Country Recipes of the Season
Here are a couple of great recipes for peach season....
Summer Peach Cake
Nothing better on a nice Summer day!
Cake Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. grated lemon rind
8-10 large, ripe Henley peaches...pitted, peeled, and sliced
3 Tblsp. cinnamon-sugar
Preheat oven to 400°. Grease and flour a 9"x13" cake pan. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt,
and sugar. Using a pastry blender (or fingers), work butter into flour mixture until crumbly. In a separate bowl, beat egg with milk and lemon rind, then stir into flour mixture, just until blended. Spread batter evenly in cake pan. Arrange slices of peaches on top of batter. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar over the peaches. Bake for 30 min (cake won't be completely cooked yet). While cake is baking, make the topping.
Topping:
3/4 cup sliced almonds (or almond meal)
3 Tblsp. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apricot jam/preserves
1 Tblsp. water
Using a blender, finely grind almonds (unless using almond meal). Mix ground almonds with softened butter, flour, and
brown sugar. Remove cake from oven. Spoon topping mixture around edge of cake to create a border. Bake for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Heat apricot jam with 1 Tblsp. water just until the jam melts, then brush the tops of the peaches with the warm jam. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Makes 10-12 servings.
Peach Sangria
1 (750ml) bottle dry white wine
3/4 cup peach brandy
6 Tblsp. frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 fresh Henley peaches, peeled and sliced
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
3/4 cup fresh raspberries
In a large pitcher, stir together wine, brandy, lemonade concentrate, and sugar, until sugar has dissolved. Add peaches and berries. Chill for 2 hours or until very cold. Serve over ice. Makes 6-8 servings.
Bon Appétit!
