Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

This week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was picked by Rachel of sweet tarte. She decided on Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart, which is really perfect for summer. For the complete recipe, visit Rachel’s blog. If you have extra peaches to use up, this is a great recipe for that!

I don’t think that I’ve had peach pie of any sort since I was a kid. I think the last one I had was made by my paternal grandmother, probably when I was 10 years old or so. I’m not exactly sure why it has been so long, but when I have pie I’m much more likely to pick apple pie since that’s my favorite. It’s also pretty hard to get ripe peaches in the Seattle area, they are either rock hard or soft and yucky. I think this is pretty strange since they grow peaches in Eastern Washington. I went to a grocery store that carries lots of local produce and they had peaches from Cashmere, WA. The Cashmere area is known for their apples, but the peaches I bought were really good. Huge, but good.

I hadn’t read the recipe for this very well, and at first I thought that you didn’t cook the peaches. My husband thought that was weird and he was right that you do cook the peaches. You have to blanch the peaches and peel them. That was a little tricky because the peaches are so slippery when they are peeled and then trying to get the pit out and everything was a comedy of errors. I’m glad no one was around since I was laughing so hard trying to get the peaches prepped. Other than that, this is a simple recipe: make the tart dough, put the peaches in the pan, pour over the custard mixture and bake. It came together well and I really enjoyed this. I thought it tasted better at room temperature, but it was pretty good when it was warm, too. Overall, a great pick and perfect for a summer dessert.

Recipe from Baking from My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan, pages 346 and 347