My Great Grandmother’s Fried Peach Pies!
These are my great grandmother’s pies. Lela loved to make fried pies and the only kind we ever remember her making was peach. Mama loved her peach pies and ate them all the time growing up but one day asked her to make her apple instead of her customary flavor. So Lela got all of the ingredients and made a plate full of apple pies just for Mama. She took one bite and realized, unless they were peach, they just weren’t her her granny’s.
I remember Lela standing in the kitchen humming as she fried these, placing the crispy treats on a Corelle plate next to the stove as she dipped more into the hot oil in her cast iron skillet. The entire house seemed to smell of peaches, an especially welcome treat in the middle of the winter!
There are many ways to make fried pies nowadays and many shortcuts, but the traditional southern fried pie requires dried fruit and handmade dough, usually a form of biscuit dough rather than real pie pastry. Today I’m bringing you the traditional method, which is pretty easy. Hang on though because I also plan on bringing you two more methods pretty soon as well. They are a bit more newfangled, a bit different in taste and texture, but every bit as good.
Until then, if you’re yearning for an old fashioned fried pie like Granny used to make, you’ve come to the right place.
Before we get started with the recipe, here is my segment where I got to make these with Al Roker on the Today Show – that was Fun!
You’ll need: Cooking oil, lemon juice, cinnamon, bit of margarine, sugar, and some dried fruit. This is for the filling.
For the dough you’ll need flour, shortening, salt, and a bit of milk.
I didn’t picture the milk so we’re gonna have to use our imaginations here. Mooooo!
This is my little salt crock. It was made by Fire King and was originally used as a grease jar. Although these pieces of depression glassware were made very well, I couldn’t bring myself to chance putting hot grease in something so dear so I use it for a salt crock. It sits happily on my stove and I have salt at hand in a convenient form (no shaking it out!) anytime I need it.
Lets talk dried fruit.
Drying fruit was one of the least expensive methods of fruit preservation available to folks back in the day (still is, actually). Apples, peaches, apricots, and other fruits could be dried in the sun and put up, then reconstituted into delicious fried pies, sauces, and baked goods which were a welcome delicacy in the hard winter months.
There were all sorts of improvised ways of drying fruit. Some folks even dried fruit on their shingles! The hot rooftop and stiff breeze provided excellent conditions. They’d lay out the fruit on a piece of cloth or screen and cover with cheesecloth or another screen to keep the flies out. My great grandmother dried her fruit on sheets of tin with the pieces covered in cheesecloth. Later on in her older years, when life was easier, she just took to buying her fruit from the grocer’s in bags such as these. I asked Mama how they kept the ants off of it and she says she thinks the tin just got too hot for them. Hmm, that makes sense.
You can use this recipe with any number of dried fruits. Peaches, apples, and apricots are the most common.
To begin with, place your dried fruit in a pot and cover with two cups of water. Bring to a boil.
This bag was only six ounces of dried fruit but resist the urge to buy more because it will really go far!
I made ten pies out of this and ended up with about a cup of fruit leftover.
If you are using apples, you may find that your fruit needs about 1/2 cup more of water. There seem to be a lot more apples in that bag than there are peaches!
Bring that to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until they are tender and soft. This will take about twenty minutes. To test, moosh one with a fork and see if it is able to mash up a bit, like a cooked potato. If so, you’re ready.
Apples will be a bit firmer than peaches but that’s okay.
Turn off the heat and add margarine…
Add sugar and cinnamon
and a weeeee little bit of lemon juice.
Of course, if you are taking a picture and trying to get a shot of the juice actually pouring in you will most likely mess this part up and add two or three times the required amount but then you can just get a spoon dip out some of the excess really quickly.
It’ll still be fine. 🙂
Not that I’d ever do anything like that, you know. ~looks innocent~
Use a potato masher or a fork and moosh all of that up together.
This is the consistency you’re going for. Aren’t pictures great?
This is kind of lumpy and saucy and it smells like my great grandmother is in the kitchen.
~looks over her shoulder and smiles at Lela~ She’s wearing a blue house dress with a tiny flower print on it and she’s sitting with her left arm propped up on the table. Her face is set in that naturally pleasant expression she always had, the one that makes her look like she is about to think of something funny. Inside the right pocket of her house dress is a perfectly folded kleenex. I think she’s waiting for me to finish the pies so she can have one. It’s been almost eighteen years since she passed away but these pies sure do bring her back.
Now we make our dough…
You can do this while your fruit cooks or let your fruit set aside a bit after you are done with it and make your dough then.
Place your flour in a bowl and add your salt.
Stir that up a bit.
Add shortening to the flour and cut it in..
Like this.
You just keep pressing down over and over with your fork and stirring it a bit and eventually it will all get incorporated together.
