Roasted and Caramelized Flat White Peaches (Plattpfirsich)
I understand it’s easy to classify summer fruits as “for either snacks or pies”. However, there’s another way to enjoy them when you don’t want raw fruit, and you don’t want to go all out and make a pie or cobbler.
Roast them.
That’s right. Just like roasting vegetables.
You can eat roasted fruits as is, or as a topping for yogurt or ice cream. I add just a touch of salt and honey before I roast fruits so they are a little salty, and a lot caramel-y.
The German markets are absolutely glistening with jewel-tone fruits this time of year. One of the stone fruits my family has been enjoying is the Flat White Peach. The “flat peach” or in German, “Plattpfirsich” (also known as a Donut Peach) is a delicate, less acidic relative to the yellow Cling Peach. The flesh is sweet and almost creamy in sweetness and the skin is thin and less “furry” than round peaches.
While these beauties are popular in Germany (and for good reason), the flat white peach originated in China and is purported to be over 4,000 years old. It is the Chinese national symbol for immortality.
Because the skin is so delicate and smooth, you don’t need to peel flat white peaches at all.
To roast:
- I just placed chunks of peaches on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet.
- Sprayed them with a thin layer of olive oil.
- Sprinkled them with just a pinch of salt.
- Drizzled the whole lot with honey.
- Placed them in a hot, 400°F oven, on a high rack.
- Roasted for about 15-20 minutes.
When you are a baker like me, you always seem to have a smattering of unused pastry dough here or there. To make a little side-biscuit thingy to complete my beautiful roasted peach and Greek yogurt dish, I used a little ball of leftover pastry (from a Gooseberry Pie I’m working on), cut it into medallions, and baked it, topped with a little cinnamon. They were fragrant and delicious just in time for the peaches to come out of the oven. If you don’t have smatterings of unused pastry lying around, go for Ginger Snaps. You can’t go wrong there.
As you can see, the honey, along with the juice from these sweet peaches caramelized on the pan. Do not forget to scrape up these caramel-y puddles and use them to garnish whatever you are topping.
Which, is in this case, a pool of full-fat Greek yogurt. An equally great breakfast or dessert, full of sparkling, toasted, creamy, fresh flavor.
And a wonderful way to celebrate summer.
Thanks for visiting my blog. I really appreciate it.
-Shannon Vavich
Roasted and Caramelized White Flat Peaches (Plattpfirsich)
Ingredients
- Fresh white flat peaches, any quantity Also called "donut peaches"
- olive oil
- pinch of salt
- honey
Instructions
- This is more a "throw together" dish than an actual recipe, but I'll write out the instructions anyway. You can use any quantity of flat peaches. Flat peaches (also called donut peaches) are white, and less acidic than yellow peaches. Flat peaches also have less fuzz on the skin, and the skin is thinner so they do not need to be peeled.
- Slice peaches into small chunks. Place on a parchment-paper lined baking sheet.
- Using a special olive oil spray bottle spray the peaches with a thin layer of oil. You can also brush the peaches with a thin layer of oil using a pastry brush. What you want to be sure to do is to just line the peaches with the thinnest layer of oil.
- Sprinkle a bit of salt over the peaches
- Drizzle the whole lot with a thin line of honey.
- Roast on a high rack (a rack placed up high in the oven) at 400°F for about twenty minutes. The peaches and the bits of honey will caramelize.