Summer is peach season, and if you are lucky enough to have a peach tree (or a mother who has a peach tree), you need to find SOMETHING to do with all of those peaches that seem to ripen at once! We eat them straight from the tree… juices dripping down our chins. Mmmmmm
I wanted to bake something…. something not too heavy, but something that would use up some of that delicious fruit!
Peach Shortbread Tart was my solution. The shortbread crust is light and crumbly, not super sweet, and a was nice base for the peaches.
This recipe will make an 11 inch round Peach Shortbread Tart. If you make a smaller one, you will have some dough left over. Either make another tart… or crumble it over muffins before baking…..or crumble it over a baking pan full of fruit and stick it in the oven bake it, serve it with ice cream and call it dessert. Just don’t chuck it out.
Slice the peaches thinly. Thick is yummy, but will not work so well. You’ll get plenty of peach flavor, I promise.
You do have to peel the peaches.. easy.. Just plunge them into boiling water for a minute, fish them back out with a slotted spoon, and the skins will slide off. (The How to Peel Peaches page shows this in detail.)
If you have any questions about technique.. I’ve detailed it in photos below.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Butter
- 2/3 cup Granulated Sugar
- 2 cups Unbleached Flour
- 1/2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- Peaches 2 big or 4 little
- 1 TBL Sugar as needed
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Spray your pan with some non-stick stuff… or do what my Oma did… rub the pan with the inside of the butter wrapper.
Prepare the Peaches-
Peel and thinly slice Peaches. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil… lower in the peaches (if you drop them, you will get splashed, and turns out.. it hurts). After a minute, fish the peaches out with a slotted spoon. Let them cool a bit (just so you can handle them without looking like a cartoon character with TNT) and then give the skin a nick with a knife. The skin should peel right off.
Slice the peaches thinly into a bowl, then sugar them a bit if needed. Set aside.
Prepare the Dough-
Put the Sugar, Flour and Ground Cinnamon into the bowl of a food processor…pulse a few times to combine.
Add the Butter in smaller chunks (like a Tablespoon at a time… don’t go crazy measuring, just don’t drop a big clump in all at once). Pulse a few times, then let it whirl until completely combined.
hmmm…. how to describe?
Ok… you shouldn’t see any butter clumps. It should look like wet sand. If you pinch a bit, it should hold the pinch shape.
If it’s a lump of dough? you’ve gone too far.
Press 2/3 of the dough you are going to use into the prepared tart pan. It should be about 1/2 inch thick (again, don’t go crazy here… ballpark it. 1 inch is way too much, 1/4 inch too thin… in the middle is good)
Lay the peach slices over the dough. For bonus points you can make a pretty pattern. (one day I plan to turn in all my bonus points for a new waffle iron)
Crumble the other 1/3 of the dough over the top of the peaches in small crumbles. Just grab it in your fist and let it dribble through.
If you made the full recipe, and have a small pan, you will have to guesstimate the amounts a bit. Store the rest.
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
Let cool in pan.
Remove from pan by loosening the edge and pulling it away. Then you can slide it off the bottom.
Slice into wedges and eat.