This summery peach pie is perfectly flaky and playful with a braided top — the quintessential peach pie to make when stone fruit is at its peak.
Welcome to my Cooking with Friends series! This spring, while I’m busy with cookbook projects, I’ve invited some of my favorite blogger friends to share recipes. I hope you’ll enjoy cooking and baking with them as much as I do.
Today I’m welcoming Tessa from Style Sweet. Tessa is a talented baker and cake decorator whose work always inspires me. I’ve made many of her recipes and I love her book, Style Sweet, as a go-to reference for cake-making. Today she brings us a beautiful braided-top peach pie — perfectly summery and ideal for celebrating peak fruit.
One of the things I loved most after moving to Vancouver was being able to walk to the farmer’s market from our apartment. A few years ago my husband and I traded a house with a yard for a one-bedroom city home. Downsizing suited us, and being able to stroll to a lively market among the glass towers was a delightful perk.
I’d always enjoyed year-round markets in my hometown of Sacramento, but summer produce is my favorite. When the market opened for our first summer in Vancouver, I expected baskets of ruby-red berries and overflowing stone fruit. Instead I found mostly greens, preserves, and baked goods. Walking home empty-handed, I realized how different seasonal offerings can be — Vancouver and California simply have different harvests.
I started to worry. Would Vancouver ever offer lush peaches? Do they grow nearby? Would I be stuck with imported supermarket fruit?
Relief. By midsummer the markets brimmed with juicy peaches, blushing apricots, BC blueberries, plums, and more. At last — time for pie.
It can feel almost criminal to bake perfectly ripe peaches into a pie, but when baked well the fruit should still shine. Choose fruit that’s sweet and flavorful with a bit of flesh that holds its shape; if the peaches are too soft, simply eat them fresh. I like adding a pinch of cinnamon for warmth and sometimes mixing in apricots, but classic peach is hard to beat — especially served a la mode.
Try Tessa’s Cinnamon Peach Pie with Braid Crust recipe for a dazzling summer dessert. For more decorative ideas, see tutorials on pretty pie toppings and explore other seasonal pies from the blog such as Rhubarb Berry Pie, Strawberry Basil Tartlets, and Black and Blueberry Pie — all great ways to showcase fresh fruit in a flaky, buttery crust.
Rhubarb Berry Pie
Strawberry Basil Tartlets
Black and Blueberry Pie
Tessa Huff is a trained baker, recipe developer, food photographer, and creator of the cake and pastry blog Style Sweet CA. Her book, Layered: Baking, Building and Styling Spectacular Cakes, was published by Abrams Books. She contributes to outlets including The Kitchn, Food Network Canada, Brit + Co., and The Cake Blog, and has been recognized among Better Homes and Gardens’ Best Baking Bloggers. Originally from Northern California, where she ran a custom cake boutique, she now lives in Vancouver, BC with her husband and young son.
Follow Tessa on her blog and social channels:
- Blog: Style Sweet CA
All photos above this point: © Tessa Huff.