It’s that time of year again when we are fortunate to live and work in a place that produces some of the best peaches! We got a good dozen+ last weekend and I am happy to say this year’s crop is yuuuge! and very juicy and sweet!
As fate would have it, the oven/range in our apartment had finally given up (after I’m guessing what was at least a good decade or two of service!) and we were anxiously awaiting the delivery/installation of a new one that same weekend. My only request to the landlord was that it at least have a light in the oven. A window in the door would be great too, but please, please! At least a freakin’ light! No problem, he knew of a good affordable model because it’s what he bought for his recently-purchased house. He quickly called me and had it all set up through the local big box store to be delivered, installed, and the old one hauled away by their crew.
So last Saturday I patiently waited and was greatly rewarded:
Ahhh. It’s lovely! And I gotta say, the service from my local Lowe’s guys was awesome! Ok, back to those peaches.
I’ve written about them before.
What's for Dinner? v8.4
Peach & Ginger Cobbler
Adapted from the Pear & Ginger Cobbler recipe in The New Basics Cookbook, p.689.
8 ripe peaches, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2” thick slices
1 1/2 tblsp grated fresh ginger, or more to taste
1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp sugar
1 tblsp fresh lemon juice
finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 cups all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 tblsp baking powder
2 tblsp unsalted butter
1/3 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
Preheat oven to 425. Butter a large 9x14 baking dish or casserole.
Combine peaches, ginger, 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice, and zest in a large bowl. Toss to combine and spoon into the baking dish.
In another bowl combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and 1 tblsp of sugar. Work the butter and shortening in with a pastry blender, 2 knives or your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Lightly beat the egg and milt together and slowly stir into the mixture. Knead lightly, sprinkling on more flour as needed to form a smooth, not sticky, dough.
Break off portions of the dough and scatter them on top of the fruit mixture, pressing slightly and flattening the dough. Cover the entire surface with the dough pieces to give a "cobbled" effect.
Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp of sugar over the dough and bake until well browned, 35-45 minutes. Serve immediately.
That’s a go-to for cobbler recipes. Every time I make it people remark how good it is because the cobbler topping is more of a biscuit dough so it’s not overly sweet. With these peaches that is definitely a win because they bake up like candy they’re so sweet!
I’ve become a big fan of making coffee cakes because they are typically an easy recipe to make and they are a good way to nudge myself to eat something in the mornings with my copious amounts of coffee:-)
This Peach Cobbler Coffee Cake Recipe turned out fantastically (even though I miscalculated my supply of brown sugar and flour and had to improvise for the crumb topping!)
Peach Cobbler Coffee Cake
from Lemon Tree Dwelling, Cathy Trochelman
Ingredients:
Coffee Cake
- 2 c. all purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/4 c. milk
- 3/4 c. brown sugar
- 1/2 c. sour cream
- 1/4 c. butter softened
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 c. sliced peaches
Crumb Topping
-
1 c. brown sugar
- 2/3 c. flour
- 6 Tbsp. softened butter
Glaze
- 1/2 c. powdered sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp. milk
- 1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Instructions
-
In a medium bowl, combine 2 c. flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Set aside.
-
Beat 1/4 c. milk, ¾ c. brown sugar, 1/2 c. sour cream, ¼ c. butter, egg, and vanilla until creamy. Add dry ingredients and mix just until blended.
-
Fold in peaches. (ninkasi23’s note: the batter was so stiff I decided to lay my peach slices in a circular pattern on the top and press them into the batter.)
-
Spoon batter into a 10 inch springform pan and sprinkle with crumble topping (see below).
-
Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until center is set and top is golden brown.
-
Combine ingredients for glaze and drizzle over baked coffee cake.
Crumble Topping
-
Combine 1 c. brown sugar, ⅔ c. flour in a bowl.
-
Cut in 6 Tbsp. softened butter until mixture is crumbly.
As I mentioned previously I ran out of brown sugar and flour for the topping so I used some quick oats mixed with sugar and cinnamon mixed with the butter. It pretty much melted/disappeared into the top but it tasted yummy!
This was the first time I finally used one of my springform pans! Funny, Mark bought them for me way back in 2007 or so and I had never used them. But it worked like a dream!
Oh! I did not make the glaze because I didn’t want it.
Now here’s a recipe that BlackSheep1 posted in a comment to my older peach diary:
** Peach butter
9 cups peeled pitted peaches
2 tbsp good ground cinnamon
2 tbsp good ground ginger
1 tsp each kosher salt, ground allspice, ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp each ground clove, ground cardamom
Bring water to simmer over medium-high heat in heavy pan with well-fitting lid. Add spices and stir to mix. Add peaches; bring to boil, then reduce heat to slow simmer and cook, uncovered, stirring as needed, until mixture thickens and darkens to consistency of applesauce. Strain mixture through medium sieve; crush any remaining large pieces of fruit through sieve, and return all to pan. Simmer, stirring as needed, until reduced in volume by half.
Makes between 3 pints and 1 quart, depending on how juicy your peaches were.
If you find this insufficiently sweet, after the boiling, add either 1/4 cup unsulphured molasses or honey to the mixture -- but remember this will make it likelier to burn.
Recipe will work with apples, pears or other fruit; adjust seasonings to taste, however (for apples or pears skip the cardamom and cut the ginger in half, for example).
Might whip up some of that because it sounds amazing!
I also like to make salsa with peaches. There are a ton of ideas available on the web but I had a specific ingredient to narrow my search:
I spied these bags being wheeled out of the back of the store fresh off the truck! This big bag was $1.49/lb which ended up being around $2. Time to fire up my new oven for some chile roastin’!
I found this simple recipe which I will be tackling this weekend but it’s only going to use some of these little devils.
Peach & Hatch Chile Salsa
from Set the Table by Rachael White
Ingredients
- 4 large peaches, skin on, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- 1/2 an onion (about 1/2 cup total) chopped
- 1/3 cup cilantro leaves
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 2 or 3 roasted Hatch Chiles, skin and seeds removed, roughly chopped
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 4 or 5 times to just combine everything. Don't over mix or the salsa will be more like soup. You still want nice texture.
- Season as needed with salt and pepper and extra lime juice, if desired.
- Transfer to jars and store in the refrigerator.
So please share your favorite Hatch chile recipes too! I know there are a few devotees amongst you of these New Mexico gems and I’m kinda new to them.
As we head into election season -oh, er, you know, fall- on this Labor Day weekend what are you having for dinner?
Have a seat and a slice here at WFD!
As always we love to hear your tips, recipes, stories, and questions! If you would like to share more in a diary just drop me a kos message and let me know what open Saturday in our schedule you might like to publish it on. I’m more than happy to help with some of the kos tech stuff for any who aren’t familiar with how the group stuff works. If I don’t know I should be able to direct you to those who do;-)
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