Spicy aromas greet as Peach Breakfast Dish bakes

I’m not sure which was the better part of this dish—actually consuming it on Father’s Day morning or the wonderful aroma that greeted us after it had baked in the slow-cooker overnight. Spicy waves permeated every corner of the house as we woke and were reminded of what was for breakfast.

Hubby’s holiday breakfast had to be a peach one, of course, since we’re harvesting peaches from our third of six trees (three more to go) in the back yard. Few cooking decisions are made these days that don’t involve using peaches in some way.

Fortunately great peach recipes are everywhere. An Internet search turned up this one for Slow-Cooker Peach Breakfast from mnn.com. As the blogger who wrote about it stated, the dish made a great breakfast but just as easily could be a dessert. We crowned it with sugar-free whipped topping. It lasted us throughout most of the week, as it made ample.

Slow-Cooker Peach Breakfast

2/3 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup buttermilk baking mix (I used heart-healthy Bisquick lowfat mix)

3/4 cup whole wheat buttermilk pancake mix (the recipe originator used Hodgson Mills brand)

4 eggs (or 1 cup egg substitute)

4 teaspoons vanilla

4 teaspoons melted butter

12-ounce can evaporated milk (I used fat-free)

8-10 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

Combine sugars and baking mixes. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add butter and milk. Mix well. Add peaches and cinnamon. Mix well. Pour into greased 6-quart slow cooker. Cover. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Serve warm. (Ours made 10-12 servings.)

Crepelike, fruity pancakes just peachy for our holiday morning

These actually turned out more like crepes than pancakes, but Hubby loved them—said the lightness (and thinness) of them made consumption seem less guilt-inducing than if he were ingesting a big ole thick flapjack.

Besides, tasting the flavorful chunks of peaches contained in the slim cake was easier that way.

This was our Memorial Day holiday morning breakfast—Sweet Peach Pancakes, inspired by a paen to peaches in the brand-new Southern Living issue. (Plenty of other gotta-try peach inspirations besides this one were contained therein. Expect to hear about them in future blogs.) This one contained a mixture of soft-wheat flour and cornmeal for the batter.

The peaches are hitting us so fast in our backyard orchard, I can hardly hatch up ideas fast enough. We’ve gifted sackloads of spare peaches to several friends, but the orange glow out my window from all those beautiful orbs still dangling from peach-tree branches is almost blinding. Beautiful peach crop this year!

Sweet Peach Pancakes

3/4 cup all-purpose soft-wheat flour

3/4 cup plain yellow cornmeal

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 large eggs (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

butter for skillet or griddle 

canola oil for skillet or riddle 

3 medium peaches (about 1/4 pound) unpeeled and cut into 10 thin wedges (or 2 medium peaches, diced, may be substituted)

garnishes: sweetened whipped cream, syrup, fresh mint (I used diced peaches themselves)

In a large bowl sift together first 6 ingredients. In a medium bowl whisk together buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Add buttermilk mixture to flour mixture; whisk just until combined. (If you are stirring in the diced peaches as a sub for the next step--placing sliced peaches on the griddle--add them at this time.) On a griddle or in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat melt a small amount of butter with oil. Place 3 peach wedges for each pancake on griddle; starting at outside edge of peach slices carefully pour 1/4 cup batter over each group of slices to form a circle. Cook pancakes 3 to 4 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look dry and cooked. Turn and cook other sides 2 to 3 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a baking sheet; keep warm in a 300-degree oven. Repeat procedure with remaining peach slices and batter. Add more butter and oil to griddle as needed.  Makes 10 pancakes. 

Nobody’s a kook for trying this delicious peach kuchen, a queen of coffeecakes

I’ve never known how to pronounce that crazy word kuchen, but I’ve always loved recipes that made this little coffeecake. So I found a recipe for Peach Kuchen to kick off my Peachathon this weekend. This year we are blessed with peaches beyond belief! Two peach trees in our garden already have been harvested, with three to go. Our fridge is so full of peaches, we have trouble inserting anything else. This past weekend I had to get to cooking so we could clear out some bowls of peaches and make room for the next batch to be picked. Glory, glory! Because all of our peach trees were destroyed in the flooding in 2007 and the new trees only now are into full production, we’ve been waiting for this day of abundance for a long time.

This Peach Kuchen (I finally looked this German word up in a pronunciation guide. It’s KOO-khen, with the sound kook emphasized, except I’m certainly no kook for making it.) was our Saturday morning breakfast (and then dessert throughout the weekend). It was wonderful and so simple and of course very easy on the eating plan when made with the fat-free sour cream and sugar substitute.

I found the recipe online furnished by 1st Traveler’s Choice Internet Cookbook (www.virtualcities.com). The site featured Peach Kuchen as a signature recipe from Abigail’s Bed and Breakfast Inn in Camden, ME, a way-up-there city to which we’d actually traveled when we lived on the East Coast some years back. I could just imagine B&B guests sitting down to this breakfast delight. The ample crust of flour, sugar, baking powder, and butter made a terrific base for the peaches-and-cream topping.

Nope, no kooks in kuchen. I patted myself on the back for being one smart cook. Another peach recipe down and many, many to go.

Peach Kuchen

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup butter

5 peaches, peeled and sliced

2 egg yolks (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

1 cup sour cream (we used fat-free)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, and 2 tablespoons of the sugar together. Work in butter until mixture crumbles. Pile into an ungreased square pan and pat even layer over bottom and halfway up the sides of the pan. Place peach slices over pastry; sprinkle mixture of cinnamon and remaining sugar over top. Bake for 12 minutes. Mix egg yolks with sour cream; pour over top of partially cooked kuchen. Place back in oven for 30 to 40 more minutes until top is bubbly. Serve warm with no-sugar-added vanilla ice cream. Serves 6-8.