Vermont peaches are back! After a dismal year in 2016 for the stone fruit crop (due to a couple of early spring deep freezes that virtually decimated the peach crop), Vermont peaches and plums have made a rousing comeback this year. We’re having a great Indian summer, a lovely stretch of hot, sunny weather and the peaches (and wine grapes) are loving it. The peach trees I’ve seen are loaded with big, heavy, perfect fruit. There’s such a short window for stone fruit here in Vermont, that I for one intend to make the most of it by beating multiple paths to our local orchard to pick them and use them in all sorts of ways both sweet and savory.
First, something sweet. If a french tart and a cheese danish had a baby, it would be this. Crispy tart crust with a thin layer of sweetened cream cheese topped with caramelized peaches and basil. Eat it like a pizza, or top it with vanilla ice cream, in which case of course, you’ll probably want a spoon.
- Pastry dough:
- 1¾ cup flour
- ¼ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1½ stick cold butter, chopped into small pieces
- ⅓ to ½ cup ice cold water
- 1 box cream cheese, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 5-6 peaches
- 8-10 fresh basil leaves, sliced into thin strips
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cold butter, chopped into small pieces
- ¼ cup apricot jam, warmed and strained
- Make the pastry dough.
- In the bowl of a food processor, blend the flours with the sugar and salt. Add the chopped butter and pulse a few times. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the cold water, processing until the dough just begins to hold together. It will still be somewhat crumbly.
- Dump dough onto a clean surface, gather and press into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate dough until ready to roll out the tart, at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, confectioners sugar and flour until smooth.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle, roughly 10x14 inches. Place the dough onto a parchment lined jellyroll pan or cookie sheet. Make a small rim around the dough by folding up a ½ inch edge all around the perimeter of the dough. (this helps keep the cream cheese in it’s place)
- Evenly spread the cream cheese onto the dough, and then refrigerate the tart while you slice the peaches.
- Cut the peaches in half, remove the pit and slice into thin wedges.
- Take the tart out of the fridge and arrange the peaches in a decorative pattern on top of the cream cheese. Scatter the basil over the peaches and then sprinkle the sugar evenly over the tart. Dot with small pieces of cold butter. Chill tart in refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
- Bake tart for approx 40-45 minutes, until pastry is baked all the way through and peaches are caramelized and browning. (test it by carefully lifting a corner of the tart to check that the pastry is done on the bottom).
- Paint the top of the tart delicately with warmed, strained apricot jam.
- Cool, slice and eat with your hands like a pizza. Or serve with vanilla ice cream, in which case you’ll probably want a spoon.
