Happy Birthday, Tammy!

In honor of one of my co-worker's "29th" birthday, I made a peach cobbler. This was the first time I've ever attempted this kind of dessert and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I used peaches from Porter, OK.

Every summer, around mid-July, Porter hosts the Porter Peach Festival. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get over there, but I was lucky enough to come across some of the peaches at the Wal Mart around the corner from me. These truly are some of the best peaches I've ever had. We ate ours with some slow-churned, low fat vanilla ice cream (best low fat ice cream I've ever had too).

Peach Cobbler

Recipe from All Recipes

9 fresh peaches
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup butter, chilled
2/3 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F ( 205 degrees C).
2. Submerge peaches in boiling later for about 1 minute. The amount of time required to make the skin easy to peel varies with the degree of ripeness: if really ripe, it may take less time. Remove peaches with a slotted spoon, and run cold water on them. Slip off the skin (I'll be honest, I cheated and just peeled them with a potato peeler). Cut peaches into wedges, and place in either a deep 10 inch pie plate or a 2 inch deep 2 quart baking dish. Toss peaches with lemon juice and 1/2 cup sugar. Cover with foil.
3. Bake 15 minutes, or until the peaches are hot and bubbly.
4. Whisk together flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles small peas. Pour buttermilk over top, and toss with a fork until the mixture clumps together. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough over the peaches. In a small cup, mix 2 teaspoons sugar and nutmeg. Sprinkle over biscuits.
5. Bake until biscuits are golden brown, about 30 minutes. Set dish on wire rack to cool 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Une Petite Tartlette

I swear that I had every intention of posting my mom's birthday cake today, but as I went through my morning blog surfing I came across a really cool recipe (I promise I'll post it tomorrow). From the creator of Bacon Vodka, I bring you a recipe from Brownie Points. There are so many recipes I want to tackle on her blog, but today I made a variation of her juicy strawberries.

I made some modifications and turned it into a tartlette. I cheated and used a store bought puff pastry, and I used peaches instead of strawberries (I bought the berries, but forgot to buy jam thinking I still had some in the fridge). This is another quick and simple recipe with only five ingredients. It can be thrown together when you know friends are coming for dinner and you want to serve something yummy.

The great thing about this is you can use just about any kind of fruit. It can also be served on top of some vanilla ice cream or with some plain yogurt (I plan on having the rest of mine with some homemade yogurt since I was given a recipe by another great blogger here). I imagine you could also use this recipe as a form of strawberry shortcake. I made a quick whipped cream to eat with mine.

I plan on using this recipe again within the week to make a strawberry tart, and I hope to use it in the future with blackberries and raspberries. I hope you're brave enough to turn your oven on for this because it's worth the extra heat. Enjoy!

Peach Tartlette

Recipe by Brownie Points, adapted by me

2 peaches

Pinch of salt

4 Tbl peach jam

4-5 Tbl hot water

1/2 package frozen puff pastry, thawed

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Clean peaches and slice or quarter (I sliced and layered them, but you can quarter the peaches then half them and stand them upright in a circle in the middle of the pastry).
3. In a small bowl make up a peach syrup by mixing 4 Tbl of peach jam with 4-5 Tbl of hot water. Stir till the jam is broken up and is now syrup consistency. Putting the bowl in the microwave for 10-15 seconds on High will help loosen up the jam.
4. Pour the peach jam syrup over the sliced peaches and allow to sit at room temperature 30 minutes before use.
5. On a piece of parchment paper that is on a cookie sheet, roll out the puff pastry to 1-1/8 inch thickness. Cut using a 4-inch cutter and remove scraps. Lay slices on the top of the puff pastry.
6. Bake for 20-30 minutes until the puff pastry is a dark golden brown. Remove from oven and place sheet on rack to cool. Serve warm.