Stone Fruit Crisp

Evening friends!

I am so ready for fall!  SO ready!  My mind is on crumbles, and crisps and cobblers, oh my!  I found some nice fruit the other day and undoubtedly knew what I had to do with them!  The plums, the peaches, just beautiful.  My husband had been mentioning that I hadn't made a dessert lately and how "good it sounded".  You know wives that is code for, "please make it now".  And with a face like his, how could I say no?!?!

You can use other stone fruit in this as well, I just used peaches and plums.  It came out delish, and with a scoop of ice cream on top.... get outta here!  Perfect crumbly, crunchy top, sweet fruity bottom, the texture was awesome and so was the flavor!

By the way, on a side note.  When I typed out "fruity bottom", my head started singing, "apple bottom jeans and the boots with the furrrr"

I don't like fruit, remember?  Yea well, I ate this.  (insert awkward silence where you all are gasping in shock) I KNOW!

Filling:
4 plums, peeled and sliced
4 peaches, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar (more or less depending on the sweetness of your fruit)
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix ingredients together well.  Pour into a casserole dish that has been buttered or sprayed with nonstick cooking spray.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Crisp Topping:
1/2 cup flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened.

Using a fork, mix all ingredients until well combined, and it becomes crumbly and holds together when you press it together in your hand.  Sprinkle over the top of the fruit, covering the entire top.  Place on a cookie sheet in case it bubbles over and bake for 45-55 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes before serving. 

Enjoy this fruity goodness over some ice cream!

Peach Upside Down Bundt Cake

Evenin' friends!

Excuse my lack of new recipes, things are NOT slowing down!  I am getting a lot of recipe writing done, now to get some recipe making done!  As I was making a midnight run to Walmart the other night, I noticed when I walked in I could literally SMELL the peaches.  Not being a huge fan of the peach, I sort of poo-poo'd it and moved along.  I had to come back by the produce again and the smell was just incredible so I picked up a few.  I knew my husband and kids would love dessert with some fresh peaches. 

I decided to treat them much the same was a pineapple upside down cake.  I wanted a beautiful pound cake to be the cake part though and I have my moms sour cream vanilla pound cake recipe and thought it would be the perfect marriage.  Boy WAS it!  That baby was gone before I could even get coffee made to go with it!  I do have a tip.  Blanch your peaches.  Toss them in boiling water for 5 minutes and then let cool, the skin will come right off.  Hairy peaches (shutters).  Yuck!

I hope you make and enjoy!  I make mine in a bundt pan but feel free to use an 8x8 or 9x9 square.  Same toothpick rules apply, your baking time will be slightly decreased I would guess!

3 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Spray a Bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray all over the sides and inside of pan.  Place melted butter in the bottom of the pan.  Swirl around until the entire bottom is covered.  Sprinkle in brown sugar all over the top of the butter and then place sliced peaches on top of the brown sugar.  Place them in a design or just spread them around!  Remember this will be the top of your cake in the end!  Set aside and mix up your cake batter.  In a mixing bowl cream together softened butter and sugar.  When it is creamy and smooth, add in eggs and sour cream.  Continue to mix until mixture is thoroughly mixed and creamy.  Add in vanilla and baking soda and mix in, completely.  Now add in flour and mix JUST UNTIL combined.  Pour this mixture evenly (might need to spoon it) over the peaches and even out the top.

Bake for 45-60 minutes.  Start checking at about 40 minutes.  When a toothpick comes out clean, it is done.  Let sit 3 minutes, and then turn out on to a cake plate! 

Enjoy!

Fresh Peaches and Cream Tart

This post if for my sister...........

My sister Karen loves peaches more than anything.  We tease her constantly about putting peaches in EVERYTHING.  I mean, the woman is batcrap crazy with these things!  Peach pie, peach cobbler, peach anything she can think up!  Her birthday is coming so I did one better, I surprised her with a tart.  I knew she hadn't ever made it, attempted to make, or eaten it so, what does good old "perfect 10" do?  Uh huh, she makes food wishes for Karen come true! HA!  By the way, I am the youngest of 10 children, I recently decided it took my parents 9 children before they got a perfect 10, so I have made it my new nickname.  Like it? HA!

By the way, my sister Peg, puts peas in everything.  Gah!

Seriously though, she does love peaches.  This tart is so simple.  It isn't overly sweet, but it is a dream.  I used a couple of my old tried and true recipes and just smacked them together.  They blended beautifully and Karen got her birthday dessert a few days early, and the world is just as it should be!

I am happy to share this with you.  You could trade the peaches out for strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, I mean, you could even do pears or kiwi or a mix of your favorite, GOD BLESS AMERICA the options are endless!!!

It has a few steps but none are hard.  So don't freak out..........k?  My tart pan is rectangular but you will use any tart pan you have.  This crust could work for a bazillion tarts.  Let your creativity run wild!  Not like running naked through the jungle wild, but wild in a clothed kinda way.  Ya know?

Crust (shortbread)
2 1/2 cups flour (all purpose)
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup butter

Preheat oven to 325 F.  In a bowl mix flour and sugar.  Using a pastry cutter, blend in softened butter.  Combine until mixed and you can squeeze it together and it stays in a clump.  Spray tart pan with nonstick cooking spray just as insurance and press down into a crust.  Make sure it goes up the sides as well and make it as even as possible.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until slightly golden brown.  You will know when it is done, trust me.  Remove and sit aside to cool while you make the pastry cream!

Pastry Cream
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups half and half
1 tsp vanilla

Beat your egg yolks in a bowl and set aside. 
In a heavy saucepan mix together sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Slowly add in half and half, mix completely.  Cook over medium heat until bubbly and it starts to thicken, and then cook it one minute.  Keep stirring it will burn SO easy!  Now, SLOWLY drizzle some of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, add in about 1 cup in total to temper the eggs and they won't scramble.  When you have add approx. 1 cup of the liquid, it will heat the eggs up slowly and you can now pour them into the pot with the rest of the hot mixture.  Whisk until combined and bring to a boil, cook for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat, add vanilla and combine.  Now, to cool it fast, set the saucepan into a heat safe bowl full of ice and stir occasionally.  It will help it cool faster.

Peaches
4-5 peaches, peeled and sliced

The answer is, "yes", you need to peel them.  Nobody wants hairy peaches on top of their dessert, right?

Add cooled pastry cream to the tart and spread out evenly.  Add sliced peaches in whatever design you desire. 

OPTION:  Just before serving, I sprinkled the top of mine with sugar and used my torch to brulee the sugar on top! 

There you go an easy tart you can change up 1,000 different ways!  Enjoy being creative, just keep your clothes on!!

Your "anything is possible" Chefwannabe