A Farewell to Peaches

The end of peach season is approaching, which makes me inconsolably sad. I didn’t get to make peach küchen this year! I did get to share a piece of the creamy goodness from Karen’s Sweets with my husband, but it’s not the same. Don’t get me wrong, hers was delicious, but it didn’t fill my house with that late summer smell of peaches, cinnamon and custard that I look forward to each year. I also didn’t get to go pick my own bushels full of the juicy fuzzballs like I love to do. Next year, I promise to pay proper attention to my favorite fruit!

Before I ran out of peaches, though, I did get to make this homage to the peach. Run out and get some before they are all gone and mix up this pie! The rosemary will leave you speechless. My husband and sister-in-law almost ate all the topping before it was served!

Granola-Crusted Peach Pie with Rosemary Scented Crumbs

Ingredients:

filling & crust ingredients

crumb topping ingredients

• 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, divided
• 1 1/4 c. granola (Jumbars)
• 4 peaches (Bechdolt’s Orchard)
• 1/2 c. sugar, divided
• 1.5 oz. bourbon whiskey
• few tablespoons honey (Rush Apiaries)
• cinnamon to taste
• 1/2 c. flour
• sprig of rosemary (my garden)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Chop granola to coarse crumbs in food processor.
3. Melt 1/4 c. butter (half stick) and mix with granola crumbs.
4. Press granola mixture on bottom and up sides of pie plate.
5. Bake crust for 10 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, peel and slice peaches.
7. Mix with 1/4 c. sugar, bourbon, honey and cinnamon.
8. Fill crust with peaches.
   

   filled crust

9. Finely chop rosemary.
10. Using a pastry blender or two forks, combine remaining half stick of butter, 1/4 c. sugar, 1/2 c. flour, cinnamon and rosemary until mixture becomes crumbly.
11. Sprinkle crumb topping over peaches.
12. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until peaches are tender.
    

    I will never make another peach pie without rosemary.

The Stale Baked Good Predicament

My sister in-law works at a scrumdiddlyumptious vegan bakery, Vegan Treats, right down the road from our apartment. Occasionally, she will deliver some day old baked goods to us instead of throwing them away. Vegan Treats are so freaking yummy and ridiculously rich. The last batch we received was just too much to eat! I took some to work the next morning, my husband and I snarfed some down at home, but I still had a ton of donuts and a bun left over! Before we could eat them all or give them away, the tasty confections were stale. As I mentioned in the peach bourbon tea pops post, frugality is a way of life in this PA Dutch region. I couldn’t bring myself to throw away the goodies. So, recipe creation and baking ensued. I do feel awkward about adding eggs, milk & butter to vegan baked goods, but I am not vegan and I didn’t have the proper substitutes at the time. Sorry to the hardcore folks out there! I am sure they’d be tasty animal-product free, too!

Stale Baked Good Treat #1: Donut Bread Pudding
*For a vegan bread pudding recipe, click here. Just sub donuts for the bread!

Ingredients:

Add some less than fresh donuts, and you've got dessert to feed a crowd!

• 12 or so stale donuts (Any flavor will work. Mine were a mix of glazed, sugar, jelly, & chocolate cream)
• 3 cups whole milk (I used raw milk from Klein Farms)
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks (Save the whites for a tasty lunch scramble while this bakes!)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• dash salt
• cinnamon, to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the donuts into approximately 1-inch cubes and place in 9×13″ baking pan (grease if not non-stick).
2. Whisk together milk, eggs, and egg yolks.
3. Add sugar, vanilla, salt & cinnamon. Stir.
4. Pour milk & egg mixture evenly over donut cubes in pan.
5. Let sit for 1 hour.
6. Preheat oven to 350°.
7. Bake bread pudding for 60-70 minutes.
8. Serve warm or cold. Store leftovers in fridge.
   

   Rich & Delicious!

    

Stale Baked Good Treat #2: Fruity Bun Pie
*To make these vegan in keeping with the vegan bun, just sub margarine for the butter!

Ingredients:

These ingredients (plus butter, a bit of sugar & cinnamon) are really flexible ... Use what you've got!

• 1 large less-than-fresh bun (this is a coconut bun, cinammon would work, too)
• 2 peaches (mine were a bit hard from being put in the fridge, no problem! I got mine at Bechdolt’s Orchard)
• 2 small plums (mine were a little over-ripe, again, no problem! From Pappy’s Orchard)
• 1 apple (mine is not local … leftover from road trip lunch at Panera)
• 2 T. butter
• sugar, to taste
• cinnamon, to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
   
2. Slice the bun hamburger-style so you have two rounds.
3. Spread 1/2 T. of butter on each round and toast, cut side down, on a griddle or skillet until golden. Transfer to cookie sheet, cut side up.
4. Thinly slice the fruit (use a mandolin if you have it).
5. Arrange fruit slices on bun halves. (I also sprinkled some coconut that fell out of the bun on top)
6. Dot 1/2 T. of butter on top of each bun pie.
7. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
8. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until fruit is soft.
9. Serve warm.

Warm, fruity, buttery, delicious!

Peach Bourbon Tea Pops

One of my favorite summertime local treats are the fresh, juicy peaches. For as long as I can remember, I have picked fruit throughout the growing season … Strawberries in June, blueberries in July, peaches in August, then pears, apples … Mmm. I haven’t gotten to go to the orchard yet for peaches right off the tree, but I did pick up some tasty ones from Bechdolt’s Orchard in Hellertown at the Artsquest Farmers’ Market.

Unfortunately, I bought them on a Tuesday, then ended up having to unexpectedly travel to NC for a funeral. The peaches still needed to ripen up a teensy bit, but I was afraid they would go bad while we were away. So, I put some in the fridge to preserve them and left some on the counter to ripen. Well, I came home to a Goldilocks situation where the ones on the counter were over ripe and the ones in the fridge were too hard. Growing up in this frugal, Pennsylvania Dutch valley, I learned not to waste. So, the softer peaches turned into these tasty Southern-inspired popsicles!

Peach Bourbon Tea Pops

Ingredients:

If a recipe starts with these ingredients, can you really go wrong?

• 4 ripe peaches
• 2-4 teabags, depending on your taste (I used 2 lemon-ginger bags)
• honey (to sweeten to taste)
• 4 oz. bourbon

Directions:

1. Boil 4 cups of water. Add tea bags and steep about 10 minutes.
2. While the tea is steeping, coarsely chop the peaches. No need to peel. Set aside one peach-worth of chunks for later.
3. Puree the rest of the peach chunks with about 1/4 cup of water until smooth. Transfer to a bowl with a spout (or a pitcher).
4. Drizzle in as much honey as you would like (I used about 1/8 cup).
5. Add the bourbon.
   

   Adding the bourbon.

6. Remove the tea bags from the water and add the tea to the bowl.
7. Stir until well incorporated.
8. Set out popsicle molds (or paper cups and popsicle sticks … whatever you’ve got) and divide the reserved peach chunks among them.
9. Pour the peach-bourbon-tea mixture into the molds.
   

   Ready to Freeze

10. Freeze overnight and enjoy!
    

    My husband, about to enjoy a pop after a long day working hard. It's like sitting on a veranda in the south, but in Bethlehem!