but for this recipe, I chose frozen because why not? I am happy to say it turned out great. Nothing terrible about using premade pie dough or frozen fruit. If you have the right ingredients, and the right instructions, it’ll come out just as good. Let’s eat.

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 box of Pillsbury pie crusts, refrigerated
• 1 pack of frozen peach slices (16 oz.), refrigerated, thawed and drained of any liquid
• ¾ cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tsp of ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp of nutmeg
• 2 tsp of vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp of All purpose flour
• ¼ tsp of salt
• ½ of a lemon, juiced
• A dab of butter to grease the skillets, room temperature (1 Tbsp)

Ingredients for toppings:

• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream
• ½ cup of sliced pecans
• ¼ cup of brown sugar
• ¼ cup of granulated sugar
• ¼ cup of Brandy
• A pinch of salt
• ½ Tbsp of butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F.
2. In a medium size bowl add the peaches, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, salt, all purpose flour and lemon juice. Use a wooden spoon to mix all the ingredients and combine. Set aside.
3. Lightly grease the cast iron skillets with the room temperature butter. Lightly! a little bit will do.
4. Unroll the dough on a clean dry surface and use a rolling pin to gently stretch it out. Careful not to stretch it out too much, a few rolls outward will suffice.
5. Use a large biscuit cutter or 5” inch plastic lid from any tupperware or round container to cut the dough into circles.
6. Place the dough circles on the buttered cast iron skillets.
7. Add the fruit mixture to the dough and then fold the edges upward. Give them a few pinches to create a canopy for the filling.
8. Bake for 20 minutes.

Directions for the pecans:

1. While the pies are baking, place a small frying pan on medium heat and add the pecans. Toast them for about 3 minutes. Stir constantly so they start to brown, but not burn.
2. Now add the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt. Mix all the ingredients together. The butter will melt and the sugars will bubble, coating the pecans. Let it cook for about 1-2 minutes.
3. Now, add the Brandy and let the alcohol simmer out. This should take another 1-2 minutes.
4. Turn the stove off and take the frying pan off the heat.
5. Set aside until ready to serve over your freshly baked pies. If desired, pair with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.