Fresh-peach drop cookies

I volunteered to bake in honor of a coworker's birthday last month. I asked Mike what kind of desserts he likes - I know he makes a killer Key Lime pie, but that was about all I knew. He said he loved desserts with fruit but didn't like real cake-y desserts.

I immediately thought "cobbler!"

But this is the coworker who made a peach cobbler the month before, so that was out.

This birthday? The week before Christmas. Which meant it was during the week that I was baking cookies to ship to friends and family as well as desserts that were going to be served at my husband's surprise birthday party. So I needed something that wouldn't keep me in the kitchen longer than necessary.

I headed to my friend Google and quickly came across a Martha Stewart recipe that looked surprisingly easy and very delicious. It also fit the bill of "fruit" and "not cake."

These cookies were fantastic. A slightly unseasonal cookie to make in December, but here's a secret: I used canned peaches, and they were yummy *and* a nice hint of our friend summer. Mike suggested adding something tart, like blackberries, cherries or cranberries, to balance out the sweetness of these cookies ... and I just might have to try that :)

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 3/4 cups) (I used a can of peaches - don't tell Martha!)
1/3 cup peach jam or preserves
2 tablespoons fine sanding sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.

2. Beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Add peaches and jam, and beat until just combined.

3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing about 2 inches apart. (If not baking all of the cookies at once, refrigerate dough between batches; dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.) Combine sanding sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar mixture.

4. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Source: Martha Stewart

Peach Crunch Cake

A few months ago, my department at work decided to hold a Super Bowl potluck. Since we had to be at work and couldn't be at a Super Bowl party, and we get super busy during the actual game, it made sense to bring the food and just eat whenever we can.

After we made the decision, I was going through some of my favorite recipe Web sites and was instantly inspired by a recent Bakerella post. I decided to make the easy peach crunch cake - after all, it's fruit, so it's healthy, and more importantly to me, it's easy and will work well served warm or cold. We don't have a lot of refrigerator space at work, so cold food is often an issue. I have a long commute and we work long shifts, so having something that needs to be constantly heated is also a problem. And since we all snack on the food all night, it's good to bring stuff that can sit out for an extended period of time.

I will definitely make this again - it's easy, it's cheap and it's YUMMY.

Ingredients:

24.5 oz jar of sliced peaches in light syrup
1 package yellow cake mix
1 stick butter (1/2 cup), cut into 16 pieces
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Layer ingredients in a 13 X 9 dish, in order starting with the peaches.
Bake for about 40 minutes.
Serve warm or cold… with or without ice cream.

Source: Bakerella