seasonal peaches are the best

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Juicy, delicious Ontario peaches are yet another reason that I just love summer.  There is nothing else that compares to the amazing flavour, and the sensation of the juices just running down your chin and arm while you eat it.

Peaches are one of the few fruits that I 100% refuse to buy out of season.  I've grown to accept the mediocre California strawberries that we get (obviously still not as good as fresh local ones, but hey, in February, I will take what I can get).  I just don't have this acceptance for peaches.  They must be local(ish) - technically, no one in my area actually can grow peaches because I guess it's too cold.  But Niagara peaches are awesome.

All that to say, when I can get delicious local peaches, I pounce on them.  I like to keep things simple, and this is a great way to have an amazing (and quick!) dessert.

Grilling peaches introduces a really sophisticated flavour note, and it makes the whole thing look a lot fancier than it really is.  I made the caramel sauce myself, but if you didn't want to, you could definitely purchase a good quality one from a store...though you should totally try making it, because it's quite simple, once you get the sugar caramelized.

grilled peaches with crown royal caramel and ice cream


CARAMEL:
1/4 c water
1 c sugar
1/2 c cream (I used half and half)
sea salt
2 T crown royal

6 peaches
vanilla ice cream

1. Make your caramel in advance - put 1 c sugar in a medium/large pot (it will bubble up a lot, later, when you add the cream).  Add the 1/4 c water.  Don't touch it or stir it.  Just turn the burner to medium and watch.  It will likely take about 10 minutes (possibly more?), but the sugar will melt, it will all start to boil, and then all the water will evaporate, and eventually, it will start to turn brown.  You want to let it get pretty brown, for a more flavourful caramel, but you have to watch things closely, because it can burn and that is crappy.  I was a bit of a chicken, so my caramel isn't as brown as I would have liked.  But it was still good.

2. Once the sugar mixture has browned, remove it from heat, stand back, and carefully pour in the cream.  It will bubble up like crazy.  That's okay.  Once it calms down, add a good sprinkle of sea salt and the crown royal, and then stir.  Stir until it all comes together, and then let it cool.  You should probably taste it too.  Because caramel.

3. Halve the peaches and remove their pits.  Hopefully this goes better for you than it did for me.  I crushed a couple of mine trying to get the darn pits out.  Still tasted good.

4. Preheat the grill, brush a bit of a neutral oil (canola/grapeseed/peanut) on the peaches, and grill them, cut site down, for about 7-9 minutes.  You want a tiny bit of a char, and to allow some of the smokiness to flavour them.

5.  Serve the peaches topped with a scoop of ice cream and a good drizzle of caramel.  This was soooooooooo good!

caramel date cake with pecans

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I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong, but this cake is always ugly.  I've made it four times now, and every time I think....man, this is uuuuuuuuuuggggly....but it's so delicious, and it smells so incredible that I keep making it.

And I still don't like dates.  I still think they look like cockroaches and completely refuse to eat them in an un-baked, un-chopped state.  They aren't quite as bad when they are chopped.



Anyway, I got this recipe from a great cookbook called Quinoa 365 (fabulous, fabulous, fabulous...loads of recipes including whole quinoa, quinoa flakes and quinoa flour; I've tried many of them and they've all been really good).  However, in reading my recipe, you'll notice that I don't make it with quinoa flour...not that it isn't good that way (I've made it with the flour before and it turned out exactly the same), it's just that I have a really hard time finding quinoa flour in stores, and it's been a while since I made a Bulk Barn run to stock up on it.  SO, rest assured, you can make this recipe with or without the quinoa flour.

But you really should make it; it comes together quite quickly, and despite its humble appearance, you could serve it to anyone, and they would be suitably impressed by the flavour.  AND, there's no reason that you could just keep the caramel sauce separate and pour it over the served pieces of cake, but I like the all-in-one factor of this dish.  And you really don't notice the bits of dates in the finished product.

Last, make sure you buy pitted dates.  1 3/4 c of chopped dates doesn't seem like a whole lot until you have to pit each and every one of them.  Then it seems like waaaay too many dates.

caramel date cake with pecans
stolen and slightly modified from Quinoa 365



cake:
1 3/4 c chopped pitted dates
1 c boiling water
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour (OR 1 c AP flour, 3/4 c quinoa flour)
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 t vanilla

topping:
3/4 c 18% cream
1 c packed dark brown sugar
1/3 c butter
1/2 c chopped pecans
fleur de sel/coarse salt

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.  Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.  Get all your ingredients ready.



2. In a medium bowl (I use a 2-cup liquid measure), combine the dates and boiling water and set aside so the dates absorb the water.  NOTE: Depending on how soft/fresh your dates are, they probably won't absorb all the water.  What I do, is pour off the excess water into a little pitcher.  If, upon mixing the dates into the cake, I feel the batter is really dry, I'll add some of this excess water.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

4. Cream the butter in a large bowl (ideally with an electric mixer; handheld is perfect for this).  Add the brown sugar and cream until fluffy.  Add the eggs & vanilla and beat well.  Add the flour mixture and continue to mix until well-blended (a couple of minutes).



5. Fold in the (lightly strained) dates.  You can see I had about 4 oz of the liquid left, because my dates were really soft and fresh.



Your final batter consistency should be thick, but not dry (if it's pulling away from the sides of your bowl, like a muffin batter, then it's too dry; add some of the water).  It should be liquid, but definitely not thin or soupy.  This s what mine looked like, for reference.  Pour the batter into the pan.  Bake for 30 minutes.



6.  Meanwhile, combine the cream, sugar and butter in a medium saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium low and stir constantly (or not so constantly, lol), until the mixture is a thick caramel sauce; about 15-20 minutes.

7.  Remove the cake from the oven and pour the caramel sauce over top.  Sprinkle with chopped pecans and fleur de sel (just a bit!).



Bake for an additional five minutes.  Cut into 9 pieces and serve warm.  It's so sweet and caramelly and delicious.

And also kind of ugly.