Cream Cheese Peach Pie

Cream cheese peach pie is the crustless dessert that bakes up in three distinct layers without the work of pastry. A vanilla pudding-mix cake batter goes in first, sliced peaches fan over the top, then a tangy cream cheese layer thinned with reserved peach juice gets spooned over the fruit.

The magic happens in the oven. The cake batter rises around the peaches, the cream cheese sets into a soft custardy lid, and a snowdrift of cinnamon-nutmeg sugar caramelizes on top into a fragrant golden crust.

Use cook-and-serve pudding mix here, not instant. The two pudding types behave very differently in baked applications, and instant pudding will leave you with a gummy, undercooked layer. The label matters.

Pro Tips

• Drain the peaches well, but reserve every drop of juice. The juice goes into the cream cheese layer and gives it that distinctive peach-perfumed flavor you can’t fake.
• Soften the cream cheese all the way before mixing. Cold cream cheese leaves lumps that no amount of beating will smooth out.
• Leave a half-inch border around the cream cheese topping. As the pie bakes, the cake batter rises around it for that defined three-layer look.
• Use freshly grated nutmeg if you can. The pre-ground stuff loses its punch fast and the topping really benefits from that aromatic hit.

Variations

• Swap canned peaches for fresh ripe ones in summer, with a splash of lemon juice replacing the reserved peach juice.
• Use sliced nectarines or apricots for a similar stone-fruit flavor with slightly more acidity.
• Add a quarter teaspoon of almond extract to the cake batter for a classic peach-and-almond pairing.