Peachy Desserts
including poached peaches, roasted peaches and a surprising tiktok dessert
Hello friends,
We’re in the peak of stone fruit season and I’ve had peaches on my mind all week. Who doesn’t love a peach?! Such an inoffensive fruit; fragrant, juicy and the most pleasing fuzzy skin. There are so many ways to eat a peach, with my favourite ways being simply poached, in a cobbler or just roasted.
Today, I’ve got a couple of peach recipes for you to enjoy and make whilst summer is still with us. Starting with white wine poached peaches and shortbread from my latest book, I’ll Bring Dessert. I’ve not made this in ages but was reminded how much I love it after having a bunch of peaches to get through this week.
The second dessert, for paid subscribers, is perfect for when you need something fairly hands off and can come together in under an hour. The peaches are roasted with fresh ginger and thyme and served with an oaty crumble and a big scoop of ice cream for something that feels fancy but is pretty simple.
And if any of you are even a little bit online and your algorithm serves you lots of food content, you’ve probably seen the latest viral trend of grating frozen fruit. I’m not usually swayed by popular TikTok food videos; nine times out of ten, they seem to be heavily style (or shock value) over substance and there’s rarely anything I’m even remotely tempted to try. However, this one had me curious. Perhaps because it was just so simple. There’s not much to not like, it feels like a granita but with significantly less effort. If you’ve got a freezer and a fine grater, then you can have an aesthetically pleasing and refreshing dessert that besides having to eat very quickly, is actually quite fun. I had one white peach leftover this week and decided to give it a go. I served it with some lightly whipped cream because why not, and it was the perfect cooling treat on a hot day.
If you fancy trying this too, this isn’t really a recipe, more so a guide. Stick your peach in the freezer for a few hours until it’s rock hard. About 10 minutes before you’re ready, put a plate or bowl in the freezer too. Lightly whip some cream (or you can serve it on it’s own or with some yoghurt). Use a microplane or fine grater to shave the fruit onto your plate. Eat quickly and enjoy!
Benjamina x
WHITE WINE POACHED PEACHES WITH WHOLEMEAL SHORTBREAD
I love the quiet confidence of poached fruit. So demure, so mindful (you can tell I’ve been heavily online this week). I serve these well chilled straight from the fridge often with an extra pour of creme anglais or cold cream. I’m no wine expert so when it comes to poaching these, choose something you like to drink! I find something a little drier tends to work quite well.
RECIPE
serves 4
450ml white wine
200g caster sugar
peeled zest of 1 lemon
3 sprigs of thyme
4 ripe peaches, halved and pitted
For the shortbread
100g salted butter
40g caster sugar, plus extra to finish
130g wholemeal flour
1⁄2 tbsp cornflour
METHOD
Add the wine, sugar, zest and thyme to a large saucepan. Heat until the sugar dissolves and then add the peach halves, cut side down. Poach the peaches gently for 5 minutes before flipping them over and poaching for another 2–3 minutes. If your peaches are really firm, they’ll take a bit longer. You’re looking for them to be softened enough for a knife to pierce through but still holding their shape.
Turn off the heat, scoop the peaches out of the liquid and place them cut side down on a plate. When cool enough to handle, remove the skins – they should peel off quite easily. If you’re making these ahead of time, let the poaching liquid cool and pour it into an airtight container, placing the peaches back inside. Store in the fridge until needed.
To make the shortbread, preheat the oven to 190c/170c fan. Line a small baking tray with baking paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together for 1–2 minutes – we don’t need it to be super fluffy, just well combined. Tip in the flour and cornflour and stir until you get a thick dough.
Pat the dough into the lined tray, flattening it as much as you can. Use a knife to score the shortbread into fingers (don’t cut all the way through) and prick each biscuit with a fork.
Bake for 20–25 minutes until the shortbread is lightly browned. Sprinkle generously with sugar before slicing into fingers, using the scored lines to guide you. Let them cool completely before serving alongside the peaches, some cold cream and some of the poaching liquid.
ROASTED PEACHES WITH GINGER & THYME
