Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

Time for Tuesdays with Dorie! Thank you to Rachel of sweet tarte who picked Dorie's Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart as our treat of the week. You can find the recipe here at Rachel's blog if you do not have Baking From My Home To Yours.


The recipe starts with Dorie's Sweet Tart Dough with Nuts, I used almonds, since they were featured in the recipe. I've used this dough quite a few times with different nuts and it always turns out lovely, I think my favorites are pistachio and macadamia in this dough. You pre-bake this crust, I did about 20 minutes at 375.


Then you add your peaches. Next comes a custard and here's where I made my first little change to the recipe. This tart calls for heavy cream in the custard and I was fresh out, using the last I had to make a delicious alfredo the other night. I decided not to run out to the store for more cream and use cream cheese (softened) since I had plenty of that (thank you Sam's Club). I used 1/2 cup cream cheese instead of the 1/2 cup cream and it turned out nicely.


The above photo is after the initial baking, 10 minutes at 425. I decided to add my struesel topping at that point, then baked an additional 40 minutes at 350, just a touch lower than recommended so my crust wouldn't get overly browned.

It looked just about right so I pulled it out of the oven and let it cool on a wire rack before moving it to the fridge. We ended up having this for breakfast after it cooled overnight and it was a huge hit with my kids. Everyone wanted two slices! Picky husband would not try this one, which I kind of figured since he doesn't like almonds or peaches. Sorry, honey. I am so glad I got to give this one a try though, and super excited that my kids all enjoyed this crunchy and custardy and peachy tart :)

Raspberry Peach Pie Tart

Raspberry and peach has to be one of my favorite fruit combinations, and given that fruit desserts are my personal favorites, I was really excited about this week's Sweet Melissa Sundays pick. Rebecca of Beurrista decided on Melissa's North Fork Peach Raspberry Pie, doesn't that just sound so summery and delicious? You can find the recipe for the pie here if you do not have The Sweet Melissa Baking Book. I made a few alternations mention below...


The filling of this pie is thickened with tapioca flour, which the directions say to get by grinding tapioca pearls in a spice grinder. Tapioca is not something I usually have on hand, but I did have this bag of jumbo tapioca pearls that I ordered online in order to make bubble tea. I bought this bag a while ago and have not yet made said bubble tea, and almost forgot I had it in the pantry until this pie recipe came along and reminded me! Will have to make bubble tea soon :)

After grinding up some tapioca flour, making the pie crust (I used my favorite butter pie crust recipe that is made in the food processor), and rolling the pie crust in a perfect circle, I could not find a pie plate! I used to have 3 or 4 glass pie plates, earlier this year one got ruined as I tried to make dulce de leche in the oven, one pie plate is at my mom's house ever since I brought over the SMS Coconut Custard Pie there on Memorial Day, and I have absolutely no idea where the others are. I searched high and low and finally decided to go with my new 12 by 12 square tart pan. It is huge and the deepest tart pan I have. Still, a tart pan is not a pie pan, and holds a lot less filling, so I decreased the peaches down to three cups, and kept the raspberries at two cups. I also decreased the sugar to 1/2 cup.

Since this tart pan is so big there was no way I was going to have enough pie dough for a double crust, so I reshaped my crust to fit the bottom square and up the sides, then peeked into one of my cookie cutter drawers and took out the star and cut some shapes for the top crust.

Not too bad, kind of shabby chic, right? Maybe?

Rustic? Yeah, that works. It ended up being delicious and setting up perfectly. I loved this pie and would love to make it again as written with the extra peaches and a full upper crust. My kids love the fruit and the stars, only my youngest would bother eating the bottom crust. I could not convince picky husband to give this one a try. He saw the tapioca out and reminded me how much he hates tapioca, even though I assured him it was ground down to powder and there would be no tapioca balls in the pie. He also is not a big fan of peaches. Sorry, honey. The kids and I loved it and it was a fun summer dessert, thanks for a great SMS pick Rebecca!

