Just one last peach dish—Buttermilk Peach Pudding a good sayonara to summer

Pretty sneaky of Kroger to run a great grocery store ad on peaches. Pretty sneaky of Southern Living’s fall issue to feature a last-blast of a peach recipe. Here we are in apple season with all of our peach harvest finished long ago and turning out apple desserts, salads, entrees right and left. What pops back up to tempt us? Peaches, that summer delicacy that is so tough to leave behind.

So we hadn’t bidden sayonara to peaches after all. Buttermilk Peach Pudding was not to be resisted, even though it seemed slightly out of order in the midst of all the fall finery. I was very happy to have an excuse to prepare a dish with peaches on just one more occasion.

Buttermilk Peach Pudding cooks up with a texture like bread pudding. As the photo above shows, I also stirred in a few fresh blueberries along with the peaches to give it a little more color. The addition of buttermilk may sound off-putting calorie-wise, but I used my age-old substitute of 3 teaspoons vinegar poured into a one-cup measure plus whatever amount of skim milk is necessary to fill the cup up to the 1-cup line. Stir and let this sit on the counter for about five minutes; you’ll have your buttermilk substitute. Three tablespoons of vinegar into the 1-cup measure filled with milk has the same effect.

Sitting down the baking dish into a roasting pan filled with 1-inch of water while the pudding cooks helps keep the pudding moist for serving. We served it with sugar-free whipped topping, although sugar-free vanilla ice cream would work great as well.

Just one more peach recipe, my heart had pled as summer seeped out the door. My wish was realized; it was a lovely period to put at the end of summer’s sentence.

Peach Buttermilk Pudding

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

3 1/2 peaches, peeled and coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1 cup buttermilk (can also be made by filling a 1-cup measure with 3 teaspoons white vinegar and then adding skim milk to reach the 1-cup line)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar(or sugar substitute)

3 large eggs (or 3/4 cup egg substitute)

2 ripe peaches, peeled and sliced (about 1 pound)

vanilla ice cream or whipped topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together first 7 ingredients; sift again. Process chopped peaches in a food processor or blender until they are smooth. (should make about 2 cups puree). Stir in buttermilk. Beat butter and sugar at high speed with a heavy-duty electric stand mixer until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until blended after each addition. Add peach mixture; beat until well-blened. Layer sliced peaches in a greased 13-inch-by-9-inch pan. Fold flour mixture into butter mixture. Pour batter over sliced peaches in pan. Place pan in a large roasting pan and add boiling water to roasting pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes or until set. Pudding still will be moist. Serve warm or cold with ice cream. Makes 8-10 servings.

When crop is smaller than expected, selective use can still impress the taste buds

I'm having to be very picky; I didn't want to be.

Yes, this year's peach crop is a far sight better than last year's. And of course the sad year before—2008—because of the great 2007 deluge which killed our prolific peach trees, we had none.

But I got my hopes quite elevated late this spring when our first new tree budded and within days we began seeing those gorgeous orbs hanging from the branches (see my 5/31 blog, "Summer days turn perfectly peachy, but what to make with that first delightful crop?") I raced out and hauled in the first one for my breakfast cereal and then made "Miss Sallie's Pudding" with the first official yield. My mind began churning about all the peach recipes that were on my wish list--what would be next to prepare, and then the next, and then the next, and so on.

Now reality is just a little more, well, real. Second-in-Command Peach Tree, although trying its best, won't be abundant. Third-in-Command has some potential but looks less promising than #2.

The other two in the garden? Too new. Just won't be their year. To sum it up, hubby says we're still a year away from that truly bumper crop. "Next year in Jerusalem", or at least "next year in the peach orchard", will have to be our mantra.

So, grrr, grrr, grrr, with those facts in mind, what will my "cup-half-full" response be? To be an excellent steward of the peaches I've been given for the summer of 2010. To be highly strategic in my cooking plan. To experiment with a few new recipes I've been saving as well as to invest in some old favorites. And maybe, just maybe, this year's peach haul will stretch further than I anticipate.

This weekend I hit the experimentation category--a recipe for "Individual Peach Berry Crisps" from the pages of Prevention magazine. It combined two of my favorite fruit--peaches and blueberries--in a healthy but filling desert--a dessert that I'd promised myself to try but didn't in years past. It called for using individual ramekins (small quiche dishes) so every person could have his or her very own "Crisp."

No disappointments there! The desserts looked beautiful, the peaches were divine, and you can bet I savored every stewardly bite. My next well-thought-out peach dessert? The subject of another blog!

