Get Romantic With
Peaches!
Here are some luscious desserts and cool drinks to tempt your mate with
on these end of summer days. Hopefully, they will get you both in the
mood with their rich textures and flavors! Enjoy!
Desserts
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The Lady's Peach
Shortcake
Ingredients:
Shortcakes:
4 cups bisquick
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons almond flavoring
Peaches:
6 peaches
1 teaspoon Fruit Fresh (fruit preservative)
Splash warm water
1 1/2 cups sugar
Whipped cream:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup sugar
Toppings:
Vanilla Ice Cream
Mint sprigs
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400
degrees F.
To make the shortcakes, mix the bisquick,
sugar, milk, butter, and
almond flavoring in a medium size bowl and pour into 12 well greased
muffin tins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until done and remove from oven.
Cool for 5 minutes and pop out of pans.
Peel, core, and slice the peaches.
Immediately sprinkle with
Fruit Fresh to prevent peaches from turning dark. Add a splash of warm
water to the peaches to moisten. Stir the sugar into the peaches,
cover, and refrigerate until ready to use.
In a large mixing bowl or mixer, combine the
heavy cream and sugar, and whip until peaks start to form.
To serve, split the biscuit in 1/2 and place
bottom 1/2 on a
plate. Top with 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream, pour fresh peaches and
syrup on top, and place top half of biscuit over ice cream and fruit.
Ladle more fresh peaches on top and finish with a dollop of whipped
cream. Garnish with a mint sprig.
Peach Champagne
Semifreddo
Ingredients:
8 large egg yolks
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 pinches salt
3/4 cup champagne
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup water
2 pounds peaches
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 large or 6 small juicy ripe peaches
Directions:
In a stainless steel mixing bowl, whisk together
the eggs, 1/2 cup of the sugar and a pinch of the salt. Whisk in the
champagne. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water. (The pot
should be sitting over, not in the water.) Whisk vigorously until
thick, about 3 minutes. Remove the bowl from the pot and place it in a
bowl of ice water. Cool until room temperature, stirring occasionally.
Whip the cream until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the cooled
champagne mixture.
Spray a loaf pan with
nonstick spray. (You can use a pan
approximately 3 1/2 by 11 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches but a 9-inch square pan
will work.) Line the pan with plastic wrap, making sure to press the
plastic wrap into the corners of the pan. (The nonstick spray helps the
plastic wrap stick to the pan. The plastic wrap makes the terrine
easier to unmold.) Gently spread half of the champagne cream into the
loaf pan. Place the pan in the freezer for at least 1 hour. Refrigerate
the remaining champagne cream.
Combine
the water and the remaining 3/4 cup sugar in a small
sauce pot. Bring the sugar and water to a boil over high heat and boil
for 1 minute until the sugar is dissolved. Cool the mixture to at least
room temperature. (It can be made several days in advance and
refrigerated.)
Peel
and pit the 2 pounds of peaches. Puree them in a food
processor. Strain the puree through a medium holed sieve. There should
be 3 cups of peach puree. Stir 1/2 cup of the sugar syrup into the
peach puree. Add the remaining pinch salt and the lemon juice. Taste
the peach puree. If it is not sweet enough add a little more sugar
syrup. (The amount of sugar necessary will depend on the natural
sweetness of the peaches. Extra sugar syrup can be used to sweeten ice
tea.) Freeze the peach puree in an ice cream machine according to
manufacturer's instructions.
When
the peach puree is frozen, spread it evenly into the loaf
pan over the frozen champagne cream. Let the puree become firm again in
the freezer, then carefully spread the remaining champagne cream on
top. Freeze the semifreddo for several hours until hard. It can be made
several days in advance.
Peel
the remaining peaches. Cut them in half and remove the
pits. Cut in 1/2 inch pieces. Taste the peaches. If they are not very
sweet, stir in a little granulated sugar. Often peaches are naturally
sweet enough and do not need additional sugar.
To
unmold, invert the loaf pan onto a cutting board. Run a wet
hot towel over the pan. Remove the pan. Carefully peel off the plastic
wrap.
Slice
the semifreddo and place on a plate. Serve with some of the fresh
peaches.
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Peach
Soup
Ingredients:
1 white peach
1 yellow peach
2-1/2 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1 bag peach tea
1/4 teaspoon lime zest
peach ice cream
Directions:
Simmer the
water and sugar together, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove
from heat, add the tea bag and the zest and steep for 5 minutes.
Discard the tea bag. Chill until cold.
Just before serving, peel and cut the peaches into 1/4-inch dice. Stir
into the chilled syrup.
To serve divide the soup among 4 shallow
bowls and top each with a scoop of peach ice cream.
Peach Ice Cream
Ingredients:
2 quarts light cream
2-2/3
cups of sugar
1/2
vanilla bean
4 lbs.
very ripe peaches
Directions:
Combine
the
cream, 2 cups of the sugar and the vanilla bean in a saucepan. Slowly
bring the mixture to a boil over med-low heat, stirring to dissolve the
sugar.
Remove the cream from the heat and let it cool at room temperature.
When cool, place in the refrigerator overnight.
Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Working in batches, plunge the
peaches into the boiling water for about 1 minute. Peel off the skins
while still warm. Pit the peaches and mash them with 2/3 cup of sugar.
Refrigerate overnight.
The next day, remove the vanilla bean from the cream. Add the cream
to your ice cream mixture and proceed according to the manufacturer's
directions. Half-way through the freezing process, add the peaches and
continue.
When done, pack the ice cream into a container and freeze for at least
two hours. Serves 8.
