{EwE} It’s Peachy!

Summer means peaches in the Deep South.  Sweet.  Run down your arm juicy.  Full of summer flavor.  Peaches are just good.  Except now it’s fall and the GOOD peaches are all gone.  When Gaye chose It’s Peachy for our weekly theme I was a little discombobulated because there are no good peaches now.  Then I remembered – Gaye is ‘down under’ and their season may just be starting.  Bring out the frozen peaches – almost as good… for baking anyway.

Good enough for Ellie’s Peach Cobbler.

While I like the idea of using frozen peaches it just isn’t the same.  They lacked the sweetness of fresh, ripe peaches.  I would add a little more brown sugar to these because it wasn’t very sweet.

This was okay but there were too many things we didn’t like about it  – the crust.  the lack of sweetness which meant lack of taste.  Sorry, Ellie.  Not a hit.

The recipe is from Comfort Food Fix – page 278.

Check out more Peachy-ness on Eating with Ellie.

Advertisement

 

{FFWD} Birthday Brown Butter-Peach Tourte for Dorie

This week the bloggers with French Fridays with Dorie are celebrating a special birthday. Dorie’s! And we are doing it by making one of the sweet treats from her Baking Chez Moi, which comes out nest Friday. But her birthday is first so, Dorie, this Tourte is for you.

You can find the recipe on her blog – In the kitchen and on the road with Dorie. She is generous enough to share several of her recipes from the new book on her site.

This is a tourte – a tart, basically, with two crusts. The crusts are made from the Sweet Tart Dough from BFMHTY (but you can find it here). It will also be in the new book – which you need to buy NOW!! It has always been my favorite crust.

Between the two crusts is a combination of peaches, sugar, flour, and almond ( or vanilla) extract.

Oh, Yeah!!

I added a little extra sugar because we are WAY past peach season here in Louisiana and the ones I found were pretty but not sweet.

The only problem I had was with the top crust which simply would NOT remove itself from the parchment. I cut it in quarters to transfer it. In the end it was just fine. I really wish I had had some of Dorie’s Honey Peach Ice Cream to go with it.

Several years ago we baked our way through Dorie’s Baking From My Home To Yours. Now – starting November 11, we will be baking our way through Baking Chex Moi. If you want to join us – visit the TWD site – for everything you need to know.

And a big birthday shout-out to all the Doristas who celebrated Dorie’s Birthday this month with their treats:
Mini Cannelés

• Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Adriana from Great Food 360º
• Gaye from Laws of the Kitchen
• Sanya from Kitchen Therapy
• Mardi from eat.live.travel.write
• Kathy from Bakeaway with Me
• Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
• Tricia and Nana from Tricia and Nana Cooking with Dorie
• Katie from Prof Who Cooks

Chocolate Cream Puffs with Mascarpone Filling

• Mardi from eat.live.travel.write
• Cher from The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler
• Kathy from Bakeaway with Me

Paletes de Dames, Lille Style

• Tammy from Chez Nous
• Mary from Lights on Bright No Brakes
• Betsy from A Plateful of Happiness
• Rosa from One Expat’s Life
• Teresa from One Wet Foot
• Diane from Cafe Mom Cooks
• Susan from Create Amazing Meals
• Emily from Emily’s Cooking Foray
• Eileen from Cookbook Immersion Project

Brown Butter-Peach Tourte

• Christy from Confessions of a Culinary Diva
• Cher from The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler
• Teresa from One Wet Foot
• Margaret from Tea and Scones
• Alice from A Mama, Baby & Shar-Pei in the Kitchen

 

{Bundt Bakers} Stone Fruit – Peach!

When I think of Summer I think of fresh fruits and veggies. When I think of Summer Fruit I always think of watermelon. And Blueberries. And PEACHES. Juicy, sweet, round, ripe orbs of deliciousness. What better fruit to put into a Bundt Cake!

