Peaches & Cream

Back when BET was on channel 10, before CXC exams and such, St. Kitts summers away from the beach were spent in front of the television watching music video after music video after music video.

One of the hits all those summers back was Peaches & Cream by 112. We knew it had nothing to do with literal peaches and cream, knew it had something to do with sex, but to be honest, we weren't quite sure...the beat was "nice an' ting" so I suppose anything else was secondary.

We got a big bag of frozen peaches (Dole) yesterday and I thought of amongst a couple of other things cobbler, but I wasn't really feeling the cobbler vibe. I picked up my Flavour Bible (most awesome reference ever!) to see what paired well with peaches, and there, in caps, bold with an asterik indicative of the "Holy Grail" of combinations: Cream! 112 burst into my head immediately, it was funny but I was definitely thinking about peaches and cream in the literal sense.

It was HOT today! With the AC in the car not working, there was no way I was driving to the supermarket, which meant that this tart was going to have to happen with what I had on hand.

The brainwork went sort of like this:
Crust:
Crust-o-phobia says: I’m not kneading or rolling…this crust must be easy to make.
I think: crumb crust and remember a fellow Dber’s challenge cheesecake in which she used almonds instead of biscuits and how lovely the addition of the extract to the crumbs made the resulting crust
Action: use what’s left of the slivered almonds and add some digestives to make up the volume; add a little almond essence to amp up the almond flavour and some orange extract because hey, orange and peaches? yum!

Filling:
Heat, Laziness and Patience say: don’t feel like making pastry cream in this heat nor waiting for pastry cream to cool and you have a way of complicating things, try your best to keep it simple for me please!
I think: hmmm…there’s a little bit of cream cheese left and a whole tub of sour cream that hasn’t been opened as yet.
Action: whip the cream cheese with the sour cream add vanilla, lemon juice and powdered sugar, done! As for the peaches, sprinkle with powdered sugar and some peach schnapps (I would have really preferred some triple sec or other orange liqueur, some Grand Marnier would have been excellent, but I still haven’t found the sugar daddy to foot the liqueur wish list bill ;-) so schnapps it was) cover, place in fridge and walk away…well come back every now and then to stir but walk away!

The final execution went off without a hitch, what a wonderful idea! The crust: perfect! Filling: gorgeous! As for the verdict…I’m in love! That’s right, I’m in love with a tart! Wedding-to-be-announced-shortly-kind-of-love with this tart. It was just the thing needed to balance the scorch outside and I didn’t feel guilty eating it. Did I mention it’s done? I mean I didn’t eat it myself, I had a hearty serving or two maybe three but not the whole thing ;-)

This turned out to be my favourite dessert thus far. Creamy, tangy, not too sweet, a little crunch here a little bite there, divine! It also inspired thoughts of a similar tart with macadamia nuts and coconut in the crust and mangoes on top!!! Mmmm!

Here is the recipe, my measures are approximate since I was working with what I had on hand and adding here and there till I thought I had it right.

Ingredients:
Crust:
1 2/3C slivered almonds, lightly toasted and ground
1C digestive biscuit crumbs
1/4C sugar
6T butter, melted
1 1/2t orange extract
1/2t almond essence

Filling
1/4C cream cheese
2/3C sour cream
2t lemon juice
1T vanilla
3T-6T powdered sugar

2C frozen peaches
Powdered sugar, to taste
1/3C peach schnapps

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170F.
2. For the crust: mix together the first 3 ingredients then the final 3, mix till combined then press into a spring form pan or any other removable bottom tin coming up the sides (I used my 9-inch spring form pan, I have no clue where the base of the fluted tart tin is).
3. Bake crust for 7 minutes. If you prefer a more crisp crust you can leave it for anywhere between 10-15 minutes. Allow the crust to cool completely in the tin before filling.
4. For the filling: Place peaches in a bowl and pour over the schnapps then sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge. As the peaches thaw out, the sugar; the juice from the peaches and the schnapps will make a syrup, this will take about 3 hours, stir the peaches every now and again.
5. Once the peaches have thawed, remove with a slotted spoon to another bowl and set aside till ready to assemble the tart. Reduce the syrup from the peaches over a low heat, allow to cool.
6. When ready to fill the crust: Whip the cream cheese till smooth, then add the sour cream and whisk till smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk till well combined.
7. Spread this mixture evenly into the crust (still in the tin). Top with peaches and cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours. After the tart is chilled you can either drizzle over the syrup and then cut or you can drizzle the syrup over the individual slices, I did the former.

Here’s a slice just for you: