Layered Peaches and Cream Pie

Continuing my multi-post obsession with peaches, this week I made a layered dessert based on inspiration by my fourth grade teacher's Fresh Peach Pie and the old favorite Four-Layer Dessert.

I found my teacher's recipe while browsing an old church cookbook. I was intrigued by her technique: instead of adding flour, sugar, and spices to the fruit and baking it in the pie crust, she cooked the liquid filling first, added the peaches, placed them in a pre-baked pie crust, and topped it with whipped cream. With this in mind, I made a version of Four Layer Dessert using a cookie crust and substituting a layer of fresh peach filling for the pudding layer. The result was a cool, summery treat reminiscent of peach pie but without a pastry crust . My hubby is not a fan of cooked peaches. This dessert, with juicy bites of peaches, tangy cream cheese, fluffy cream, and a not-too-sweet crumb crust, made him go back for seconds.

Layered Peaches and Cream Pie
Inspired by Mrs. Shimp
Serves 4-6

Crust
12 Keebler Sandies or other shortbread cookies
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons salted butter, melted
2-4 tablespoons peach preserves, melted and reserved until crust is cooled

Filling
3 peaches or nectarines, diced or small slices
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-1/2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream Cheese Layer
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Cool Whip

Topping
Cool Whip or real whipped cream and a light sprinkle of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Place cookies into bowl of food processor and process until crumbs form. Place in bowl and mix with brown sugar, cinnamon, and salted butter; press mixture into 7-inch X 11-inch baking pan or 9 inch pie plate. Bake 8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. When crust has completely cooled, brush melted peach preserves onto crust.

Combine peaches, sugar, and lemon juice in bowl and let macerate for one hour. Meanwhile place cream cheese and powdered sugar in bowl of electric mixer and mix until smooth; add extracts and mix until combined. Add Cool Whip and mix on low speed till incorporated. Spread mixture over crust and refrigerate.

When peaches have finished macerating, drain, reserving juice. Add water to juice if needed to measure 1/2 cup of liquid. Place peach juice with flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in small saucepan over low heat and whisk until smooth and bubbly. Add butter and vanilla, stir; remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Add peaches, stirring to combine, and let cool to room temperature. Spread over cream cheese layer in pan. Top with more Cool Whip or freshly whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Refrigerate until serving.

Linking to These Chicks Cooked Link Party



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Miz Helen's Full Plate Thursday

Peach Crumb Bars

Peach-based recipes are so appropriate for this blog, and this one is a keeper. I've had it in my "Make This!" file for some time, and the time was right. Brown Eyed Baker adapted this recipe from Smitten Kitchen and Allrecipes.com. The only thing I added was vanilla, and I love to enhance peaches with vanilla.

I only had a small taste, since I was giving them away, but it was enough to tell me that these bars are rich and delicious with buttery crumbs above and below the jam-like peach filling, and I will make them again. I think cherry filling will be my next version!

Peach Crumb Bars
from the blog of Brown Eyed Baker
Makes 24 bars

3 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
1 egg, lightly beaten

5 cups (about 7 peaches) peeled and diced
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare 9×13-inch baking pan with baking spray or shortening.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter with pastry blender; add egg and continue cutting until dough is crumbly. Pat half of dough into prepared pan. Place pan and remainder of dough in refrigerator while preparing filling.

Place peaches in large bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice; add vanilla and mix gently. In separate bowl whisk together flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour over the peaches and mix gently.

Spread peach mixture evenly over crust. Crumble remaining dough over peach layer.

Bake 45 minutes, or until top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

I linked up to Roz's Fresh Food Friday.


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A Well Seasoned Life's Sweet Indulgences Sunday

Rosy Peach Ice Cream

With 17 homegrown peaches ready to use from my dwarf peach tree and relief needed from Oklahoma summer heat, peach ice cream was in order. The tree is a Belle of Georgia purchased at Home Depot last year.

Here it is in a side-by-side shot to show the size difference of the tree: after I planted it last year is on the right and this year is on the left. It was difficult to get an accurate comparison photo, with cucumber vines all over the trunk, but the growth of that little tree is amazing.

When the peaches reached that gorgeous rosy peach color but still weren't soft, I picked them (fear of birds!) and put them into a paper sack to finish ripening. I left them in the sack a day or two too long, because when I peeled them they were very soft, and the insides were almost red, with crimson juice rolling down my wrists and onto the counter as I peeled them. This juice made for a beautifully tinted ice cream.

With Greek yogurt in addition to milk and cream, the flavor reminded me of my favorite frozen yogurt from Berri Licious, a local organic live culture frozen yogurt parlor.

Rosy Peach Ice Cream

1-1/2 lbs ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup milk
tiny pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine peaches and water  in medium saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until peaches are soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat; mix in sugar and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Add peach mixture to food processor with remaining ingredients and process briefly. Chill in refrigerator, then transfer to ice cream maker and freeze.

Ice cream was "posed" in a depression era amethyst Newport Hairpin cream soup bowl by Hazel Atlas, circa 1930s.

I linked up to Roz's Fresh Food Friday.

Oklahoma Fresh Peach Pie

Nothing says Oklahoma in the summer quite like a fresh peach pie. With fresh peaches from a farmer's market and an old Betty Crocker cookbook, nirvana is achieved.

The town of Edmond has a Farmer's Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and farmers from all around the state bring freshly picked fruits, vegetables, and berries. In spite of my late morning appearance, vendors still had ample supplies of irresistibly succulent produce for me to gaze upon. I had to draw the line at carrying a watermelon around, but far too many fragrant, rosy peaches and red, sun-warmed tomatoes - all from Guthrie, a town just north of Edmond - found their way into my bag.

The tomatoes became star ingredients for sandwiches and salads. The peaches that didn't get eaten out of hand over the sink were pie-worthy.

Oklahoma Fresh Peach Pie
Modified from the original Betty Crocker recipe

Pastry for a 9-inch 2-crust pie, unbaked
5 cups sliced fresh peaches
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar (to start, but adjust for the sweetness of your peaches)
1/4 cup flour
cinnamon to taste (I used 3/4 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter, diced

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Mix peaches, lemon juice, and vanilla. Whisk together flour, sugar, and cinnamon; stir into peach mixture. Pour into pastry-lined pie pan and dot with butter. Cover with top pie crust (cut slits in it) or lattice crust; seal and flute edges.

Bake 15 minutes at 425, then reduce to 375 and continue to bake another 30-35 minutes or until filling is thickly bubbling through slits or lattice in crust. Edges of pie crust may need to be covered with an aluminum foil strip to prevent excessive browning.