I had a few peaches in my refrigerator and several packages of puff pastry in the freezer. I went crazy this winter and bought puff pastry like it was going out of style, just so I’d have it on hand in case I wanted to experiment and make something. Today was the day, so I decided to make a peach tart with them.

I cut my peaches in half and removed the pits. Once they were cut in half, I sliced them in 1/2 inch slices.

I placed them in a glass bowl and in another glass bowl made a mixture of granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, kosher salt and vanilla bean sugar. The vanilla bean sugar was a gift from a friend. She bought it at the Savory Spice Shop in Encinitas, CA. I’m sure you could order it on-line if you’d like. (They’re website is http://www.savoryspiceshop. If you don’t care to use the vanilla bean sugar, you can certainly leave it out of the recipe, or you could use a splash of vanilla.

I’m not usually a big baker, but I really felt like baking something yummy today. I think it might have had something to do with the cozy weather we had in San Diego yesterday. It was raining in the morning (crazy for us in the summer!) and cloudy all day. It was also cool, which must have put me in the mood to bake. I had my “boyfriend cardigan” on all day. I think it’s the coziest sweater I own.

I poured the sugar and spice mixture over my peaches, mixed it together with a spoon and let it sit while I prepared my puff pastry.

I used both sheets of puff pastry from the box. I wanted it big enough that I’d have a good amount to fold over the edges of my peaches.

I laid the puff pastry out on a bread board and used a rolling pin on it, just a bit. I transferred it to a baking sheet and laid my peaches out on the bottom. I made sure that any extra sugar and spice mix that fell to the bottom of the bowl was added to the top of the peaches. Why waste a good thing?!

I brushed the edges of my crust with an egg wash. For the egg wash, I mixed together one egg and a tablespoon of water. I only used enough to cover the edges of the pastry. There was definitely egg wash left over. I then sprinkled the edges with a teaspoon of granulated sugar and placed my tart in a preheated 400 degree oven for 25 minutes.

I made a little orange glaze to brush over the tart. The glaze was made by using 1/4 cup of orange marmalade mixed with a tablespoon of water and heated to a boil. Make sure not to use too much glaze when glazing your tart, you don’t want it to be too liquidy.

Ingredients

• 3 large peaches

• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus 1/2 teaspoon

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean sugar (or a splash of vanilla if you don’t have vanilla bean sugar)

• 1 egg

• 2 tablespoons water (1 for egg wash and one for glaze)

• 1/4 cup orange marmalade

• 2 puff pastry sheets, thawed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Lay puff pastry out on bread board.
3. Cut peaches in half, remove pit and slice in 1/2 thick slices and place in large glass bowl.
4. In small bowl, mix together, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla bean sugar and kosher salt. Pour over peaches and mix together with a spoon.
5. Roll puff pastry out with a rolling pin and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
6. Lay peaches across pastry, leaving about a 4 inch edge all the way around.
7. Bring edges of pastry over the edge of the peaches.
8. Make an egg wash with one egg and one tablespoon water.
9. Brush edges of pastry with egg wash. You won’t need the entire wash.
10. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.
11. Bake for 35 minutes.
12. While tart is baking, make glaze by heating together 1/4 cup orange marmalade and 1 tablespoon of water.
13. Once tart is done and has cooled for about 10 minutes, brush glaze over peaches with a pastry brush.

Enjoy!

Until next time, Kris