Peach Squares

Oh dear...this post has accidentally been deleted...I'll work to find the draft to republish...sorry!

Note to self: do not hit “control A” followed by a series of other computer keys unless each command has finished processing. A lack of patience might lead to your blog post being deleted!! I can find a clip of my Peach Squares post but I cannot bring it back to my screen no matter what I try. So here is the peach square recipe as read in America’s Test Kitchen’s book, Menu Cookbook.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups flour

1 ¾ cups sliced almonds

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar plus 1 TB brown sugar

Salt

12 TB butter, cut into pieces and softened

1 ½ pounds frozen peaches, thawed and drained

½ cup peach jam

½ tsp lemon zest plus 1 tsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a 9 x 13 baking pan with aluminum foil. Spray with baking spray.

Use a food processor to prepare the crust. Combine the flour, 1 ¼ cups (only) almonds, granulated sugar, 1/3 cup brown sugar, ½ tsp salt. Add the butter and process with 15-20 pulses.

*important* set aside ½ cup of this mixture to use for the topping

Press the rest of the crust mixture into the pan. Bake the crust for 15-18 minutes.

Add the extra tablespoon of brown sugar to the reserved topping and set aside to use later.

The filling: use the food processor again to mix the peaches and the peach jam until the mixture is in small pieces. Move the peaches to a skillet and cook for 10 minutes. This will be a bubbling and boiling mixture. Be careful—use oven mitts and a long spoon to stir. Once you take the peaches off the heat, add in the lemon zest, juice, and salt.

Pour the hot peach mixture over the warm crust. Spread the topping over the peaches and sprinkle with ½ cup of sliced almonds.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Allow the bars to cool for a few hours before serving.