Honey Peach Ice Cream with Mini Sugar Cones -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Thank you to Tommi of Brown Interior who picked Dorie's Honey Peach Ice Cream as our treat of the week. You can visit her site for the recipe. This was one of the recipes that really stood out to me in the book because I love peach ice cream and honey and couldn't wait to try the combo. The kids and I loved this recipe, my husband was again not interested in the TWD treat, he doesn't really like peaches, which makes me a little sad because they are one of my favorite fruits, oh-well, at least the kids like peaches.

Here are some process photos...


adding the peach honey puree to the custard base



starting to churn

just about done, ready to add the peach chunks

all done! ready to be packed up and put in the freezer

I thought it would be fun to get out one of my least used kitchen electrics, my mini waffle cone maker -- the Chef's Choice Petite Cone Express -- and make some cute little cones to go with our lovely peach honey ice cream...

If you have one of these or any waffle cone maker, you know you have to work really fast and roll those cones up quick, no time for photo snappin'

Here is the recipe for what I'm used to calling 'sugar waffle' cones here at the Chef's Choice website.

I personally love Denmark style ice cream cones, topped with whipped cream, sprinkles, sometimes a cherry, sometimes jam. I'm always trying to recreate the ice cream treats I had there.

But plain works well too. We loved this recipe and it was so nice to get the ice cream maker out for the summer. What a fun pick for Tuesdays with Dorie :)

Bear's Peach Cobbler -- Sweet Melissa Sundays

I'm so excited -- today is my day to pick a recipe for Sweet Melissa Sundays! I chose Bear's Peach Cobbler from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book because peach cobbler is one of my favorite desserts and I couldn't wait to give Melissa's recipe a try. Also, I thought it was neat that Melissa mentions before the recipe that she first made this for her little sister's fifth birthday and it ended up being her favorite dessert. I'm an only child and when I was younger always wished for a little sister. I'm sure if I had one I'd be in the kitchen creating desserts either for or with her all the time :) I hope that my fellow SMS bakers enjoyed this recipe, I can't wait to visit everyone and see how their cobblers turned out.

I used California Summer White peaches (they look like apples when sliced and have an amazing flavor) and skipped peeling them...

Bear’s Peach Cobbler
Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients for the cobbler topping:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar plus 1 1/2 teaspoons for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon whole milk or heavy cream, for glazing

Ingredients for the peach filling:
6 cups peeled, sliced, ripe peaches (bout 3 1/2 pounds)
Juice of 1 lemon
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, and zest. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal. Little by little stir in the heavy cream until dough starts to hold together (a bit more cream may be used if needed).

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat dough together to form a round about 1/2-inch thick. Using a lightly floured 2 1/2-inch round biscuit cutter (I just a heart cookie cutter) to cut the dough into 7 to 8 biscuits.

3. Place biscuits on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or aluminum foil and refrigerate loosely covered with plastic wrap, while you make the filling or until you are ready to use.

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and butter a 2-quart ovenproof deep-dish pan. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or foil.

5. To make the filling, stir together peach slices, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon in a large bowl.

Pour peach mixture into prepared dish.


Place the biscuits evenly on top of the peach mixture and brush with milk. Sprinkle with remaining sugar.


6. Place dish on the lined cookie sheet and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until biscuits are cooked through. Remove to a wire rack to cool before serving. This cobbler should be eaten the day it is baked. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

*My cobbler is still baking, I just wanted to post the recipe early for SMS, I can't wait to report back with results, which I think we will love! Thanks for visiting :)


Update: Yum, yum, yum! This cobbler was wonderful, I had never used white peaches in cobbler before and they turned out great. My kids all absolutely loved this, my super picky husband is not a peach fan, but he tried it and said it was really good, even though he only wanted a little taste. What a delicious Sweet Melissa Sundays treat!

Look at that gorgeous rosy peach color from the SummerWhite Peaches, I love it!