Peach Coffee Cake

Christmas Day I wanted to make coffee cake. Flipping though the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook I saw a recipe for peach coffee cake that tempted me.

I didn't follow the recipe, but started with it.

I heated some dried cranberries in some orange liqueur  then added a large can of peaches, drained and coarsely diced.

In a bowl I sifted together

• 2 1/2 Cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

In the mixer I creamed together:

• 1 cube butter (1/2 cup)
• 1 cup toasted sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

I set at the ready:

• 1 cup whole milk (recipe called for buttermilk)

Added and mixed until combined 1/3 of the dry mix and 1/3 cup of the milk in turns.

Then folded in the Peach mixture just until mixed in.

Poured this into buttered 9x13 casserole dish. 

Topped with mixture of:

• 2 tbs butter
• 1/2 cup toasted sugar
• 1 Tbs sweet spice mixture (in this case cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, grains of paradise, cubebs)
• 1 drop sweet orange essential oil

Bake at 250 for 35 mins, then cool 20 mins on wire rack. 

Ended up with a fragrant, moist cake. 

Failed attempt 1 at Peach Nirvana

I am working on developing a recipe for "Peach Nirvana" as a sort of cobbler for a science fiction story my wife and I are writing. Long story. At least so far, but we aren't done writing it yet. The cook in the story makes a cobbler for the crew that is a hit.

My first attempt was to adapt the Lemon Wedges over Shortbread recipe with the peach syrup and peaches in place of the lemon juice and zest. I cut the sugar in half since there is a lot of sweetness in the syrup and peaches and none of the sour of the lemon to contend with.

Little known fact, peaches are bigger and juicier than shavings of lemon zest. Word.

FAIL

But there were some lessons learned.

Never give up. Never surrender. 

Peach Risotto

I have been making a lot of roasted chicken. This leaves me with all the bits you don't eat that I make into broth. So, what better to make from stock than risotto? I'll tell ya: Peach Risotto.

Mild peach salsa

My previous attempt at peach salsa turned out a little spicy for my wife, so this go around I set out to make something more on the Mild Side. And I think I pulled it off.

Recipe came from pickyourown.org and I mostly followed it.

Mix the following in a large pot:

• 3 pounds of #2 heirloom tomatoes, blanched, shocked in ice bath, peeled, and diced
• Two yellow onions chopped
• two cups yellow, orange, and red bell peppers seeded and chopped fine
• 10 cups of ripe peaches, blanched, shocked in ice bath, and peeled, and 1/2 inch diced
•  1 Tbs canning salt (actually pickling salt, I'm not sure of the difference)
• 5 Tbs pickling spices in tea ball (whole spices: coriander, mustard seeds, black pepper, cubebs, long pepper, grains of paradise, 2 cloves, crumbled stick cinnamon, crumbled bay leaf, some red pepper flakes)
• 1 1/4 pound brown sugar (almost two boxes)
• 2 1/4 cup cider vinegar 
• 1 small can of diced roasted chile peppers, drained. 

Heat to boil, gently stirring. Reduce heat and simmer 30 mins. 

Then can with the standard hot water bath techniques. 

Peach caramel sauce

What to do with the leftover peach juice syrup from home canned peaches?

Too good to toss. 

To thin to use directly in most cases. 

Often not wanted in the dish I was making that I needed the drained peaches for. 

The solution: reduce it until it caramelizes then (slowly) add some cream and get a lovely peach caramel sauce.

Peach Salsa

In my not-as-yet-yet-hopefully-not-never-ending quest for a peach salsa recipe that will supplant my addiction to Trader Joe's Smokey Peach Salsa, I tried a recipe for smokey peach salsa from someone who sounds similarly afflicted.

Next time: I'll probably try to get closer to the recommended ingredient list. I didn't get my hands on chipotles or a habanero chili, but used jalapeños.  I also opted for herbs from my garden (parsley and basil) rather than cilantro. I also wasn't so good at getting the peach chunks small enough (because I first read it as 1" chunks rather than 1/4" chunks).

Scallions and onions from the garden

Process the peaches: peel, pit, partition

Blend half the peaches, tomato paste, herbs, hot pepper

Much chopping required.

Double, double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Add chunky bits: peaches, tomato, lime juice

Good thing I didn't use a smaller pan.

Salsa all jarred up.

Update: next batch was much more mild, and quite tasty.