Peachy Cake
adapted from Roxanna’s Home Cooking

3 cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup Stevia (or Splenda)
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1/2 cup Egg Beaters
1/3 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 29 oz can sliced peaches in syrup, syrup reserved.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease a 12 cup bundt pan with Baker’s Joy. {All the batter fit into a smaller pan with a little extra left for a minie}
In a mixing bowl add the eggs, eggbeaters, and lightly beat them with a whisk. Stir in the orange juice, applesauce, butter, and vanilla extract.
Gently fold in the flour, salt, baking powder, and granulated sugar, and Stevia. The batter will be somewhat thick.
Mix in 1/2 can of the peaches, pureed.
{I placed slices of peach in each of the crevices of the bundt pan – looked nice.}
Pour batter evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour – 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before invert onto serving plate.
Cool completely.
Drizzle with warm Peachy Syrup

The bundt was sweet but not too sweet since I subbed out some of the sugar. The added peach syrup increased the peachy flavor more than the pureed peaches did. Nice summer dessert.

Felice is our host this month so if you want to see all the luscious Stone Fruit Bundts hop on over to All That’s Left are the Crumbs.

#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest board right here. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. All recipes and photographs can be found on our individual blogs or our Pinterest board.

• All-American Chocolate Cherry Pie Cake from Lauren at So You Think You Can Cook
• Black Forest Bundt Cake with Cherry Ganache Topping from Teri at The Freshman Cook 
• Caramel Mango Bundt Cake from Bea at Secrets from My Apron
• Cherry Almond Ginger Bundt from Jane at Jane’s Adventures in Dinner 
• Cherry Carrot & Banana Bundt from Kelly at Passion Kneaded 
• Cherry Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake from Renee at Magnolia Days 
• Chocolate Avocado Bundt Cake from Terri at Love and Confections 
• Cinnamon Peach Bundt Cake from Bea and Mara at I Love Bundts 
• Peaches n Cream Melba Bundt Cake from Laura at Baking in Pyjamas 
• Peachy Bundt from Margaret at Tea and Scones 
• Plum, Chocolate and Orange Bundt Cake by Maria at Box of Stolen Socks 
• Roasted Cherry Kugelhopf with Cherry Bourbon Glaze by Tux from Brooklyn Homemaker 
• Upside-down Apricot Butter Bundt from Stacy at Food Lust People Love

 

{CEinMB} Simply Peachy!

This morning I started the day with a Smoothie. A Peach Pie Smoothie!

With the inclusion of nutmeg, cinnamon, and honey it did taste more like pie but it was rather underwhelming with flavor. I really don’t care for frozen peaches that much because they often are rather bland, but I still use them. Once I had this one sweet enough it was better but not a repeat.

The recipe calls for ice, but I don’t have a blender and my little blender isn’t built for that so I just left it out. It was still nice and thick with little pieces of peach. I made this because I just wanted something easy for Craving Ellie this week. And this one was super easy.

The recipe is on page 22 of Ellie’s So Easy.

 

{BwJ} Blueberry-Nectarine Pie

For some reason, I don’t make a lot of pies. It’s not because we don’t like them. I mean, what’s not to like. Flaky crust, yummy filling of fruit or custard or nuts. I can make a pie crust. And I dont’ mind if they don’t look like the pictures. I just don’t make pie. My Nana made Pies all the time. And cookies. My Mom was more of a cake and brownie lady. I don’t know! Really!!

Fortunately for The Hubs, who actually loves pie, the TWD group made pie this week. Blueberry and Nectarine Pie.

A double crusted Blueberry and Nectarine Pie to be exact.

Okay, I have to admit mine isn’t ALL Nectarine. Seems like someone ATE my Nectarines and all I had left was a salvaged 1/2. Not to worry. Nectarines and Peaches are very very much alike so I used the Nectarine to cook down with the Blueberries and then used sliced peaches on the bottom. Leslie Mackie, who contributed this recipe to Baking with Julia had us taking 1/2 of the fruit and cooking it down for juice, adding in the remainder of the fruit after cooking the other and then putting into the pie. I cooked down the Nectarine and Blueberries and then placed a layer of thin peach slices on the bottom and poured the cooked fruit and juice over it. Came out just fine. I actually liked the layer of peaches on the bottom rather than mixing it in. But that’s just me!!

Besides using part peaches I also made the pie sugar free. I used Splenda instead of sugar and while I probably didn’t get as much juice it still was good eating. And I could have some since I am trying NOT to eat sugar. (Try that and baking!!!)

I made one little 4′ mini pie (using about 1/4 of the recipe). One night’s dessert and gone. With Vanilla (sugar free) Ice Cream. PERFECT!!!

Thanks to Hilary of Manchego’s Kitchen and Liz of That Skinny Chick Can Bake for Co-hosing the last selection for July. You can find he recipe on their blogs.

