This is the perfect homemade dessert for those who think they cannot bake and for those who can too! Preheat oven to 425 degrees and have ready a baking dish large enough to hold fruit.
2 lbs. peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced (or fruit of your choice)
For the topping:
3/4 cup flour 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup sliced almonds 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 oz. cold unsalted butter, diced
Combine flour, sugar, salt and almonds and process until nuts are roughly chopped. Add cold butter cubes and process just until mixture starts to "clump".
Spread fruit evenly in baking dish and sprinkle topping over it.
Bake until topping is brown and fruit is bubbling. Serve warm or at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.
I first tasted this lovely torte at my friend Flora's house. It's a
recipe that has been around for ages and was originally made with
Italian prune plums cut in half. I have changed it a bit, replacing
some of the flour with almond flour, adding almond extract and using
sliced peaches in place of the plums. Of course the original is good
too! You can also use any plum, sliced, or pears. In the winter, I
have used canned apricot halves well drained and placed on paper towels
to dry further.
Note: If you cannot find almond flour, simply place 1/4 cup of
sliced almonds in a food processor with the sugar and process until
finely ground. Otherwise, just use an additional 1/4 cup of plain
flour. I particularly like the texture the almond flour gives.
¾ cup (145g) plus 1 or 2 tablespoons sugar
1 stick (112g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (120g) unbleached flour
¼ cup (20g) almond flour
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon (5g) almond extract
Pinch of salt
2 or 3 ripe peaches
sliced almonds
Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°.
In a large bowl, cream the ¾ cup sugar and butter.
Add the flour,
almond flour, baking powder, eggs, and salt and beat to mix well. Place
in a 9 ungreased cake pan lined with parchment paper. Cover the top
with the sliced peaches.
Mix the sliced almonds with the remaining 1 or
2 tablespoons of sugar and sprinkle over the top.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until the center tests done with a
toothpick. Remove and cool to room temperature or serve warm. Serve
plain or with vanilla ice cream.
Note: Cake freezes well. To serve, return to room temperature and reheat at 300° until warm.
Variations: I have made this with Italian plums cut in half or
regular plums cut in quarters omitting the sliced almonds and
substituting a teaspoon of cinnamon. Canned apricots very well drained
also work as do canned pears. This recipe will also make two 6” cakes.
It was our daughter, Lauren's, birthday a few weeks ago and we traveled up to Vermont to celebrate with her. Since she has been old enough to request a menu, her birthday dinner has been fried chicken and peach pie! So I'm happy to share my peach pie recipe with you.
For a 7" pie
1½ cups flour
Pinch of salt
½ cup cold butter, diced
About 4 tablespoons ice water
Combine flour and salt and toss in butter cubes. Using a pastry blender, start to cut butter into flour. When manageable, finish rubbing in butter with your fingers - forming “flakes”. Add the water and toss with a fork to blend. Turn out onto a sheet of wax paper and bring dough together. Form into a disc, wrap in the wax paper and refrigerate for an hour.
If you choose to make the pastry in a food processor, simply pulse the butter with the flour and salt until you see small lumps - about 6 10-second pulses - then add the water and pulse just until dough starts to come together.
Divide dough more or less in half and use the larger portion to form the bottom crust. Roll out between two sheets of wax paper as demonstrated, remove the paper and turn into pie pan. If the crust is too soft, place back in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes.
Roll out second portion of dough and cut into strips with a pastry cutter or knife. Return to refrigerator.
Peach filling:
4 cups peeled, sliced peaches
½ cup sugar
½ teaspoon cinnamon
A few gratings of nutmeg
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon butter,
Combine the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and flour in a small bowl then add to peaches and toss with a spatula to combine.
Pour peaches into the prepared crust, dot with butter cut into small pieces, top with the pastry strips to form a lattice top, crimp sides and bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350° and continue baking for about 30 minutes or until peaches are bubbling and crust is nicely browned.
Allow to cool before serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
WATCH THE VIDEO FOR SPECIAL CRUST AND FILLING TIPS;
