A BEA-UTIFUL and surprisingly easy Italian recipe of old. It is traditionally made out of little lemon cakes that are hollowed out a filled with lemon cream and then sandwiched together. I was a tad confused -- why lemon? They look like peaches. So I wanted to make this traditional treat with a twist...one half filled with vanilla cream and the other half filled with peach jam. I thought the original recipe was missing that peach zing. So here you go! Mmmmm peaches and cream.
Pastry Cream
2
cups whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
4
egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/4
cup flour
Peach Jam
Store bought
Dough
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 eggs
3/4
cup sugar
3/4
cup milk
1/2
cup (1 stick) butter, melted
Grated
zest of 1 lemon
Assembling the Peaches
1/2
cup rum + 2 tablespoons peach schnapps
Red
food coloring (or a bit of beet juice if you want to keep it au naturel)
1 cup
sugar, or more as needed for coating
Fresh
peach leaves for decorating
Directions:
Make the pastry cream: Simmer Milk and vanilla bean paste in a large saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks and sugar
until thoroughly blended; add flour to the egg mixture and whisk until combined.
Slowly whisk hot vanilla milk into egg mixture. Return mixture to
saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until cream thickens and begins to boil.
Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place plastic wrap over the top; pressing down to prevent a film from developing on top of the cream.
..................
Make the dough: In a
large bowl, mix flour and baking powder together. In a large separate bowl, whisk eggs and sugar. Whisk in milk, butter, and lemon zest
until combined. Gradually add flour mixture, mixing with a fork until the dough is firm.
Preheat oven to 350
degrees. Line two baking sheets with nonstick mats
Roll dough it into a walnut sized balls (about 2 inches in sizes). Place balls on prepared
baking sheets spacing about 1 inch apart. Slightly flatten the tops with your palm.
Bake until bottoms are lightly browned, about 10-15 minutes; tops will remain
pale. Transfer to a rack.
..................
Assemble the peaches: While the cakes are still warm, use a small, sharp knife to cut a circle
about the size of a quarter on the bottom (flat) side of each cookie, taking
care not to crack the edges. Use the tip of the knife to scrape out enough
crumbs to make hollow and hold about 1 teaspoon pastry cream and jam. Set cookies
aside.
Pour rum and peach schnapps in a small bowl. Add enough red food coloring (or beet juice) to create your desired shade of peach; set aside. Fill a shallow bowl with
sugar; set aside.
Fill half of the hollowed-out
cakes with 1 teaspoon of cream filling and the other half with peach jam. Sandwich two little cakes together. Using a
pastry brush, brush the "peach" with colored liquor and roll in sugar to
coat. Place on a rack or plate when done. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Just before serving,
pierce each "peach" with a toothpick where the two cakes come
together and insert the stem of a peach leaf.
