Cloud 8½

August’s What’s Baking? challenge is Celebrate Summer-themed, hosted by Jade at The Mess Pot! Jade tasked us with embracing the joys of summer – the luscious produce and bright, sunny days. When I sat down to consider what I associate with summer, my mind immediately jumped to peaches.

My Mom’s home borders a peach orchard, and in the summer, their farm stand overflows with baskets of peaches – golden globes of succulent fruit. Warm from the sun, juicy, perfectly ripe. They’re heavenly! But, to be honest, I’d never baked with them before. I always just peeled, sliced and ate them as they were.

But for this month’s What’s Baking? challenge, I dove through my saved recipes and found one I’d bookmarked quite awhile ago – Peach Crumb Bars from Brown-Eyed Baker. The peeling and dicing of the peaches seemed to take awhile, but I blame my poor knife skills more than anything else. Once I had that prep work done, it was smooth sailing.

Sadly, my bars ended up over-baked on top, something I blame on my oven (note to self: buy an oven thermometer!). After the pan of bars cooled I used a spoon to pluck off the darkest bits and still took them to a play date party with some friends. They were good, but I’ll definitely be giving the recipe another try once I have my oven figured out! In the mean time, I hope you all give these a try and love them!

Peach Crumb Bars
Adapted from Brown-Eyed Baker (who adapted the dough from Smitten Kitchen & filling from AllRecipes)

For the Dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
1 egg, lightly beaten

For the Filling:
5 cups diced or sliced peaches (about 7 peaches, peeled)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375*. Grease 9×13-inch baking pan and set aside.

To make the dough, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry blender (or two butter knives), cut in the butter, then the egg, until the dough is crumbly. Press half of the dough into the bottom of the pan and place the remainder in the refrigerator.

To make the filling, place the diced peaches in a large bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice, mixing gently to coat. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour the mixture over the peaches and stir gently.

Spread the filling mixture over the bottom crust, the top with the remaining dough crumbles. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is slightly brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares and serving.