I thought I was done with fresh peaches after making peach preserves, canning peaches for winter, and making fresh peach pie. Well, I was wrong. Some almost over-ripe peaches found their way to my back kitchen door. Over the summer, this scenario has been repeating itself with various fresh produce, and I’m not complaining! 

The thing is, with peaches this ripe, they can’t hang around. So I made a couple of peachy desserts with them – one homey and one fancy, but both easy to make. 

The homey dessert is an Italian peach crostada/crostata. A rustic, rolled out buttery dough is filled with fresh peaches (and berries if you like). 

The fancy one is a French dessert called peach clafoutis. Clafoutis is a custard filled with fruit and baked. 

Homey, or fancy?  I’ve given detailed instructions for both. Let me know what you make and how it turns out.

Peach crostada with berries

What makes this dessert charming is the free formed crust over the fruit. 

Ingredients

Butter crust
1-1/2 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) butter, chilled and cut into 1 tablespoon pieces
3-4 tablespoons ice water
Filling
Peel peaches or leave peel on. You’ll need 3 cups or so sliced peaches or combo of peaches and berries
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla
Shake or 2 of cinnamon (optional)

Coarse sugar (optional)

Instructions crust
I use the food processor, but you can make it by hand.
Mix flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter.
Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Pulse in ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until moist clumps form. Gather in ball and flatten into disk.
Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or up to a day.
Instructions filling and baking

Preheat oven to 400. 

Toss everything together. Put in colander and let excess juice drip out. 

Meanwhile, roll dough on floured surface to about 12” diameter. No worries if edges look shaggy – they’re supposed to.
Place on parchment lined, sprayed sheet. 

Pour filling on top, leaving 2” border. 

Fold dough border over filling to form 8” circle, folding edges over each other to seal. If you like sprinkle edges and filling with coarse sugar. 

Bake until golden, 30-35 minutes.

Peach clafoutis

Ingredients 

6-8 peeled peaches, cut into halves or slices (enough to fill 9×13 or equivalent round pan) 

1-1/4 cups sugar, divided into 1/4 and 1 cup measures

1/4 cup flour

2 cups half & half 

3 large eggs, slightly beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Spray pan.   

Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar on bottom.  

Lay peach halves, cut side down, or slices, slightly overlapping in single layer in pan. 

Whisk together flour, half & half, eggs, 1 cup sugar and vanilla. Pour over fruit.   

Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out almost clean.   

Great warm, room temperature or chilled. Gets more juicy as it sits.