You can use a fancy pastry cutter for this but I prefer a good old fashioned long tined fork. No sense in complicating things.
It is going to look like this. All of the recipes I have ever seen where they have you cutting shortening into flour tells you to do it until it looks like peas. That is the silliest thing I have ever heard. Does this look like peas to you? Even squinting my eyes and cocking my head, this looks nothing like peas in any way, shape, or form.
So just cut it in until it looks like this and we’ll be done with the whole “peas” reference once and for all.
Unless, of course, we make peas – which I dearly love.
Now add in a little milk.
Y’all know the recipe is at the bottom of this post, right?
Stir that up a bit until it forms a dough like this. If you need to, you can add a bit more milk but I would only add a teaspoon at a time, stirring it up after to see if that is enough.
Dump that out onto a greased or floured surface and press it together to form a ball of dough.
Divide that into ten balls of dough.
Place a ball on a floured surface. I use waxed paper for this because it just makes cleanup so easy.
Roll or pat that out into a five to six inch circle.
If you want to be precise, you can lay a saucer upside down on it and cut around the edges to make a perfect circle.
Fortunately for me, I’ve never really had the urge to be precise…
Place about two tablespoons of filling in the center of each crust.
Dip the tips of your fingers in water and run them around the outer edges so they’ll stick together when you fold it over.
You can use a pastry brush for this if you like but your granny would shake her head at you.
Food tastes better if you touch on it a bit, transfers more love that way.
Fold your pie over and press lightly around the edges to seal.
It will look something like this.
My others weren’t as messy but this was the one I took pictures of. I think messy tastes better anyway.
Pour about an inch of oil into a medium to large sized skillet and allow to get hot.
I put my oil on medium high heat while I am rolling out my dough and then reduce the heat to medium when I actually cook the pies.
I’m using a cast iron skillet, but you can use a regular one if you prefer. There is a great tutorial on how to season a cast iron skillet on Southern Plate, you can read it by clicking here.
Place pies in hot oil and cook until brown on both sides, turning once or twice to cook them evenly.
Place on paper towel lined plate…
Smile, Lela is watching!
My great grandmother, Lela
I just called my grandmother (Lela’s daughter) and said “Grandmama, I just made fried peach pies and they tasted just like Lela’s!” She said “Well now you’re getting good at cooking, aren’t you?”
~snickers~ Well I should hope so…
Ingredients
Filling
- 6-7 ounces dried fruit I used peaches, can use apples, apricots, or other dried fruit
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 cups water
- 1/4 cup butter or margarine
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice optional, but I use it
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon optional, but I use it
Dough
- 2 Cups Flour
- 1 Tsp salt
- 1/2 Cup shortening
- 1/2 Cup of milk can add a little more if needed
Instructions
- Place dried fruit in a pot and add water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer until fruit is tender. Add other ingredients and mash together with a potato masher or fork. Set aside while dough is prepared.
- In medium bowl, place flour and salt. Stir together. Cut in shortening with a long tined fork. Add in milk and stir until dough sticks together. Divide into ten portions. Roll each portion out on a floured surface into a five or six inch circle. Place two tablespoons of filling in each. Wet the edges and fold over, crimping with a fork.
- Cook in oil which has been heated on medium heat, until browned on both sides, turning as needed. Remove to paper towel lined plate.
Your attitude can make your life bitter, or better
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Yum 
My great grandmother was also a fried pie master except her favorite to make was apple. She also wore housedresses and would stack her pies on a green and white Corelle plate. She passed away two years ago this month at the age of 99 and she always said it was hard work and fried food that led to her long life. I love your blog and feel like we led sister lives growing up in different parts of Bama! I grew up in the ‘Ham and my food heritage is Sooo muchike yours!
Oh boy, I -really- shouldn’t read this web site when I’m hungry! I haven’t had fried pies in years! My grandma also used to make them with dried apples. My mawmaw used to make them with everything, including chocolate!
Congrats on duplicating Lela’s recipe and gettin’ good at cookin’! 🙂
Are those African violets in the window behind Lela?
My mawmaw did chocolate ones too!! There was a drive-in restaurant here when I was little where you could buy chocolate fried pies!
I have never heard of chocolate fried pies! Sounds like an interesting post…**hint, hint**
My maw-maw always made apple, and I always thought she was magical!
Just last week my dad was telling me that his mother used to make fried pies (apple, peach, and chocolate).
Dear Kelly
My Mother used to make the chocolate fried pies too. Did your MawMaw used Hersheys powdered chocolate & sugar? Wish my Mother had written down alot of her recipes…Do you have one for the chocolate pies? Please let me know.
Thank You.
