Moving To The Country, Gonna Eat A Lot Of Peaches
First off, it feels strange to post any lighthearted content at the moment. The political efforts against police brutality and white supremacy are still moving along full force. I have chosen to direct most of my support at the Austin Justice Coalition. You can find more about them here.
I seem to be really getting in a groove of not-really-pies. Summer is approaching, and with it the call to find fun uses for all of the amazing in-season fruit.
Here in Central Texas, peach season just started, reminding me that peaches are my favorite fruit. At least, they are for the month or so when I can buy locally grown ones that don’t taste like rock-hard orange cucumbers.
A perfect peach needs no recipe, and cannot be improved by any human intervention, but even in-season peaches vary in quality. I recently bought a pound of peaches, ate all the perfect ones, and decided to make a dessert with the also-rans.
It’s always hard to choose whether to make peach crumble or peach pie, so I basically made both at once. This recipe packs a sugar wallop, but all the butter and salt add a savory note that makes the peaches taste, uh, peachier somehow. What I’m basically saying is that this recipe is health food, and don’t let anyone tell you any different.
The crust on this bad boy is another easier-than-pie-crust pie crust. It’s a basic shortbread that you just kind of mush into the pan instead of rolling out on a board.
Peach Crumble Pie Bars
Crust:
1 cup white flour
6 tbsp cold butter
1/4 cup sugar
Tsp salt
Filling:
5-ish ripe peaches
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp white flour
1/2 tsp salt
Tsp lemon juice
Tsp vanilla extract
Crumble:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup white flour
4 tbsp butter
Tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
Preheat oven to 350 F
For the crust, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. Grate the butter on the large side of a box grater and mix with the dry ingredients with your fingers. When thoroughly mixed, you should be able to squeeze the sandy mixture together in your hands to form a ball that sticks together. If you can’t do this, add another tablespoon or two of butter.
That poor crust rim has no idea it’s about to burn
Dump your butter/flour sand into a buttered 8 by 8 baking dish and press until it forms an even, flat layer over the bottom of your pan. You may notice that I pressed my dough up the sides of my pan as well. DO NOT DO THIS. That part burned when I made this recipe. Bake the crust for around 15 minutes, until it’s just a teeny bit golden at the edges.
For the filling, pit your peaches and slice them into wedges. Mix with the other ingredients, and place this mixture on top of your baked crust. You can obsessively tile them neatly like I did, or you could just vibe, man. Just make sure your peach mixture covers the entirely of the crust, as any exposed crust will burn.
For the topping, mix together your sugar, salt, flour, and cinnamon. Grate the butter like you did for the crust, and mix with your hands. Scatter your mixture loosely over the top of your peaches.
96% of this picture looks delicious
Bake your pie/crumble/bars for 30-45 minutes, until your peaches are cooked through and your topping has browned a little bit. Let it cool for a few minutes, then cut into squares to serve. You can serve this with whipped cream or ice cream, but it’s sweet enough on its own.
