Just Peachy

The fruit crisp was devoured in a matter of days so I knew I had to come up with another recipe soon.

Every week when I go to the farmer's market, the peaches always smell so delicious, I knew I had to buy some and make something fabulous.

After much searching I found this. Cake sounded like a good idea so I went ahead with it. I adapted the recipe slightly, adding more fruit because some reviewers had felt it wasn't flavorful enough.

The result was quite good. In the original recipe, it calls for the cake to be baked in a 10inch tube pan. We do not have one of these so I baked it in two loaf pans. We ate one and I froze the other. It will be a nice reminder of summer in the months to come.

Peach Pound Cake
Ingredients:
1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 t. vanilla
3 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
2 c. chopped peaches
1 c. mashed peaches
1 t. pumpkin pie spice

Heat the oven to 325°. Spray 2 glass loaf pans.
Cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add the vanilla and pumpkin pie spice to the mashed peaches. Beat into the butter/sugar.
Reserve 1/4 c. of the flour. Sift the rest with the salt and baking powder. Stir into batter.
Use reserved flour to coat the chopped peaches. Fold peaches into batter.
Divide batter into the loaf pans. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Serve with sliced peaches and whipped cream.

I used a combination of white and yellow peaches but it would be just as good with all white or all yellow or, even another fruit. Pears would be divine and now I think I have to try that!


In other news, school has started again. I am taking three classes this semester while waiting to get into a university. UC Santa Cruz has guaranteed acceptance with the Transfer Agreement Program but I wouldn't be able to go until next fall so to bring up my GPA and to keep my student loans at bay, I am staying in school. This semester I am taking Mysteries of the Ancient Maya, Sociology and Logic. Should be a fun semester!

Summer Fruit

Over the last few months of living in Simi with my parents again I have discovered something. I have a NEED to bake. Or at least cook. As soon as I start baking all of my stress goes away and I am happy. I first figured this out about a month ago when I made Ina Garten's Lemon Yogurt Cake, which I will post at some point.

This week Albertson's has blueberries at $2 for 18oz! I couldn't pass that great a price up so I bought 2. If my parents don't buy any I might have to buy one more container so I have a lot to freeze. Now usually when I buy blueberries, I make muffins, pancakes, and eat a lot of yogurt and cereal. This time I wanted to make something different.

After two days of searching for a good berry recipe I found this. A Triple Berry Crisp recipe with over 500 great reviews! After reading the reviews, I knew I had to make this.

Most people who reviewed the crisp advised to add more fruit, closer to 6 cups than the 4.5 cups the recipe called for. That was great because I knew I had about 3 cups of blueberries left in one container (I of course had been eating them in my cereal.) I didn't want to only use blueberries and I have totally been on a peach kick since my mom made this amazing Peach Pie (if I convince her to make it again I will post it here) and thought that would be yummy. I ended up using white peaches because I like them more than the traditional yellow.

As I sit here and finish a plate of this crisp for my breakfast, I can tell you this is one of the most delicious things I have ever made. My family loved it too which is always nice. I made it last night and it is almost half gone already! It probably won't last another three days. What will I make next?

Here is the recipe, enjoy the fruits of summer in a delicious dessert!

Fruit Crisp
adapted from here

Ingredients:
6 cups fruit
4 Tablespoons white sugar
2 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats
1.5 cups brown sugar
1.5 teaspoons spices (I used pumpkin pie spice)
1 cup cold butter, cut into cubes

Heat the oven to 350°. Grease or spray a 13X9 inch pan.
Toss the fruit with the white sugar (I also added a little PPS to the fruit)
Whisk together all other dry ingredients.
Using your hands or a pastry knife, or 2 forks, cut in the butter until the mixture is crumbly and holds together when you squeeze it.
Press a little less than half of the crisp mixture into the bottom of the pan. Spread the fruit over the bottom layer. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit until mostly covered*
Bake 30-40 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and fruit is bubbly.

*I had extra topping and didn't want to completely cover the fruit. I pressed it into a loaf pan and baked with the crisp for about 15 minutes. It is a great ice cream topping.

P.S. I am only uploading one photo and it is sitting at the top because ScribeFire is not working again. Hopefully it will get fixed soon.