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These caramelized peaches were so good the first time I made them, I had to make them again to just make sure they were as awesome as I thought they were.

I invited my parents over to share in the caramelized peach goodness.

They moaned while they were eating them, so I'll assume they were, in fact, as good as I thought. Unless they just felt like moaning randomly at supper... and that's just too weird to be comfortable, so I'll assume that wasn't the case.

Speaking of my parents, thank you all for the kind words and emails over on our Instagram page about my dear Grandpa and my parent's role in care-taking of him as he grows old with Alzheimer's. It is a beast and the days aren't easy for them. We often giggle together as we recount the odd ins and outs of our days and how similar having a parent with Alzheimer's is to having little children. When my Mom pulled the ice cream out of the lettuce drawer that my Grandpa had volunteered to put away, it made me smile. Totally something my three year old would do. God bless 'em.

But anyway. Onward and upward to caramelized peaches.

I've got no less than one hundred pounds of peaches in boxes on my washing machine, countertop, tucked under cabinets, and strewn about the kitchen table. It's peach time baby. And when it's peach time, it's caramelized peach time.

For the record, this is in fact, one of the easiest desserts in the history of the world. But you'll be a star for making it. Again and again and again...

Caramelized Peaches

You will need:

- 8 large overly ripe peaches

- 1 cup cream

- 1 cup dehydrated whole cane sugar

- 8 tablespoons butter

- Pinch of sea salt

- 2 tablespoons chopped mint

- 2 tablespoons chopped almonds

1. Peel the peaches, cut them in half, and remove the pits. Set aside.

2. Melt the butter, cane sugar, cream, and pinch of salt together in a pan. Heat it over low heat and allow the butter to melt and become one with the sugar and cream. Stir it, just once, gently once it's melted.

3. Heat the mixture for 3-5 minutes, until it starts to look like caramel. No need to stir it. Just keep an eye on it. Once doesn't want their caramel to burn, however, one must give their caramel time to become caramelized. Smell it. Taste it. Once it's hit the magic point and is the consistency and smell of caramel, add the peaches.

4. Allow the peaches to heat up in the caramel for 3 minutes. Flip them over and give them 3 more minutes.

Mmm. Yummy. Butter, real sugar, cream, and peaches. It hardly gets easier and almost certainly doesn't get any better.

5. Once the peaches are heated through, remove the skillet from the heat. Top the peaches with the mint and almonds and a dash of cream, if you so desire. Serve immediately.

Caramelized Peaches with Mint & Almonds | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

I've been cooking up a storm these past few weeks. Not for any reason in particular, other than I find the more intentional I am about cooking delicious food, the more enjoyable my time is in the kitchen. We have to eat three times a day regardless. I'd much rather that time be enjoyable.

And speaking of that...

Guess what happened? Guess? Go on! Fine, I'll tell you. My dishwasher broke. I know! Can you believe it? I mean, it's only been working since the late 1800s! I can't believe it finally went out. One should be able to get more than a 100 years out of such a machine, surely.

But then... guess what else happened? Guess? Go on! Fine, I'll tell you. I didn't care. I knew we wouldn't replace it right away because there are no less than eighty billion things on our to-do list right now, so instead, I just got in the habit of washing my dishes by hand. And then I taught Georgia to do it with me. And then I realized that I like it.

I like the soapy rag in my hand. I like washing the suds away. I like that it forces me to move just a bit slower in the space - to examine each dish and be aware of it. I like that while I wash, a child or Stu will dry and put away the dishes, so we get a chance to talk.

Truly, if there's only one task I could give up for the rest of my life, it would probably be unloading the dishwasher. Well this certainly eliminates that problem, no?

I'm contemplating making the move permanently, but the jury is still out. For now, I'd settle with getting the old dinosaur removed from the kitchen so I could fill her space with some awesome shelving or something. But for now, she sits - hidden behind a cleverly disguised cabinet - in her tomb.

Whether or not the dishwasher is part of the kitchen, I'm still making caramelized peaches - just for the record. One pan. A few ripe peaches.

Caramelized Peaches | The Elliott Homestead (.com)

Summer at it's finest.

Enjoy!

Caramelized Peaches with Mint & Almonds.

8 large overly ripe peaches
1 cup cream
1 cup dehydrated whole cane sugar
8 tablespoons butter
Pinch of sea salt
2 tablespoons chopped mint
2 tablespoons chopped almonds

Peel the peaches, cut them in half, and remove the pits. Set aside.
Melt the butter, cane sugar, cream, and pinch of salt together in a pan. Heat it over low heat and allow the butter to melt and become one with the sugar and cream. Stir it, just once, gently once it’s melted.
Heat the mixture for 3-5 minutes, until it starts to look like caramel. No need to stir it. Just keep an eye on it. Once doesn’t want their caramel to burn, however, one must give their caramel time to become caramelized. Smell it. Taste it. Once it’s hit the magic point and is the consistency and smell of caramel, add the peaches.
Allow the peaches to heat up in the caramel for 3 minutes. Flip them over and give them 3 more minutes.
Once the peaches are heated through, remove the skillet from the heat. Top the peaches with the mint and almonds and a dash of cream, if you so desire. Serve immediately.

More fruity desserts:

Caramelized Peaches with Mint & Almonds.

Caramelized Peaches

Caramelized Peaches with Mint & Almonds.

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