Baked Peaches with Amaretti Recipe
A classic dessert from northern Italy, as delicious as it is easy to prepare, this can be served hot or cold. Amaretti, with their hint of bitter almonds, pick up the sweetness of the peaches, but macaroons can be substituted. The peaches should be ripe and full of juice, with no green tinge, or bruised or wrinkled skin. Getting Ahead: The peaches can be baked ahead and kept up to 1 day in the refrigerator. Serve them cold, or cover and reheat them in a 180° C (350° F, Gas 4) oven about 15 minutes. Order of Work:
Prepare the Filling
Prepare, Fill, and Bake the Peaches
Ingredients
- 7 large peaches, total weight about 1 kg (2 lb)
- 8-10 Amaretti
- 2 oz (60 g) caster sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- Unsalted butter for baking dish
- Fresh mint sprigs for decoration
- #For the Chantilly cream#
- 4floz (1 125 ml) double cream
- 1-2 tbsp (15-30 ml) caster sugar
- 1-2 tbsp (15-30 ml) Amaretto liqueur
- kirsch can also be used*
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180° C (350° F, Gas 4). Scald, stone, and peel one peach. Put the Amaretti in the food processor and grind them finely; pour them into a bowl. “Use metal blade in food processor.” “You can also put the Amaretti in a thick plastic hag and crush them with a rolling bin.”
- Put the 2 peeled peach halves in the food processor. Process the peach halves until they become a thick, smooth purée.
- Transfer the peach purée to a large bowl, scraping it from the food processor with the rubber spatula.
- Add the sugar, egg yolk, and Amaretti crumbs to the peach purée and mix together well. “Crushed Amaretti should be in fine, even crumbs so they will blend easily with sugar and egg yolk” #Prepare, Fill, and Bake the Peaches# Butter the baking dish. Halve and remove the stone from the remaining peaches without peeling them. If necessary, with a spoon, scoopout a Hide of the peach flesh from the centre of each half so the cavity is large enough to hold the filling. “Use sharp-edged spoon ta hollow out peach halves ready for filling”
- Set the peach halves, cut-side up, in the baking dish. Spoon some of the filling into each peach. “The peaches should fit tightly in the buttered baking dish”
- Bake the peaches in the heated oven until the peaches are tender, 1-1 1/4 hours. Meanwhile, make the Chantilly cream. “Test peaches for tenderness by piercing flesh with tip of small knife” #TO SERVE# Transfer the hot peaches to individual serving plates, spoon any juices over the peaches, and decorate with mint sprigs. Serve the Chantilly cream in a separate bowl.