Peachy Appetizer

I love peaches! I love the smell of fresh peaches. So since I have so many peaches I decided to make a simple Peachy Appetizer.


Ingredients:

Baguette slices

Olive oil

Goat cheese crumbles

Fresh basil

Fresh peaches

Directions:

Brush the baguette slices with olive oil and bake them at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes.

Once the baguette slices come out of the oven put a few crumbles of goat cheese and fresh basil on each slice.

Add a slice of fresh peach on top of each slices and then put them on a serving platter.

These appetizers are so easy and perfect to make and serve at your next barbecue.

Peach Caprese Salad

This Peach Caprese Salad is super refreshing and the perfect appetizer to serve at your next barbecue.

Simply layer peach slices, mozzarella cheese slices and basil leaves.

To make the glaze simple heat up some balsamic vinegar about 1/2 cup in a small sauce pan with a few tablespoons of honey for about 10 minutes until the mixture thickens. Then simply drizzle it over the peaches.

I love the smell fresh peaches.

Watermelon, Peach, Tomato Salad

After tennis or a long morning walk - I like to make this light and refreshing salad.

I used heirloom cherry tomatoes - but you could use cherry or grape tomatoes.

I simply chop the watermelon into bite sized cubes, wash and chop the tomatoes in half or quarters and peel the peaches and chop into bite sized pieces.

I garnished today with some chopped chives and a side of mint. But you could also garnish with chopped basil or flat leaf parsley.

If you are making the salad earlier in the day add a squeeze of lime or lemon juice.  

Also if you need the salad to be a little sweeter - add a tablespoon of honey. There is no recipe for this salad. Add more watermelon if you love watermelon! Make the salad for just yourself or for your family and friends! It is light and refreshing!

Peach Cobbler Bars

I saw the Peach Cobbler Bar picture on foodgawker and it lead me to the blog From Calculus to Cupcakes. And I found the recipe really easy and happened to have all the ingredients in my kitchen.

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

2 cups flour

1 cup oats

1 cup sugar

4 large peaches, peeled and chopped into small pieces

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8" x 8" square baking pan with foil. Brush the foil with a little of the melted butter.

In a medium mixing bowl stir together the flour, oats and 1 cup of sugar. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients and mix with a fork until the mixture resembles a coarse meal texture.

Press approximately 1/2 of the oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Stir the peaches with the cornstarch and sugar. Spread the peach mixture evenly on top of the  pressed crust. Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture over the top of the peaches.

Bake for approximately 50 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Let the Peach Cobbler Bars cool for at least 1/2 hour. Then carefully cut the bars into 12 even pieces.

Can you see the juicy layer of peaches?

I have served these bars with both vanilla ice cream and whipped cream.

Peach Blueberry Muffins

Once again blueberries were on sale this week! And I love the smell of fresh peaches - I can't stop buying peaches. They are a lovely Jo Malone perfume for the kitchen. So while I was looking up some recipes online I came across this fantastic recipe for Peach Blueberry Muffins and I just knew that I had to make them! This recipe called for a jumbo muffin tin. I felt like I might have an extra large muffin tin in my baking pan area. And guess what - I did have a jumbo muffin tin! So no trip to Williams Sonoma needed.

I found this recipe on spoonfulofflavor.com and the photos of the muffins were so amazing that I had to make her recipe!

Ingredients:

For Crumb Topping

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup melted butter

2/3 cup flour

For the Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 3/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup milk

1 cup peached, chopped

1 cup blueberries

For the Glaze

1 cup confectioners sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray a jumbo muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Note: my jumbo muffin tin makes just 6 super large muffins which was just perfect for this recipe.

In a medium mixing bowl make the crumb topping combine the sugars, cinnamon and melted butter. Using a rubber spatula stir in the flour until the mixture is combined and crumbly. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment , beat the butter on high speed until smooth. Add brown sugar and sugar and beat on high until fluffy about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add the eggs, yogurt and vanilla.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. Add the milk and mix until there are no longer any lumps.

Remove bowl from stand mixer and scrape the sides. Slowly fold in the blueberries and peaches.

Divide the batter evenly among the muffin tin, filling them all they way to the top.

Divide the crumb topping among each of the muffins. Crumble the topping with your hands to make some big chunks.

Bake for 5 minutes at 425 degrees then reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 23 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes.

 Slowly run a knife around the top of the muffin and pop them out and let them cool on a wire rack set on top of wax paper. These muffins popped out of the pan perfectly.

Whisk the confectioners sugar, milk and vanilla together to make the glaze. Using a fork drizzle the glaze over the muffins.

I drizzled my glaze while the muffins were still a little warm. The next time I make this recipe I will wait until the muffins are completely cool before adding the glaze.

This muffin is ready for breakfast!

The top of the muffin is sweet and crusty and the inside is moist and chock full of blueberries and peach chunks.

These muffins would be fantastic to serve on a special occasion - or anyway day of the week!