Individual Peach-Berry Crisps

1 cup peeled, chopped peaches

1/4 cup blueberries

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar (I used sugar substitute)

1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup crushed graham cracker crumbs

2 tablespoons old-fashioned rolled oats

1 teaspoon butter, softened

2 teaspoons chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put peaches in microwave-safe, covered glass dish. Add 1 teaspoon water; cook covered on high for 4 minutes until peaches are beginning to soften. In medium bowl mix peaches, blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, lemon zest, salt, and cinnamon. Let stand 10 minutes. In small bowl combine graham-cracker crumbs, oats, butter, and pecans and stir until mixture comes together. Coat 2 (6-ounce) ramekins with cooking spray. Divide peach mixture evenly between dishes. Top each with half of the graham-cracker mixture. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until topping is golden and peaches are heated through. Serves 2. Recipe can be doubled.

Summer days turn perfectly peachy, but what to make with that first delightful crop?

For several days I've seen them peeking their perky little fuzzy heads among the lush branches.

They were signs of the first of this summer's peach crop, which started out as blossoms, then tight, knobby outcroppings, then green mini-fruit. Slowly they began to get color about them, as a blush of yellow-orange-amber began spreading over ripening rounds.

From my vantage point at my home-office desk, which overlooks our backyard garden plot, I watched as the color deepened and the fruit swelled. Every day I could spot more of them and could see their increasing weight droop the branches more and more.

Soon, I mused excitedly. Soon.

That thought naturally skipped to a related reverie. What dish will I make with the first ones I bring in? The "peach" section of my loose-leaf album memorized, I didn't even have to remove it from the shelf and thumb through for inspiration. I knew them all by heart. Peach-Plum Crumble. Refrigerator Peach Jam. Peach Lattice Pie. My tastebuds frolicked as my mind wound around the possibilities.

Last year's first harvest was designated for Quick Peach Cobbler that I served my cousin, Lynda, as she and her fiance, George, visited our home to discuss plans for their upcoming wedding.

In my new book, Way Back in the Country Garden, I describe why this cobbler was such a cause for celebration--it marked the first peach ingathering we'd experienced since the Great Deluge of 2007, when rain fell for days on end and drowned out all the peach trees in our garden. Last year was the first time the new, fledgling peach trees, which we planted to replace the prize ones that died, gave forth a harvest.

Several weeks ago we thankfully began assessing that peaches would be abundant again this year--maybe never as prolific as before the 2007 flood but certainly respectable--enough to make my way through my cherished peach recipes plus experiment with new ones as well.

Two days ago I managed to sneak one off a branch and bring it in for my breakfast cereal. Not ripe enough to be soft and malleable, but a foretaste of things ahead.

Today finally I could tell enough were ready to pick that I'd better bring my basket. This time, from 10 to a dozen were ready for the Moment of Truth. I scurried in with them and peeled them--their tangy yet mellow fragrance as several cups of chopped peaches stewed on the stove recalled my Aunt Bonnie's house during childhood summers I stayed with her and Uncle Bill on their farm and we put up peach preserves. Nothing like that aroma . . . or those memories.

With two cups of peaches cooked and ready to land themselves in the perfect dish, what did I finally pick to showcase them? Ultimately, after filing through several more "peach" pages--spotting recipes for Individual Peach-Berry Crisps, Peach Angel-Food Cake, and Peach Crumb Pie, I knew what the hands’-down winner would be.

I quickly dumped them in a bowl to stir up . . . Aunt Sallie's Pudding, of course. (See recipe below.) Amazingly simple, with only a few basic ingredients, this "pudding" actually bakes in the oven with a layer of batter poured over a layer of chopped peaches. Top it with fat-free whipped topping (my hubby subbed fat-free vanilla yogurt) and you have a light, summer winner. It's been a favorite ever since I discovered it in the Birchman Baptist Church (Fort Worth) cookbook some years back.

What about the also-rans--Fresh Peach Muffins, Upside-Down Ginger-Pecan Peach Pie, Peach Lattice-Topped Cobbler--to name a few?

Today's only the first day of June; more languid summer days stretch out promisingly on the horizon; gratefully, this year more peaches beckon. In fact, I think I better get the ice-cream freezer down from the shelf. I think I hear some Fresh Peach Homemade Ice Cream calling my name!

Miss Sallie's Pudding

3 eggs (we use egg substitute)

1 cup sugar (we use sugar substitute)

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup chopped peaches

1 tablespoon water

1 1/4 cup evaporated milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond flavoring

2 tablespoons butter

Place chopped peaches in a microwave-safe bowl with 1 tablespoon water. Cover and cook 4 minutes on high until peaches are soft. (Can also cook these in a saucepan on the stove until peaches become tender.) Set aside. Mix eggs, sugar, and flour with evaporated milk; add vanilla and almond flavoring. Melt butter in an 8-by-8-inch pan; pour peaches over butter, then pour batter over peaches and butter. Bake at 300 degrees until firm (about 30 minutes).