Gale Breese
As a bonafide country boy from the backroads of West Tennessee, I grew up eating all of the southern delights. Both of my grandmothers were wonderful cooks. I never knew how much work went into making fried pies, until I made them myself. Your recipe produced a real throwback memory for me and they were delicious. One trick is to not roll out the dough balls too thin or they will fall apart on you. I would either increase the amount of dough or make the pie crust no bigger than four inches. Five inches was a stretch. Thanks for your wonderful recipe and your sweet grandmaw for passing it down.
Woohoo I have been waiting for these fried pies (and I do mean pies and not peas;) )
I can’t think of anywhere here that has fried pies other than McDonalds.
I made your slow cooker roast today with beef. It turned out well other than there being too much liquid. Not sure what happened there!
I, too, only remember McD’s fried pies. And, alas, even they have gone to baked.
I can’t wait to try these! They sound delish and easy.
My only question is, can we use a deep fryer to make them? My dh loves to use his deep fryer!
thanks!
Not here! Ours are still fried! Yippee.
Have tried for years to duplicate my best friend’s mom’s fried chocolate pies. We used to watch her make them and still could not get them right. She simply used cocoa, sugar, and butter as the filling and it would fry up into ooey, gooey goodness…not like the pudding-type pies you see sold as fried pies at festivals.
Do you have a recipe for these old-time pies?
I sure do have the recipe! Hang in there and I’ll try to get it up soon!
GOOD GOOGLEY MOOGLEY!!! I have choc in my pantry, year round…weeeee!
~rubs hands together excitedly~
Exactly the same as my mother in law’s recipe, except she uses (cheap) canned biscuits for the dough. Even simpler!
I can’t wait until Lisa makes these. (no she doesn’t know yet, but she will, she’s such a good daughter). My Grandmother came from Sicily and my favorite thing was when she fried leftover Spaghetti in olive oil for my lunch. We fried sausage, we fried meatballs, we fried garlic and onions….but never pies. This is gonna be a great treat. Thanks again Christy!
Do these save well, or do they need to be eaten hot?
They are good hot or cold. You can just wrap them and leave them on the counter. I suggest eating them within one or two days but they will keep longer – I just can’t imagine them lasting past day one! 🙂
1 DAY? Ours wouldnt last an hour!!! Have pot of coffee rady before pies come out of oven….or Tall Glass of Milk….either way.
I’d love to have it
Self rising or plane flower?
Hi Georgie! That would be Plain (All-Purpose) Flour
I just ran across this and was in Heaven. My grandmother made chocolate fried pies using cocoa and not pudding. I would love to have the recipe.
I bet you could also freeze them (if wrapped well, of course) and then take them out, let them thaw, and then fry them. What do you think, Christy?
Hi Christy,
You were right! Your peach pies are something to be excited about! The McKee family will be delighting in your Lela’s recipe Friday evening. I’ll think of you and thank both you and her with every bite!
Keep up the great work and thank you so very much for spending hours of your time without compensation to make our family dinners memorable, flavorable and filled with love!
A big gold star goes G.Grandma Lela! ~waves wildly~ She must have been a wonderful woman! Thank you, too, Big Cheese Christy, (congrats on the Southern Beauty cover spot, weeeeee!) and your time-consuming details and pics in a bizzzee life……just so all of us can make pies too, since my grandma’s did not make fried pies, just peach cobbler. :-{ We bought a big ole bag o’ peaches as we headed back from Bama/GA thru SC…just in time for this post. We had a GREAT time at Bountiful…my fried green tomato memory still lingers. I just ate some Baconnaise on my red/ripe GA tomato sandwich yesterday……mmmmm…heavenly!! One morning, we broke open your apple butter, scarfin’ it down like there was no tomorrow…I almost lost a finger in the fray too. ~winks~
Thanks for all you do to make the world a better, brighter and tastier place. huggggs!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS! My grandmother made the best fried pies and unfortunately I do not have her recipe. I spent many hours watching her do it as a child, but never bothered to obtain her recipe, which there probably wasn’t one written down anyway.
My family has asked me to make pies like hers, and now I can.
I am so EXCITED!!!!
Think I will surprise my family this weekend.
Melinda
Great recipe for the heart of peach country and we are in the middle of peach season too! Could I use fresh peaches and just cook them down? I have a basket sitting on my desk right this minute. My mother was the queen of fried apple pies. When she got the notion to make them she would let us eat as many as we wanted! We loved pie days!
I remember my granny drying her apples in the back window of her car when I was little. (I don’t know whether she drove around with them there or she just picked times that she would not be going anywhere. Of course, they didn’t seem to “go” like we do nowadays!)
She would then put the dried apple slices in a huge glass gallon jar that she would keep in a lower kitchen cabinet. We kids could pull out the jar and get a handful of apple slices whenever we wanted! YUM!
