How To Make The Most Of Gorgeous Flat Peaches

Saturn peaches, flat peaches, doughnut peaches, donut peaches (according to The Guardian this is what people who can’t spell call them!) – whatever they’re called these are seriously delicious peaches.

You will notice that many of these recipes contain soft light brown sugar which has a lovely butterscotch taste ideal with these fruit, but you can, of course use white sugar if you prefer.

These recipes and ideas do, of course, work for “normal” peaches when flat peaches are unavailable.

Flat peaches have a hint of almond in their flavour which is delightfully complemented by serving with amaretti biscuits.  Here’s a good Amaretti recipe from the Beeb but you can easily buy them!  And here are two ideas for combining peaches and amaretti …

Peach & Amaretti Mess

Serves 3-4

300g ripe flat peaches – coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon soft light brown sugar
an optional spoonful of brandy or Amaretto liqueur
300ml double cream
100g crushed amaretti biscuits

~   Stir together the peaches, sugar and maybe the optional booze.
~   Set aside for 30 minutes or so during which time the sugar, peach juices (and possibly the alcohol) will merge into a syrup.
~   Whisk the cream till thick and fold in the fruit and all the juices.
~   NOT LONG BEFORE SERVING fold in the crushed amaretti – if you do it too soon they will go soggy.

Amaretti Stuffed Peaches

~   Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC/170ºC fan/gas 5 ish.
~   Remove the stones (see end of post) and cut the fruit in half.
~   Put the peaches in a shallow buttered ovenproof dish, cut side up.
~   Crumble Amaretti fairly finely and sprinkle over the peaches making sure to fill the holes left by the stones.
~   Sprinkle with a little sugar and dot with butter.
~   Bake till the peach is tender and the topping crisp, 25 to 30 minutes, and eat with clotted cream if you possibly can or, if not, with ice cream or cream.

Peach Fool

Here’s how to make fruit fools in general, it’s very easy, plus info on making Peach Fool and Peach Melba Fool.

Flat Peach Coulis

This is a quick and easy sauce – great on ice creams, pancakes,, waffles, cheesecake, yoghurt, porridge and so on.

flat peaches – thinly sliced
half their weight in sugar – caster sugar or soft light brown, they’re both good here

~   Put the peaches and sugar in a pan together with a dribble of water to encourage the sugar to melt .
~   Over medium heat bring to a simmer and cook gently, giving it a helpful squash now and then.
~   When the fruit is very soft strain through a fine nylon sieve pushing on all the fruit debris to extract as much coulis as poss.
~   Taste and add a little more sugar if necessary, or a few drips of lemon if too sweet.  You could even a splash of Peach Schnapps!
~   Cool, cover and chill till needed.

Roasted Peaches 2 Ways

~   Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F/180ºC fan/gas 6.
~   Pop the stones from the flat peaches, cut them in half and arrange them cut side up in a lightly greased baking tray.

Savoury Roast Peaches

~ drizzle the peaches with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for about 20 minutes to fully cooked and turning golden.  Serve with freshly cooked gammon, ham salads or maybe some cheese – goat cheese, for instance, or mozzarella.  Add roasted peaches to the cheeseboard next time you have friends round!

Sweet Roast Peaches

~   brush with a little melted butter, sprinkle with sugar (you know which sugar I would recommend – soft light brown!) and cook as above. Serve with cream, ice cream or clotted cream (if you are in the UK, because the stuff in jars that you can get elsewhere is nothing like the real thing). Or maybe make a roasted peach coulis following the instructions above.

A great way to use this coulis is to make …

Alcohol Macerated Peaches

The alcohol you use is up to you, frequently red wine is used but I prefer white wine, prosecco, or a dessert wine (in which case not much sugar) or even Brandy!

Basically, toss sliced peaches with a little caster sugar (you must judge for yourself how much sugar by tasting the fruit and taking into consideration which alcohol you will be using). Now add the alcohol – not too much but enough to generously coat the fruit, be abstemious if using spirits.  Toss all together, cover with cling film and chill for a few hours during which time the flavours will mingle deliciously.

Taste, add more sugar or more booze as you wish and serve in wine glasses with maybe some of the aforementioned amaretti.

Speaking of alcohol …

Rumtopf aka Rumpot

This is a wonderful way of preserving summer fruits in fact,  even if you don’t want to preserve your peaches for the winter in an utterly delicious way I urge you to have a look at how to make Rumtopf/Rumpot here.

A few more Ideas for Donut Peaches

~   Peaches go very well with ham in general, and prosciutto aka parma ham in particular so serve wrap wedges of peach in slices of parma ham and secure with a cocktail stick (a much better combo that ham and melon to my mind) or add slices of peach to ham salad or even top a ham pizza with a few slices of flat peach.  Brie would be a good cheese in this case.
~  Peach Vinaigrette (again, perfect for ham salad) – see the pear vinaigrette recipe here and use peaches instead.
~ Peach Crumble, Sponge, Cobbler etc. The recipes are here and although they are in a post about blakcberries I’m sure you’ll be able to adapt them.
~ Add to fruit salad.

Flat Peach Pits just Push Out ~ Look!