Peach Puzzle - on Memorial Day

Monday, Memorial Day, was baking perfection for me. However, I'm only just sitting down to write about it. Figures!

About a year ago, maybe a little more, maybe a little less, I was reading my gossip sites and found that my very favorite (popsugar) has a cooking/baking sister site, yumsugar. They were doing 52 weeks of baking and this peach puzzle recipe caught my eye for many reasons:

One - it sounded delish!

Two - it was very old-fashioned and seems to be quite an old recipe

Three - I wanted to know if it was true...would the syrupy goodness truly end up in the ramekin?

Anyways, I had saved the recipe planning to make it when the peaches were big and juicy towards the end of August....well something about the best laid plans, right? Knowing that we had purchased a few peaches over the weekend, I figured now was the time for the peach puzzle! However, when I grabbed the peaches from the fridge, I found them very small and not quite ripe enough, so I decided to make this a peach and apple puzzle. I also found that I was out of brown sugar, so I used Splenda in place of all the sugar in the recipe, including the syrup concoction. Also - it gave me the opportunity to pull out my brand new food processor that my parents bought me for Christmas. They're the best and now so is Ol' Blue!

The peach puzzle truly is a rustic and old-fashioned recipe. You take whole peaches, peel them, and place them in your baking dish. I used a round casserole dish thinking I would get a better result than a regular pie plate. You then take and turn a ramekin upside down in the center, and pour the syrup over the peaches. After all that, you place your dough over the top of them making sure to not attach it to your dish, just the peaches. Bake and cool and then, invert. Here is where the recipe lost me.

Invert onto a plate and all the syrup will end up in the ramekin? Now, I am definitely not a physics major, but it just didn't seem possible to me. I called my mom - as it was cooling - and asked her if she thought it was possible. Nope. Neither of us did. But, as always, mom said to try it...you just never know! So, after 30 minutes of cooling time, I put the plate over the puzzle, prayed, flipped....and VOILA!!!! Every ounce of that syrup was now in the ramekin for yummy yummy goodness.

Andy and I sampled it for dessert and both of us were pleasantly surprised. The apples were more flavorful than the peaches, but I think that is the season more than anything else. Peaches just aren't at the height of their glory yet. The dough is the texture of a homemade shortcake, where I was expecting more of a pie crust and the syrup is so, so good!! Andy said he could probably just drink the syrup straight up. I think it would have been nice a' la mode and drizzle the syrup over the ice cream, but maybe next time.

This recipe is definitely a keeper and will offer up many variations. Apples, pears, plums, any sort of fruit you like. Of course, I will vary the spices depending on the fruit I use and will definitely continue to play with it. This would be a great hit at a dinner party, as you could invert it onto its serving dish tableside and wow everyone with the syrup trick!

Peach Puzzle
Peaches and Syrup
7 medium peaches , peeled
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Dough
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces and chilled
6 tablespoons milk
For the peaches and syrup:
~Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Place 6-ounce custard cup or ramekin upside down in center of 9-inch pie plate and arrange peaches around ramekin.
~Combine brown sugar, water, butter, vanilla, and salt in medium saucepan and stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves and butter melts, about 5 minutes. Pour syrup over peaches.
The dough:
~Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in food processor until blended.
~Add butter and pulse until flour mixture is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, five to six 1-second pulses.*
~Turn mixture into medium bowl. Using rubber spatula, fold milk into flour mixture, pressing mixture against sides of bowl to form dough.
~Squeeze dough together and flatten into disk.
~On lightly floured work surface, roll dough into 9-inch circle.

To assemble:
~Lay dough directly over peaches and press dough so that it fits snuggly around peaches. The dough will stretch as you fit it around peaches, but do not attach dough to pie plate.
~Bake until top is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool on rack for 30 minutes.

To Serve:
~Place large rimmed serving plate over top of pie plate and quickly invert Puzzle onto plate.
~Cut into wedges around each peach and serve, pouring syrup over each portion.

*To make the dough by hand, use a pastry cutter or a fork to work butter into flour mix. Cut the butter into the flour until you have a pale yellow mix resembling corn meal.