Peach Amaretto Jam

A couple of months ago Ball Canning sent me a sample pack of their Small Batch Pectin, I knew right off what I would be making with it. I figured I would make a small batch in case it was just nasty...I know, how could peaches and Amaretto not be good, right? Of course, this is delish and what I now think of as Summer in a jar! Enjoy it on your toast, homemade biscuits (or store bought), thumbprint cookies, or really just from the spoon!

Peach Amaretto Jam

2 cups peaches, peeled, pitted and chopped--I like mine a little chunky
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 package Small Batch Pectin
1/4 cup Amaretto

Mix the peaches and pectin together in a large pot on medium high heat and bring to a full rolling boil. Once to a boil add your sugar and amaretto and bring back to a rolling boil and boil for 1 minute. Ladle into your jars, wipe the rims, put on the lids and rings and process in a water bath for 10 minutes. Remember to start timing with the water returns to a boil in the water bath.

I'm back and I brought you a Peach Pie Bar

I can't believe it myself, I am posting a blog post! It has been way too long, how is everyone?...that is if I have any readers still lurking around these parts. Well, let's not waste any time and get to these bars. Tennessee weather is so strange this year. This past winter we had so much snow. Not like blizzard snow, but for TN when you have and inch or two several times in the season, that is alot. And what happened to spring? One day we are in the 50's and the next we are in the 90's. There is no in between. So with the 90 degree weather, I want the summer fruits. There is a roadside stand that have fresh peaches from South Carolina and I just had to have them, so glad I didn't skip them..they hit the spot. We made peach jam, peach amaretto jam, sliced some up to freeze, some to eat by themselves and these bars. These bars are quick to throw together and a few ingredients. Perfect for an afternoon snack, or breakfast :), they won't last long.

Peach Pie Bars

For the dough:
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup cold butter, cut into cubes

In the bowl of your mixer, dump in flour, sugar, and butter. Beat with the paddle attachment for a couple of minutes until the dough comes together in small chunks.

Press half of the dough into the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 pan. Set aside the remaining dough.
Bake the dough for 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven. Let cool for 10 minutes.

For the filling:
2 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup all purpose flour
3 cups peaches, peeled, sliced and coarsely chopped

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add sugar, sour cream and flour to the eggs. Mix well and then fold in peaches.

Pour mixture over baked crust and spread evenly.

Sprinkle the reserved dough on top of the peach mixture and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Let cool one hour before serving.

Peach Crumb Pie Bites

With it finally feeling like fall here, this week anyways, we did have a few days last week with temps back near 90. I wanted to have one last taste of Summer and these hit the spot. With them being two bite size, just grab and go, only I grabbed and went several times! Although I went with peach filling, you can always change up the fruit filling..apple, cherry, pear..whatever your tastebuds are calling for!

There are a couple of things I will tell you about the recipes. The dough recipe makes 24 mini pies. The filling recipe makes about double of what you need..so make it and freeze half, or double your dough and make more of these babies...I am sure you won't get any complaints. :) And the crumb topping makes double of what you will need too, so you may want to half that recipe.

Peach Crumb Pie Bites

Dough:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powder sugar
1 cup flour

Filling:
4 large peaches, peeled, pitted, and finely chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Crumb topping
1/2 cup flour
1/4 sugar
2 Tbs. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter, room temperature

Crust:
Beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour and mix scraping down the sides until just combined. The dough should be soft and slightly sticky. Scoop and roll into small 1 inch balls and place in the cups of an ungreased mini-muffin tin. Press in the bottom and up the sides of the cups in the muffin tins. Set aside the shells. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Filling:
Put the peaches, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until peaches are tender, about 30 minutes. Set aside.

Crumb topping: Mix the flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl with a fork. Cut the butter in using two butter knives until it resembles small peas.

Place a small scoop of the peach filling into each mini shell, filling to the top. Sprinkle on a good amount of the crumb topping pressing slightly to adhere. Place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is slightly browned and the shells are a golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool in the pan for 3 minutes. remove them from the pan and let them cool on a cooling rack.

Peach Cream Tart

I have made this tart several times before, and had forgot about it really, I made it over a year ago, only I used apples and loved it just as much. It is kind of like a cobbler in tart form. You have the crunch from the crust, a bite of fruit and the creamy, soft filling. And, don't worry about having fresh fruit, I used canned peaches and worked out fine!

Peach Cream Tart
Crust:
1 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 Cup (1 stick)butter, softened
2 Tbsp sour cream

Filling:
About 3 medium peaches, peeled and sliced thickly--or just a can of peaches
3 large egg yolks
3/4 Cup sour cream
3/4 Cup sugar
1/4 Cup all-purpose flour

Glaze:
1/2 Cup peach jelly, warmed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the crust, place the flour, butter and sour cream in food processor and pulse to combine. When the dough has formed a ball, pat with lightly floured hands into the bottom and sides of an ungreased 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and 1/2 inch sides. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the crust is set but not browned. Let cool while preparing the filling.

To make filling, arrange the peach slices in overlapping circles on top of the crust, until it's completely covered. Overfill the crust, as the peaches will draw up during baking. Combine the yolks, sour cream, sugar and flour and beat until smooth. Pour the mixture over the peaches.

Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour, until the custard sets and is pale golden in color. Cover with an aluminum foil tent if the crust gets too dark.

Transfer the tart pan to a wire rack to cool. When cool, remove the side wall of the pan. Spread the peach jelly with a pastry brush over the top of the tart.

Peaches from the Farmer's Market

We have a new Farmer's Market here in Knoxville on Thursday evenings. So, I loaded up the kids and went this past Thursday. The only thing that I bought were these peaches, so what do you do when you have a bag full of peaches? Make jam of course! I love to make jam, there is just something about the fact that you use fresh fruit, sugar and a couple of other ingredients, cook it down for about 20 minutes, put it into some jars and let it cool. When you open up the jar, you have thick jam. The only addition to my normal go to recipe was that I added half of a scraped vanilla bean, so you have those lovely little specks throughout the jam. I also have a little trick to get my jars to seal, when you fill the jars with your jam, put the lids on tight and flip them up side down on their lids to cool. Once cooled, flip them back over and the lids should be sealed. This is easier to me than sticking the whole jar down into boiling water.

Peach-Vanilla Bean Jam

2 pounds peaches, peeled, and cubed

5 cups sugar

2 Tbsp vinegar

1 pinch of salt

1/2 vanilla bean, scraped

Combine all ingredients into a large pot and bring to a rolling boil. Stirring frequently, continue boiling for about 15-20 minutes or until your candy thermometer reaches 220 degrees F. Transfer to your canning jars and cool. This recipe made 10 of the small jars that I used.