Grilled Peaches
"Melba"
Ingredients:
4 (1/2-inch thick)
slices pound cake
8 firm-ripe peaches, halved and pitted
Vegetable oil, as needed
1 quart vanilla ice cream
Raspberry sauce, recipe follows
Toasted slivered almonds, for garnish
Directions:
Preheat an
outdoor grill or grill pan. Grill the
pound cake, turning once, until slightly charred. Divide the slices
among 4 plates.
Brush the cut sides of the peaches with oil
and place on the grill,
cut-side down. Grill until golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn the
peaches over and grill until almost soft, about 1 minute more.
Cut the peaches into about 1/2-inch thick
slices.
Place a scoop of ice cream on each grilled
pound cake slice. Top
each with some of the sliced peaches, drizzle with the raspberry sauce,
and sprinkle with the almonds. Serve.
Raspberry Sauce:
1 pint fresh raspberries
3 tablespoons sugar, or more to taste
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon Framboise, optionalPlace
all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.
Strain into a small bowl. Sauce may be refrigerated for 1 day.
Peaches Stuffed with
Amaretti Cookies
Ingedients:
1 1/2 ounces amaretti cookies (about 12 small cookies)
3 ripe, firm peaches (about 5 ounces each), halved and pitted
3 teaspoons sugar (1/2 teaspoon per peach half)
3 teaspoons unsalted butter (1/2 teaspoon per peach half)
2 cups fresh whipped cream
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter the bottom of an
8-inch baking dish and set aside.
Using a melon baller, clean
out the red flesh from the center of
each peach. Arrange the peaches cut side up in the prepared dish. In
the bowl of a food processor, add the amaretti cookies and pulse until
finely crumbled. Divide the amaretti crumbs between the peaches. Fill
the center of each peach with the amaretti cookie crumbs. Sprinkle 1/2
teaspoon of sugar over each. Dot each peach with 1/2 teaspoon of
butter.
Bake until the peaches are
tender and the filling is crisp on top, about 30 minutes. Serve warm
with whipped cream
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| Peach Drinks |
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Ingredients:
3 orange pekoe tea bags
4 cups cold water
5 (5-ounce) cans peach nectar (about 3 1/3 cups), chilled
1/4 cup chilled simple syrup or to taste
Simple
syrup:
1 1/3 cups
sugar
1 1/4 cups
water
Peach slices
for garnish
Directions:
Place tea bags in a
quart-size glass measure or heatproof bowl.
In a saucepan bring water
just to a boil and pour over tea bags.
Steep tea 5 minutes and strain through a sieve into a heatproof
pitcher. Cool tea and chill, covered, until cold, about 1 hour.
Stir in nectar and syrup.
Serve tea over ice in tall glasses and garnish with peach slices and
basil sprigs.
To make simple syrup: In a
saucepan bring sugar and water to a
boil, stirring, and boil until sugar is completely dissolved. Let syrup
cool and chill, covered. Syrup may be made 2 weeks ahead and chilled,
covered.
Emeril's Frozen Bellini
Ingredients:
1 pound frozen peaches,
sliced and thawed
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 bottle champagne
Directions:
In saucepan, over medium heat, combine the
peaches, sugar, and water. Bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat
to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.
In a blender, puree the mixture until smooth. Add a enough water to
thin the puree out into a peach juice. Pour into a shallow dish and
freeze until firm. Remove the peach mixture from the freezer and allow
to sit out for 10 minutes. Using a large spoon, scrape the mixture back
and forth to form a slushy mixture. Fill each flute glass 2/3 of the
way with Champagne. Add the slushy peach mixture and serve.
Frozen Peach Champagne Cocktails
Ingredients:
1/4 cup sugar, to
rim glasses
1 pint peach sorbet
2 shots Triple Sec, Grand Marnier or Cointreau
Chilled champagne or sparkling wine, to fill blender, 1/3 bottle
Raspberries and 4 springs mint, optional garnish
Directions:
Place a shallow bowl of
water along side a
shallow bowl with 1/4 cup sugar in it. Dip 4 cocktail glasses in water,
then sugar to rim glass.
Place 4 scoops peach sorbet
in blender. Add 2 shots orange liqueur.
Fill blender with Champagne to maximum fill line or up to 1-inch from
top of blending pitcher. Place cover on blender tightly. Blend until
smooth and pour into cocktail glasses, keeping an eye out not to wreck
the pretty sugar rims. Garnish with a few raspberries and a sprig of
mint and serve.
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White Peach
Sangria
Ingredients:
1 bottle white wine
(Spanish table wine)
3 ounces brandy
2 ounces triple sec
1 cup orange juice
1 cup pineapple juice
2 ounces simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water brought to a
boil for 2 minutes in a small saucepan) and cooled (leftover syrup can
be stored in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for 1
month)
3 ounces white peach puree (peel peaches, remove pit and puree in a
blender with a small amount of water)
Fresh peaches, oranges, and apples sliced
Directions:
Place all
ingredients in a pitcher and stir to mix. Refrigerate at least 8 hours
or up to 48 hours. Serve over ice.
White Peach Margarita
Ingredients:
2 parts silver tequila
1 lime, juiced
1 1/2 parts peach schnapps
1/4 cup White Peach Puree
2 white peaches, sliced
Ice
Directions:
Fill the blender 3/4 of the way with ice.
Add
all of the ingredients except 4 slices of peach. Blend together and
serve with slice of peach.
Peach Power Smoothie
Ingredients:
1 (1-inch) piece
fresh ginger, peeled and grated
2 cups plain yogurt
3/4 cup orange juice
2 cups sliced frozen peaches
Directions:
In a blender
combine ginger, yogurt, orange juice and the frozen peaches. Blend
until smooth.
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