Peachy

One time on a road trip when the kids were smallish but not babies, my sister started a conversation with "If you could have only one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?"  She started with Mrs. Fields chocolate chip cookies. The kids followed her lead, with sweets. I went last, so I'd had time to think it through. I said "real Long Island church fundraiser strawberry shortcake with local strawberries, not-too-sweet volunteer-baked shortcakes (no store-bought sponge cake!) and oodles of whipped cream not from a can".* A chorus of protests claimed that was actually three foods, not one. My next offering was "a perfectly ripe peach".

It's peach season here! I made it to the farmer's market last week and bought two bags of peaches- one of white and one of yellow. At the market, we can't handle fruit and pick them out ourselves, they have to hand them to us. I couldn't wait to get home and have a real peach, but I was very sad to realize they were just a tad short of ripe. I left them out in a bowl, and sniffed them closely every few hours. A ripe peach smells peachy. A day and a half later, they started to be where where I needed them. As peaches remain perfectly ripe for approximately twelve hours each, I've been peaching out all week.

My mother used to make peach cobbler, but I reviewed recipes and didn't think they were what I was looking for. A few months ago, my friend and daily blogger Alice posted her very-low sugar apple cake. I've made it several times, feeling not too bad about eating it because it is so good and mostly fruit. As the wave of ripening peaches threatened to overwhelm my ability to eat them out of hand, I made a peach cake!

I'm not a bold baker, and this was one of my first adventures going off-script. The fact that Alice had already modified the recipe from its published form probably gave me the gumption to just try. It was fabulous!

Adaptations I made: peaches are both sweeter and juicier than apples. I cut the sugar even more, to just a single tablespoon! I cut back on the cinnamon and nutmeg amounts, because I think the peach flavor could carry itself better, wouldn't meld as well with the spices. The recipe called for a cup of flour, and I used a half cup of whole wheat and a half cup of all purpose, because that's what I usually do. I thought it was too wet, so I added another half cup of flour - but that one was almond flour. So it kept the carb content from flour low. But then, I was concerned about just the one tablespoon of white sugar, so I sprinkled a little bit of brown sugar over the top.

I baked the cake in a loaf pan for the recommended 45 minutes. I ended up having a third of it for dinner that night, still warm, with a little mascarpone and a few choppped pecans to give me more protein (since it was dinner)! Thick slices were refrigerated, and one slice a day carried me through the week, cutting back my chocolate.

I still had fresh peaches for breakfast. I find I like them with something savory, so I actually had a breakfast sausage and fresh peach breakfast one day.

Time to bake another peach cake! I have some crystalized ginger, and I may chop that up and add it to the mix.

*BTW, yes, there is a very specific time I had what may be the single best food dish I have ever eaten in my life (so far).