Peach Cinnamon Vanilla Crumb Bars

Before I tell you more about these lovely crumb bars I wanted to let you know about a local Utah gal, Melissa Chappell who has made a real name for herself by teaching people how to eat fresh foods and understand the benefits.  Something I personally am trying to start learning more about.  This book is a great, useful resource for anyone out there who wants to know more about eating fresh.

The great thing is that she even has a book coming out really soon and trust me, you are going to want this book.  I went to a conference last summer and got to try some of her food and it was as fresh and delicious as you could ever hope for.

To help everyone out there to have a chance to get the book Melissa is having a pre-sale until this coming Friday, September 10th.

You can get the book through for only $12.95 (after pre-sale it is still only $15.95 so it is still totally affordable).

You can find out more about the book and Melissa on her blog.  Here is what Melissa had to say about the book:

This is a beautiful little cookbook full of fresh recipes that will please you and your family. It's got a beautiful glossy cover filled with photos and beautiful illustrations as well as several pages of facts about the nourishing foods included in the recipes. The paper is thick with a "raw" texture and the layout is extraordinary. You'll find six sections: light meals, desserts, salads, salsas, sauces and dips and smoothies, all fresh and delicious. My favorites are the famous Thai Nut Sauce, Lime Mousse, Winter Tomato Sauce, Raspberry Basil Smoothie, and the No Bake No Bake Chocolate Cookies and, well, I like all the recipes and I think you will, too.

I'll be at the American Fork Good Earth on September 18th from 11am-4pm to sign copies and give out free vanilla and chocolate covered macaroons! If you purchase a cookbook here (at the discounted presale price), you can pick it up that day or you may pay for shipping and we'll ship it to you. Just be sure to include your name and address.

Here is the link to Melissa's blog where you can buy the book!

Now, on to the Peach Cinnamon Vanilla Crumb Bars.

Peaches were plentiful at the Farmer's Market here this past week and for me that usually means making jam.  I bought enough peaches to make a small batch of jam, but then two out of three kiddos got sick and all my good intentions fell apart.  Jam isn't difficult or hard to make, but it does take some watching. By the time I had a chance to use these peaches I decided to take them in a different direction this time around.  I guess that means I'll just have to try to get some more peaches this week.

I was reminded when my feed email from Smitten Kitchen showed up in my inbox this week with Peach Shortbread that I had recently seen a version of the Blueberry Crumb Bars Deb posted a while back turned into a peach version over at Annie Eats.  I love me some peach cobbler and I really love crumb bars so I really wanted to try them out.  I think all these versions are quite probably completely fabulous, but since I can never leave well enough alone I knew I wanted to fiddle around with these recipes and came up with my own version.

So, to save time, I've added links to all the similar bars down below the recipe.  That way, you can decide what direction you want to go.  I would say that my version is closest to a cross between a couple of the recipes, but you'll just have take a look and decide what appeals to you.

I knew that I really wanted to incorporate two of my favorite flavors to pair with peaches - cinnamon and vanilla.  I also can't resist the warm sweetness of brown sugar.  The other change I wanted to make was to increase the amount of crust to filling ratio.  Now, it may be just me and my actual lack of love for too much baked fruits, but you could easily just increase your peaches a little bit and have a thicker fruit flavor.  The bars themselves ended up being just what I hoped for and all the flavors came through nicely.  It was like having a wonderful slice of peach cobbler or crumb topped peach pie that I could eat on the go - or even for breakfast.

Peach Vanilla Cinnamon Crumb Bars

For the peach vanilla cinnamon filling:

6 cups peeled, chopped fresh peaches (about 7 peaches)

1/2 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and seeds scraped out

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3 tablespoons cornstarch (optional)

For the crust and crumbs:

4 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 sticks (20 tablespoons or 1 1/4 cups) cold, unsalted butter cut into chunks

1 large egg

Make the peach filling first:  In a large pan, stir together the chopped peaches, sugar, the vanilla bean seeds and the split bean pod, and the cinnamon.  Stir well to combine and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Turn the heat down and allow to simmer about 30 minutes until the juices have mostly thickened.  You can stop at this point with a little juice, or if you like a thicker filling, stir in the cornstarch and simmer for 2 minutes more until the peach filling is thick.  Remove the filling from the heat and allow to cool to about room temperature.

(Note: This peach filling is also wonderful in crepes or on pancakes or waffles.)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly spray a 9x13-inch baking pan and line it with a piece of parchment so that the parchment makes a sling in the pan with the edges hanging up and out the long sides of the pan.  Crease the parchment into the bottom corner of the pan to help keep it in place.  Spray the parchment lightly to make sure everything is well greased.  Set the pan aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment stir together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.  On low speed, add the butter chunks and beat until the mixture is very crumbly and the butter is cut in.  You can do all this by hand if you prefer using your fingertips or a pastry blender to run the butter into the flour until the mixture is crumbly with the largest chunks about pea-sized.  Add the egg on low speed (or use a fork) until the mixture is crumbly and combined and when squeezed just holds together.

Press about half of the dough mixture into the bottom of the greased pan evenly and pressing into the corners and edges (do not go up the sides of the pan).

Spread the mostly cooled peach filling evenly over the crust in the pan.  Squeeze the remaining crumbs in the bowl lightly to just make bigger crumbs and chunks and scatter that crust over the peach filling.

Bake the bars for 40 to 45 minutes or until the top is light golden brown.  Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool completely in the pan.  Use the parchment sling to remove the entire bar from the pan and onto a cutting board.  Use a sharp knife to cut into squares or rectangles (makes about 24 to 30 bars depending on how big or small you cut them).

