Let's take a moment to marvel at the wonders of Twitter. In about five minutes on any given day I can get restaurant recommendations, sight seeing options for the town I'm driving through, or in this case, recipe ideas from friends in the vast Twitter universe. This is the world we live in.
A couple of weeks ago I found out my in-laws would be driving through LA and planned to stop by after dinner. When visitors come, it's nice to serve them a little something sweet, don't you think? But I had some dietary restrictions to consider, namely, how to devise a delicious, no-sugar dessert.
I promptly turned to Twitter and requested some ideas, to which Sara from Sprouted Kitchen replied, first with the question of whether or not it could have fruit, filled with natural sugar (yes it could, I said), and second, two dessert ideas. I liked her first suggestion involving peaches and pecans, then replied with an idea to add unsweetened, freshly whipped cream or mascarpone. And just like that, dessert was decided.
From this basic template it was easy to enhance by adding vanilla bean to the baking dish along with a knob of butter to help create a luscious sauce for the peaches to stew in. With crumbled, toasted pecans and a spoonful of whipped cream, it's decadent without being heavy. Perfect, I think, for long summer nights, or whenever you have company stop by.
ROASTED PEACHES WITH PECAN CRUMBLE
Recipe the direct result of a Twitter collaboration between @cookingafter5 and @sproutedkitchen
Serves 8 (1 peach half per person)
Ingredients
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and seeds removed or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Juice of 1 lemon
4 peaches, halved and pitted
For the topping
1 cup pecans
1 heaping tablespoon slivered almonds
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold and cut into ½-inch cubes
Plus: ½ cup whipping cream, whipped until soft peaks form
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a food processor, pulse pecans, almonds and flour until roughly chopped. Add the butter and combine until the butter is evenly distributed and moist clumps form.
In a shallow baking dish, combine butter, vanilla bean (pod and seeds) and lemon juice. Add peaches and turn them around a couple of times until they’re coated a bit in the butter. Arrange in a single layer and spoon some of the topping into each peach half (you will have extra).
Bake until peaches are tender and the topping is golden brown, about 35 minutes. While the peaches cool slightly, whip up the cream and top each peach before serving, along with some of the cooking liquid and some extra pecan pieces.
