Baked Peaches with Frangelico

Summer heat getting to you? Cool off with luscious frangipane-filled peaches.

Summer heat getting to you? Cool off with luscious frangipane-filled peaches.

Baked Peaches with Frangelico

Ingredients:

¾ cup lightly toasted, skinned hazelnuts
¼ cup icing sugar, sifted  
1 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature  
1 large egg, lightly beaten  
1 tbsp all-purpose flour  
2 tsp Frangelico
6 medium peaches, ripe & firm
¼ cup tightly packed light brown sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted & cooled  
¼ cup Frangelico  
¼ cup fresh orange juice  
¼ cup Vanilla Bean ice cream   
¼ cup Crème Anglaise     

Method:

Prepare the frangipane: process the hazelnuts in a food processor until finely ground.  Add the icing sugar and pulse until blended.  Add the butter, then pulse again until the ingredients are mixed. Add the egg and pulse to blend well. Sift the flour over the nut mixture and pulse just until incorporated.

Mix in the Frangelico and scrape the paste into a clean container.

Cover tightly and refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 2 hours or overnight. (The frangipane may be prepared up to 3 days ahead and stored in the refrigerator.)    

Preheat the oven to 375°.

Generously grease a ceramic baking dish large enough to accommodate the halved fruit in one layer.  If the peaches have a particularly furry or thick skin, peel them before proceeding by immersing them, two at a time, in a large pot of boiling water for 30 seconds, then plunging them into ice water to halt the cooking.

Halve the peaches and remove the pits, then slip the skins off. (I find keeping the skin on the blanched peaches until I have twisted them apart and plucked out the pit easier than skinning them first; that way, I have something to grip rather than a slippery naked peach!)    

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar and melted butter and stir to make a paste. Add the peach halves and toss gently to coat each half. Place the peaches cut-side up in the buttered baking dish, paring off a little slice of the bottom if the halves won’t sit properly.  Rub the edges of the fruit with some of the sugar-butter paste.

Fill each peach half with a heaping teaspoon of the chilled frangipane, pressing it into each little cavity.   

Combine the Frangelico and orange juice. Dribble half this mixture over the peaches and place the dish in the preheated oven.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the fruit is tender, when pierced with a sharp knife. Remove the peaches from the dish to a plate to cool for 5 to 10minutes.Add the remaining Frangelico and orange juice mixture to the baking dish and scrape the bottom of the dish with a wooden spoon, creating a thin sauce from the caramelized juices.

To serve, place two peach halves in each of 6 shallow dessert bowls.  Spoon a few teaspoons of the liquid from the baking dish over the peaches and accompany with a generous scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream.

Serves 6.

Courtesy Regan Daley

www.regandaley.com
http://penandchocolate.com/