Or…on page 384 of Baking with Julia

I definitely see more pies in our future.

 

{TWD2} Pudding, Galettes, and Brioche – all “Plum” Good

Wowza! But I missed a lot of July TWD selections. Seven to be exact. Good thing I love to spend time in the kitchen – even in the hot weather. And it has been HOT in July! Plenty of 100+ days temp wise. Little rain. LOTS of humidity!! What DID people do before Air Conditioning???

Summer, of course, means lots of fresh fruit and many of the pics for July were fruit based. Such as….

Summer Fruit Gatte

Dorie gave us plenty of choices for this galette, a free form ‘pie’ where the crust is folded up over the filling. There is so much in season right now in Louisiana – plums, peaches, figs, nectarines. But the peaches were so juicy and sweet I could not pass them up. One big ripe juicy peach was just perfect for one small 6″ galette. The crust and peaches are baked first for a few minutes then the custard is poured in around the fruit before baking the entire galette a little longer. What you end up with is a peach ‘pie’ with a sweet filling in all the little nooks and crannies left by the slices of peach. Eh… YUM!!! On July 29, 2008, this was a popular pick from Michele of Michelle in Colorado Springs and you can find the recipe on her blog. (Pg 366 in BFMHTY} If you have lots of fresh summer fruit this is the recipe for you. Quick. Not fussy. Delicious.

****************************

On July 15, 2008, the TWD bakers were in the kitchen making Chocolate Pudding.

After my miserable attempt at making the Split-Level Pudding in October 2009, I was a little leery of this one. THAT one never set up and ended up going down the drain – literally!!

But this time….

….it came out PERFECTLY!!

So perfectly that I am never ever buying box pudding again. It was sooo creamy. Like pudding should be. And this one did NOT go down the drain.

I only made 1/2 of the recipe and that was perfect for two ramekins. Thank you, Dorie, for perfect pudding. And than you, Melissa of Melissa’s Kitchenfor helping me conquer PUDDING!! The recipe is on her page. (Page 383 in BFMHTY) Melissa served hers with Whipped Cream and Chocolate Sprinkles. So Cute!!

************************

Last, for this TWD Catch-up installment, I give you….

… Brioche Plum Tart

I had planned to make this one back when I was making up the Pecan Honey Sticky Buns and Brioche Raisin Snails because they were also made with Brioche dough. But after reading the recipe I discovered the recipe was just different enough to warrant a separate post.

So glad I did because these tarts deserve to be on their own. The dough was a sweet contrast to the somewhat tart plums {not what I had planned but…}I used Muscadine Jelly for the base because it tends to go with every other type of fruit out there without overpowering the taste.

Denise of Chez Us was the host for this lovely little Tart July 14, 2009. She opened her post with,

“Lightly sweetened brioche dough is pressed into a tart pan and filled with jam and fresh plums, to make a wonderful breakfast treat.”

1/2 of the dough recipe and two nice plums were enough for three 4′ tarts.

And she is absolutely correct. GREAT breakfast!! The recipe is on her blog. (Page 54 in BFMHTY)

THat takes care of July TWD selections. August will be a potpouri of recipes as I only missed one so I am filling in. Maybe I CAN finish before the end of the year!!!!

 

{MB Challenge} Deep Dish Peach Pie

I know what you are thinking! Why is there a picture of a SPIDER on the blog? I was wonderfing that myself. Oh, wait. That’s not a spider, it’s Malagieri’s Deep-Dish Peach Pie. What looks like a large arachnid crawling out of a dish is actually the pieces of the Puff Pastry Lattice Crust on top of some delicious sweet, nutmeggy sliced peaches. Malgieri said only to perss the lattice to the edge of the baking pan. I did. And this is what happened. The pieces rose up and … well you can see!! But it did not affect the taste one whit!!

Malgieri explained how to make the lattice work and then transfer it onto the pie. As hard as I tried I finally had just fix the lattice crust on the pie itself. But since I made two mini pies it was quite simple to do it ‘the old fashioned’ way. I cut the strips with a scalloped knife and only 1/4 inch rather than the 1/2 inch suggested because the pies were small.

Sprinkled with a little sugar they were sweet, but not too sweet and perfect one serving.

And the Ice Cream on top? That is…..

