We had some company over for a BBQ a few nights ago. I had these yummy local peaches that were perfectly ripe and I was going to make a peach pie. Then I checked one of my favorite cooking blogs, www.smittenkitchen.com and found a recipe for peach shortbread.
The great thing about this recipe: you don't even have to peel the peaches. Just wash and slice.
These turned out so very tasty. I tweaked the recipe/directions just a little. If you want to see the original, you can go to the smittenkitchen blog (see above).PEACH SHORTBREAD
This recipe uses browned butter, which in my opinion makes them fabulous, but if you don't want the hassle, you can omit that step and just use softened butter. You may have to add a bit more flour if you do that. This recipe makes a 9x13" pan full.
1 c white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour minus 2 T
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmet
1/4 tsp salt
1 c (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and sliced 1/4" thick
To brown butter: Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-low heat. Allow it to melt, foam, then turn golden, and finally start to brown and smell nutty. In early stages, you can stir occasionally, but watch VERY closely near the end, it burns very easily. Set in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).
Preheat oven to 375F. Spray a 9x13" pan with nonstick spray. In bowl of your food processor, add sugar, baking powder, flour, salt, and spices. Pulse several times to mix. Add brown butter and egg to mixture. Pulse in 1-second pulses until mixture comes together and resembles coarse crumbs (If you don't have a food processor, you can whisk dry ingredients together, then mix in brown butter with your fingers or pastry blender but I had difficulty doing this with the hard frozen butter, so let it sit for a few minutes to soften if you have to do it by hand).
Pat 3/4-7/8 of crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan and press firmly. Tile peach slices in a single layer. Sprinkle remaining crumbs over peaches and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown and you can see a little darker color around the edges. Cool completely in pan on wire rack before cutting.
As you can see, they turned out lovely and were so delicious. Much better than a peach pie!