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.  Great as a breakfast treat or after school snack or make it a real dessert with a little vanilla ice cream and some caramel topping.

Similar Recipes:

Smitten Kitchen - Blueberry Crumb Bars and Peach Shortbread

Brown Butter Peach Bars - Big Sur Cookbook (originally linked via Smitten Kitchen as well)

Annie Eats - Peach Crumb Bars

TWD: Blueberry Crumb Cake

Sihan of Befuddlement chose the Blueberry Crumb Cake in Baking From My Home To Yours for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie. The fabulous Dorie Greenspan, who our group is named for, has been nominated for a James Beard award in Journalism. Hooray for Dorie and congratulations!

On a slightly related note, did you know that, besides following me @PheMom you can now follow the group on Twitter as well as Dorie herself? Check it out @DorieGreenspan and @TuesdayswDorie - just thought if you are a fellow tweep you ought to know. Speaking of, if you are a fellow tweep - please let me know so that I can start finding you (if I don't already). Please leave me your Twitter username in your comment so I can follow you too!

Back to the Blueberry Crumb Cake. This cake was really fun and easy to put together and came out with beautiful results. The flavor of all of it together is amazing. If you love blueberry muffins, then think of this cake as a huge step up. I made the cake exactly as directed, but, since I was out of walnuts, used pecans in the topping. It was amazing and I'm sure even better with the walnuts!

Even though I loved this, I have to admit, I am still partial to the Jam Crumb Cakes I made a while back. I still don't entirely love baked fruit, so the blueberries in this were sometimes not my favorite part. That said, I can't wait to try this recipe with some peaches next since they are the one fruit I do like when baked.

I you haven't already entered the Macy's Giftcard Giveaway I'm doing, then you have until midnight Thursday to comment and enter to win. It is a really easy one to enter, so follow that link and get to it!

Jam Crumb Cake: Three Variations on a Theme

I have a little addiction I feel like I need to tell you about. Breakfast sweets. Actually, it isn't really a little addiction.  It is a rather large addiction.  I am all about the sticky buns and cinnamon rolls, muffins, coffee cakes, doughnuts, etc.  I generally don't eat breakfast (bad, I know, right!?) but if there is something sweet, well, then I am all over it. 

Since I had some homemade preserves recently I have been on a real kick making this jam crumb cake recipe I found on Epicurious. It is infinitely adaptable and extremely delicious. To prove my point, here I give you three versions. All of these started from this base recipe. I've provided the variations below. The cake is insanely delicious and so good. My husband, who isn't a big sweets fan, loves this recipe.

My favorite was the plum version which is really and truly incredible, but the pear and the blueberry versions were also amazing. Whatever type of jam you decide to use with this, you are definitely in for a real treat. Since I am fairly certain I'm not the only one with an addiction to breakfast sweets, I want to know, what is your favorite? If you have a link to the recipe, it would sure be great too if you could link it up here in the comments. Winter is coming and, for me, that, believe it or not, means my real baking time of year is about to begin. So, what do you love?

Lady Jane's Pear Nutmeg Jam (from Peabody)


Pear Nutmeg Cake with Chocolate Crumb

Brown Sugar Plum Crumb Cake

Homemade Plum Preserves

Blueberry Almond Crumb Cake

Jam Crumb Cake and Variations

Adapted from Epicurious

Makes 1 9-inch cake or 6 jumbo muffins or mini loaves

For cake:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla or almond extract

1/2 cup jam or preserves

For crumb topping:

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Make cake: 

Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 9-inch square or round cake pan or 6 jumbo muffin cups or mini loaf muffin cups.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Whisk together butter, milk, and egg in a large bowl, then whisk in flour mixture until just combined. Pour batter into cake pan. Dollop jam all over surface, then swirl into batter with spoon.

Make crumb topping:

Whisk together butter, sugars, cinnamon, and salt until smooth. Stir in flour, then blend with your fingertips until incorporated. Sprinkle crumbs in large clumps over top of cake.

Bake cake until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and sides begin to pull away from pan, about 25 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 5 minutes.

VARIATIONS:

Brown Sugar Plum Crumb Cake:  

- Use 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup light brown sugar instead of 1/2 cup granulated sugar.

- Make your own plum preserves, as follows:

2 lb firm-ripe red, black, or fresh prune plums, halved and pitted
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick or use 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Coarsely chop plums and stir together with sugar, water, and cinnamon in a 2-quart heavy saucepan. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally (more often toward end of cooking to prevent sticking), until thickened and reduced to about 2 1/2 cups, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Discard cinnamon stick and cool preserves. Transfer to an airtight container and chill, covered.  Preserves keep, chilled, 1 month. 

Pear Nutmeg Cake with Chocolate Crumb:  

- Don't change the cake at all.  Replace the extra 2 Tablespoons of flour in the crumb mixture with 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder.  

- For the Pear Nutmeg Jam recipe, go here.

Blueberry Almond Crumb Cake:  

Make homemade blueberry preserves as follows:

 - 4.4 oz picked over blueberries

 - 1/3 cup granulated sugar

 - zest and juice of orange

Smash together in a small saucepan.  Heat to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer until thick and reduced, about 30 minutes.  Reduce to about 1/2 to 3/4 cup, depending on amount of juice.

- Add 1/3 cup ground, toasted almonds to the crumb mixture.

- Use almond extract in the cake. 

Double Rainbow at Brigham City Airport, Utah