Caramel Peach Skillet Pie Recipe (2024)

And then there'd the problem of Hot Hands. When I took an interest course at Cordon Blue in London (on Marylebone Lane) in the mid-1970s making puff pastry was one of the exercises. The approach was roughy the same as this approach. But mine was a doughy mush. The instructor said the problem was my hot hands (I was the only man in the class). So she made me put my hands into a bowl of ice and water (very cold) before I touched the dough. It worked.

So, never having made caramel before this, I insisted on stirring rather than swirling--which ends up in a crystalized mess. Had to do that twice before reading up on caramel-making and finding out the less you mess with it, the more likely it is to caramelize.

I had trouble with the caramel crystallizing, and then read a useful tip: a squirt of lemon juice will help avoid crystallization.

Recipe without an appropriate (cast iron) skillet:
Follow recipe to step 9. Pour peach mixture in a 7X9 or 8X8 buttered baking pan. Roll pastry to a rectangular form that fits top of pan. Bake as directed. Works perfectly.

If you have a stone or sealed concrete surface for rolling the dough, you can always chill the surface ahead of time by placing a bag of ice on it for 10 minute or so. That counters the hot hands. But really you should always touch the dough as little as possible, using a bench scraper or spatula to flip it, and the rolling pin to flatten it. if you must touch, use the pads of fingers, never the palms.

Generally not. The caramel on the bottom tends to stiffen, so this needs to be done from start to finish. The pastry of course can be done in advance.

I ended up cooking the filling in advance and left it in the skillet to cool off. The juices, mixed with the caramel, did not solidify and turned out fine.

You cannot make caramel merely with sugar and water-- the sugar cooks away and you get solidified sugar again. I did it four times-- in two different pans (one cast iron one stainless) with two kinds of sugar/ raw and refined. The only way you get a caramel sauce is by adding fat which I knew instinctively. It ended up good however with that change. I never bake- the puff pastry was good- but it did need to cook longer than 40 minutes and I should have rolled it thinner.

I watched the video after reading the recipe. The peaches definitely have the skins on.

Neither maple syrup nor honey will give you the dark caramel this calls for. As for Walter's concern over sugar, this recipe contains nine cups of fruit, which is a huge amount of sugar already, so that seems like a moot point to me. I suppose one might try simply making less of the caramel? Or you could give up some of that caramel stickiness and sub in some good bourbon for the caramel flavor.

The quick puff pastry is a winner, especially with Melissa's video tutorial. My very juicy perfect peaches needed a bit of cooking down, but were delicious with the caramel. One (major) problem: the pastry sogged out on its underside because of the peach juice. Maybe just bake it on its own and then top the cooked peaches with it?

I made it and did not peel them.

Thank you for the instructions for a double batch of ruff puff pastry. I did not have a food processor so I grated frozen butter, refroze it, and then used freezer cooled flour. So far so good. The caramel went perfectly and the peaches and their juice bubbled at 20 minutes, browned by 40. I did not add the water to the caramel, just let the sugar melt and brown. To help prevent crystalization, make sure no remaining sugar crystals touch the caramel. I use a wet pastry brush to brush down sugar.

Yikes! I’m in the middle of the recipe and failed to notice tapioca is needed! I’ll wing it this time with some cornstarch, but would be happy for other substitutions with suggested volumes for next time.

Followed the directions to a T and it came out AMAZING! pastry dough directions are spot on, thank you for all the detail! Freaked out making the caramel but if you don’t overthink it and overwhisk it’ll turn to caramel in no time.

Made this with two peaches, which gave me about 2 cups sliced so I made 2/9th the recipe. Everything scaled down nicely, especially using weights and I wasn't fussy with the spices. I thought I burned the caramel (and maybe slightly did), but it was forgiving enough. Skipped coating the peaches in extra sugar and the end result was a little tart. Only bad part was not having ice cream on hand. Quick puff was excellent.

I made this exactly as written twice now and it was terrific. (Ok, first time I didn’t let caramel get dark enough, but it was still good.) This time I put prepared peaches with caramel and crust cut tofit separately in freezer for a few hours so I could serve warm at dessert. Reheated peaches, put on crust, stuck in oven as we sat down for dinner.

I have to agree about the caramel. It was tricky to make and pretty tasteless. The pastry turned out just fine but in the future, I'd probably use store bought caramel sauce.

I made this last year, accidentally using the entire crust recipe on one pan, and it was sublime. This year, the peaches tasted iron-y, as if the skillet had transferred to the fruit. Is it possible I overlooked the peaches?

If I had read these comments before selecting this recipe, I never would have made it...which would have been a shame! My guests and I thought it was excellent, but it definitely provided some challenges. Took 3 attempts to finally get the caramel sauce right. The key is once you have given it an initial stir, drop the spoon and don't pick it up again! And it took about 20 minutes to get to a light brown. Also, I should not have added the extra water to the crust. Next time!

Maybe my cardamon is fresher than everyone else's, but this recipe tasted overwhelmingly of cardamon drowning the other flavors. I checked my measuring spoon afterwards to make sure I hadn't just miss measured. Sometimes it's handy to procrastinate on the dishes!

Well, I had a lot of problems with this recipe, mostly my fault. Caramel worked and then re-crystalized. My pastry stuck after rolling out (store bought) so I ended up making a "buckle" type topping rather than pie topping. My tapioca was not quick cook, so I did some cooking on that to soften. I will try it again with better prep and lower expectations on appearance--it tastes very good, even with all of these goofs.

Wish I had read others comments before I tried this recipe and wasted beautiful ripe organic peaches. I had no problem with the caramel but the finished product was way too liquid and tasted neither like caramel or peaches. Fruit slop with a crust. This recipe should be taken down. Too bad because I have enjoyed so many of Ms Clarks other recipes. If you have nice peaches, make a traditional pie.

I used pie crust, it's what I had. I also used brown sugar. This was excellent, better than the Rustic I had in mind.

Way too many steps for something so simple. Why do peaches need caramel to taste great? Why do you need puff pastry when a regular pie crust will work ? Thicken the peach juices with either cornstarch, potato , arrowroot, tapioca, or rice flour (the fine types of course..), mix with brown sugar (and butter, optional) and you will have an even better peach pie..

i am definitely making this for a rosh ha shonah dessert. i used my leftover manischewitz wine from the seder to make the jamaican black cake(let the fruit macerate for 3 pos.) and it is my freezer. it's yummy! wks