What a Peach! : A Vintage Dessert

PROJECT PATISSERIE: Adventure #12

My friend Julie (a born and raised LaFargevill-ian) married a wonderful man named Nate on May 3^rd. The couple had a small, private ceremony: in attendance were only the bride and groom’s immediate family members; the bride wore yellow.  No frills, no expensive cakes, or elaborate invitations. Personal and authentic, to paraphrase Frank Sinatra, Julie did it her way. In a world that is not always so joy-filled or happy, I think it behooves us to celebrate, whenever we can, things that are.

Julie comes from really good, salt-of-the-earth kind of people. So when her friends got together with the newly-minted couple this weekend to celebrate their marriage, the meal was inspired by her, and her country roots. The menu headliners were fried chicken, biscuits, gravy, hot potato salad (a kind of potato gratin, really), and green bean casserole. Julie furnished the homemade honeywine, I tended to my favorite course- dessert. No country-style meal would be complete without pie- buttermilk, this time, and, as a special treat, a little thing called Peach Delight.

The recipe for Peach Delight did not come from the Amish, or one of my fancy pants cookbooks, or the inter-web, even. In line with the theme of the event, it actually came from an old country antique store that I used to frequent B.B. (before babies.) I found the recipe, framed and sandwiched under a piece of glass, a few years ago and it’s been hanging on my dining room wall ever since.

Peach Delight is super easy to make, the prep time is very short, and it bakes quickly. Unlike its French and Italian brethren, there’s no waiting involved, no fancy flavors that need time to get to know each other before the dessert tastes its best.  It’s a friendly, come-as-you-are kind of dessert. It can be eaten very shortly after it comes out of the oven while still warm, but it’s also very good cold. It’s excellent with vanilla ice cream or Chantilly cream. My most favorite aspect, though, is that the recipe specifies the use of canned peaches.

While grocery store canned peaches are just fine, I choose to believe that the author specifically meant “canned” as in “put up.” I imagine the woman who put this recipe to paper was thinking about the kind of peaches that someone like Julie’s mama would can in her kitchen, using glass mason jars and her big enamelware kettle, full of all the love and care associated with everything homemade.

Peach Delight

The recipe reminds me of my grandmother. When asked for a recipe, she would happily share it but always with approximate measurements. When pressed for more exact measurements, she would say “Oh, just enough.” Because the recipe didn’t specify, I used a teaspoon for most of the measurements here and I was happy with the results. But don’t be bound by the teaspoon! I’ve never had a dessert that suffered from too much cinnamon or butter…

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Put large canned peach halves and a little canning liquid in a muffin pan (I used single serving ramekins for easier service.) Fill the center of each peach half with about a teaspoon of brown sugar, a small piece of butter, and two drops of vanilla. Sprinkle the tops with cinnamon, and top with a tablespoon of drop biscuit dough (recipe below). Bake about 15 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown.

This is the drop dough recipe that I used, but I think any good drop dough biscuit recipe will work. Sift together 2 c of flour, 4 tsp. baking powder, ½ tsp of cream of tartar, ½ tsp salt, and 2 T. sugar. Cut in ½ c, of butter or vegetable shortening until the mixture resembles a course meal. Slowly pour in 2/3 c. of milk. Add one beaten egg and stir well. The dough is now ready to use for the Peach Delight. There will be dough leftover, so either double the Peach Delight recipe, or portion and drop the remaining dough on a cookie sheet and bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes.

A little plain right out of the oven but imagine
 it with a dollop of Chantilly cream or a scoop of
 vanilla ice cream!

P.S. - Regarding last week’s Mud Hen Bars: I learned that there is a saying in the South that refers to something unsightly as being “uglier than a Mud Hen.” While no one seems to know for sure, I feel that that may be the key to last week’s mystery: the connection between the waterfowl (the Mud Hen) and the dessert (Mud Hen Bars.) Either way, it still seems more likely than my theory of a baker/ornithologist with a penchant for the American Coot marsh bird!