Autumn Peaches

I managed to make it through the summer without tasting a peach.  It was a crying shame as I love peaches.  It seemed like the summer was a hot whirlwind and a peach just didn’t fall into my life until the fall season actually came.

A few weeks ago, my dear friend gifted me some September Snow peaches.  It’s a white peach variety that ripens in September, which is later than the typical peach season.  Peaches are generally harvested by August, but this particular variety ripens later.  After eating a couple, I observed a noticeable difference in taste and I prefer this white variety to the typical yellow peach.  It’s less acidic, it’s sweeter (I think) and it’s less juicy.  All wins for me.

Since I was gifted a tray of these beautiful peaches, I wanted to use them in a recipe and I found the perfect one.  It’s the easiest dessert I’ve made in a while and it only contains five ingredients.  The peaches are the star of this recipe, but as we are now in October, I understand they are not as easy to come by so apples or pears could easily be substituted. You would just have to adjust the baking times as different fruits take slightly different times to bake through. 

Here is the recipe:

Easy Peach Tart:

Ingredients:

-1 large sheet of puff pastry (thawed in the refrigerator);

-6 sliced peaches 

-2 Tbsp granulated sugar 

-1 ½ tsp cinnamon

-6 Tbsp unsalted butter (softened)

Equipment:

-9 inch tart pan with removable bottom; or

-8×8 square pan; or 

-Any baking pan close to those measurements

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit;
  2. Slice the peaches thinly and set aside;
  3. Roll out the puff pastry and press into your baking pan, cutting off any excess dough that rolls over the sides of the pan;
  4. Poke holes at the bottom of the pastry so air can escape during baking, lessening any chance of it bubbling up;
  5. Place the pan (lined with the puff pastry dough) in the oven and bake for 15 minutes until it begins to brown slightly;
  6. Remove pan from oven and reduce heat to 375 degrees Fahrenheit;
  7. Line the peaches on top of the puff pastry in whatever design you prefer—try to make sure that there aren’t any large open spaces left between the peaches (aesthetically, it looks better with them closer to each other after baking);
  8. Combine the butter, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl;
  9. Place the butter mixture on top of the peaches uniformly (since the butter is softened, this will require you to drop the mixture over the peaches, rather than crumble it);
  10. Now, it’s time to bake it, but first, place a larger pan underneath the tart pan in the oven because the butter will bubble out (more than likely) during baking and you don’t want a burnt butter mess at the bottom of your oven;
  11. Bake the peach puff pastry tart for about 20 minutes;
  12. Remove it from oven and let sit for at least 15 more minutes before serving;

This tart is great for dessert, breakfast or just a snack.  Enjoy!