Chez Panisse Vanilla Ice Cream
(via Nancy who adapted it from Chez Panisse Desserts by Lindsey Remolif Shere)
Makes: 1 quart

1 vanilla bean
1 cup half and half ( I actually used 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup milk since I was out of half and half)
2 cups whipping cream
2/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
6 egg yolks (I used about 105 grams of yolk)
3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds into the sugar, rubbing the mixture between your fingers until the sugar is fragrant.

2. Add the vanilla, sugar, vanilla pod, half and half, or milk and all the cream to a sauce pan. Warm the mixture, stirring, until the sugar dissolves.

3. Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl until just mixed. Gradually pour the hot mixture into the egg yolks in a steady stream, whisking constantly.

4. Pour all back into the sauce pan and heat over medium-low heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens slightly into a custard and coats the back of the spoon.

5. Strain the custard into a storage container, add back the pod to the custard, and chill in the fridge until cold.

6. Add the vanilla extract, remove the vanilla pod, and freeze in an ice cream maker.

If you like a rich vanilla laden IC this is the one. And perfect to top my Peach Pie Spider!!!!

Other members of the Modern Baker Challenge have already made the pie. And there are process pictures on The Puff Pastry Page. And take a look at Phyl’s.

 

Summer is Peachy!! Ice Cream is Peachy!!

Peaches are in season – FINALLY!! That means lots of juice dripping down fingers as you bite into a sweet ripe peach. It means slices of peaches for cobbler or tarts. It also means Peach Ice Cream.

Ingredients:

2 cups 1/2 and 1/2
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cups nonfat dry milk
3 cups peeled, pitted sliced peaches, or 1 16oz frozen sliced peaches, defrosted
3 Tbs lemon juice
2 tsp vanilla extract
dash salt

Combine 1/2 and 1/2, sugar, and dry milk in a blender or food processor and process unti smooth.
Add peaches with remaining ingredients and process until smooth.
Chill in the fridge until ready to freeze. Blend mixture for a few seconds before pouring into the ice cream maker.
Follow the manufacturere’s instructions for freezing.

If you like lots of peach flavor in your ice cream then this ice cream is perfect for you. I even added in a few chunks of peach to the mix just before it was finished churning. Perfect!!

This recipe came from From Your Ice Cream Maker by Coleen and Bob Simmons (1994)

 

{CEinMB} Peach Pie Smoothie

I don’t really care much for Summer. I know. I know. I live in the South and basically it is almost Summer year round. Right now the weather is FANTASTIC!!! because it is cool at night and pleasantly cool (comparatively) during the day. It’s the heat I don’t like. But there are some major perks. Fresh veggies from the garden. Fresh fruit from the local farmers – strawberries, mulberries, peaches. Especially Peaches. Cobbler! Pie! Ice Cream!

And….

Ellie’s Peach Pie Smoothie.

Granted, this is made with Frozen Peaches, but it brings a tease of the summer to come.

The smoothie includes cinnamon, nutmeg, and cinnamon which is where the PIE quality comes from. Quite Nice! Even though I forgot the honey (it’s still sitting on the counter) and used Lemon Yoghurt rather than plain simply because that is all I had. I think the lemon actually helped by bringing out the Peach flavor a tad.

A very refreshing choice made by Chaya of Comfy Cook’s Kosher Kitchen

The recipe is on Chaya’s blog and on FoodTV.

 

Just Peachy!! {TWD}

Early August is the beginning of Peach season in Louisiana. About two hours away is Ruston which is famous for their peaches. There is a peach orchard just down the road. So making this tart for TWD was not hard.

This week we, the Bakers of TWD, made Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart which was Rachel of Sweet Tart‘s Pick.

There were so many sweets in the house the weekend I made this that I only made one itty bitty mini tart. But that itty bitty mini tart was very tasty!

I found one frozen shell, made 1/3 of the custard, used one perfect peach, and ended up with one perfect itty bitty tart.

We enjoyed the play of the almond and peach flavor. The crunchy nutty streusel topping was a nice match with the soft filling. We each had 1/2 of the itty bitty tart with a little whipped cream and extra peaches. (I did notice that the peach/custard layer was a little thin.)

As soon as the other sweets are gone I may just have to make this one again.

I know lots of the other TWD bakers liked this one. So go visit them. The recipe is on Rachel’s website. It is also in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours. You really SHOULD have this book on your kitchen book shelf. You won’t regret it.