I grew up eating fried pies from both of my grandmothers here in Alabama. They have always been one of my favorites! It always seemed like there were some whenever we went to the big family reunion every summer! Fried pies and home-canned grean beans always hit the spot!! 🙂
My granny did the same thing … put sheets all over the back window & seat and dried her apples!
Those pies look sooooo good. I will definitely be trying this recipe this weekend!
My in-laws are headed to the Smokies for a week or so of camping. They’re coming home through North Georgia and last night asked us how many fried apple pies we want from our favorite apple orchard. Oh, I dearly love fried pies.
Thanks for sharing this recipe and the beautiful pictures.
My grandmother had a set of the tulip bowls…and now my Mama has them. One day they’ll be mine. 🙂
Hi,
My sweet Mother always made us fried apple pies from the dried apples she bought from the “traveling” salesman that came through our small town. They were the best things I ever put into my mouth. Thank you for posting this recipe; it means so much to me and I will make them for my husband when I get the dried apples (or peaches).
I will be making an apple version of these ’cause I’m weird and don’t like hot peaches. I love fried pies but the last time I had one that didn’t come from Milo’s was the last time my aunt Joyce made ’em and that’s probably been at least eight years.
Christy, for a special treat for my four sons during our Fourth of July celebration I made your banana pudding for dessert and the strawberry pink lemonade you posted recently. They loved both so much and so did I. There’s nothing like southern cooking! I can’t wait to try the fried pies.
Thanks for the recipe Christy. My husband dearly loved his Mama D’s little fried pies. He grew up on them. He’s passed away now but I will make them and think of him and his beloved Mama D.
I forgot to mention that I received the cookbook and I love it!! I took my boys to Galveston fishing last week and I sat and read my cookbook while they fished. It was a great day and we have speckled trout to eat!! Do you have a good fried fish recipe???
Those look so amazing. I wish I had some of those for breakfast right now!!
I love you so much for this! Loving your great-granny Lela, too. 🙂 There are a couple restaurants near hear that sell fried pies with anything you can imagine inside. I’ve never been, but driving past their sign always makes me hungry. I can’t wait to try these!
Looking forward to your recipe for chocolate, too.
Oh, yummm! Haven’t had fried pies for years! Love, love, love them! My mother and Grandma Dollie made them too, and they were so good! Thanks for reminding me of them. I have her recipe in my black book. I am going to add your grandma Lela’s to it, also. The crust recipe is just a little different, but it sure looks the same. They used canned milk in the crust. I think I am going to go get some dried peaches and make some today also. Happy One Year Anniversary! Wish I had found you on the first blog, but I got here as soon as I could!
Oh you are bringing back memories. My Maw Maw use to make coconut pies just like those. But they were not fried, they were baked. But oh my, they were so good. And Maw Maw wasn’t about to use bag coconut, you had to have fresh coconut. I got many skinned knuckles from grating the coconut. She made her dough,rolled it out, and used a saucer to cut our her circles. Thanks for the memories.
Bet your Grandma’s peach pies were out of this world.
Christy, you rock! Thank you so much for posting these. After hearing Rich and Amy talk about them, I could hardly wait to try one. I’ll be making some soon. I don’t fry too much of anything, but I’ll be happy to drag out the cast iron skillet for these babies. I have no doubt my husband and kids will love you for this post.
Wow, your great grandma looks remarkably like my great grandma, Audley. She made fried pies, too. But she used fresh fruit from my grandfather’s peach and white nectarine trees. She made her crust from Pillsbury biscuit dough. I can smell them now!! YUM!
AWESOME! Thank ya kindly maam. Now I can make some of these for my paw. They look really good. *bows to cooking Queen….
OH MY! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR A WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE. MY “MOM EWING” LAYED HER APPLES OUT ON LONG TIN PIECES. SHE ALWAYS COULD CATCH ME SNEAKING AN APPLE PIECE. I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE THEM. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
GOD BLESS YOU & YOURS,
TRISH
TUPELO, MS
Christy, my Momma made fried pies too except she used canned biscuits for the crust. She would roll the biscuits thin and fill and crimp with fork and fry um’ up. Boy were they good! Thanks for reminding me.
Linda in hot Missouri
Oh, yum! That looks so delicious. Every time I read your blog I get another pregnancy craving. 😛
Oh what memories fried peach pies bring back! My daddy loved fried peach pies that a lady at our church made. Daddy was the preacher there when I was just a tot. Haven’t had them in years and the lady won’t part with her recipe yet. Now I can make me some fried pies and think about my daddy..Lord, I’m so glad I’m a southerner!!
Christy,
Wow!!!! Have you brought back some wonderful memories of my Nanny. She did the same as yours. Peach, apple but also raisin. YUMMMMMM Guess that I will have get started on making some real soon. Thank you so much.
Tiana