Monday, August 2, 2010

Peaches, peaches, peaches

I had plans for adapting this recipe. And then I promptly tossed all the plans out and followed the original instructions.

I wish I'd followed my adaptations! I planned on doing individual sized servings using a muffin tin and placing the peaches on the bottom rather than the top, but did neither. Next time.

So, I served this dessert after dinner out at Canoe (which is one of the best restaurants in Toronto) with some friends who were in town. We were looking for a way to save some money. And although I don't think the recipe was in the same league as Canoe's food, it was still pretty darned tasty, even with the few things I'd change for next time.

Before I delve into the tart, can I just say how much I love peeling peaches? It's so ridiculously easy!
Step one: insert peaches in boiling water for 30 seconds
Step two: remove peaches from boiling water and place in ice water

Step three: Pull skin gently off the peach (it comes in sections) & marvel at your work.

Now that that's over and done with, here were my pros and cons:

1) Pillsbury dough is easy, but salty. Also, it shrank too much, even with me adding lots of chilling time.


2) The custard was delicious, but due to my shrunken crust, I had to much of it. So I had it for lunch. I guess that falls under the pro category.

3) I wish I had placed the peaches on the bottom of the tart, not the top. It wouldn't have been as pretty, but the brulee would have lasted longer. As it was, the top was too liquidy with the peach juices. It made it hard to keep the sugar crystallized. In the recipe's defence, I did make it 7 hours ahead of time instead of the max suggested of 4. (I saved the brulee part until right before serving).

4) Blow torches are fun!

Pre-bruleeing

Sorry about the yellow-o-vision. During the bruleeing

The final product. Crispy sugar topping!
5) When you serve this as a big tart, you have to cut into all the yummy burnt sugar, taking away all the fun from those people who like cracking it themselves.

In short: Tasty recipe. Would make it again with individual servings and fruit on the bottom.

5 comments:

  1. Mmm... looks good! I wish I had a kitchen blow torch! I'm excited to make this.

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  2. It looks so good. Can't wait to try making this!

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  3. Did you put the sugar on the top hours before torching it? I'm thinking that if you made it ahead of time, and then held off on the sugar until right beforehand, the peaches wouldn't juice quite as much... But I'm not an expert! Good work! Beautiful!

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  4. Good call holding off on the brulee till serving time. Now I realize why; my caramel drizzle was nice and crunchy at first but has now turned into little puddles of caramel soup on my tarts.

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  5. The blow torch looks like fun!

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