Peach Shortbread

It's been far too long since I last done some baking, and having a free Saturday morning, I decided to make some peach shortbread to take to a friend's house for dessert. I found the recipe on Smitten Kitchen - an EXCELLENT foodie website created by a chefess (and photographer) in New York working from her home kitchen. You'll find everything you need on here, from simple 10 minute spaghetti with tomato sauce to colourful layered cookie cakes that will take you the whole weekend to make!

OK anyway, so you will need -


200 grams white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder 
360 grams plain flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
227 grams cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (about 1/4-inch thick)


Brown your butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it smells nutty. Set it in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).
Preheat the oven to 190°C. Butter a pan. In a bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt and spices. Then blend the solidified brown butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly. Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. Tile peach slices over crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs over peaches and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown.
Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.Voila!


Mine came out closely resembling a crumble (I think I packed the bottom layer too thick) but it was still pretty damn good (if I may so myself)!