Tag Archives: Peaches

Grain Free Peach Crisp Bars

These peach crisp bars were created out of my desire to have a dessert/snack using end-of-summer peaches, and that were free of white sugar and flour. This recipe is for all of you like me, who want dessert, but also want to be healthy. These peach crisp bars:
-are grain free
-have no added sugar (they’re naturally sweetened with dates)
-utilize delicious end of summer peaches
-are tasty and filling
Let’s talk about what makes them so excellent.

The crisp
The crisp part of this dessert is made simply out of five main ingredients: whole pecans, almond flour, (unsweetened) coconut, coconut oil (you can use butter, too) and dates. There’s also a bit of salt and vanilla in there. It’s extremely easy to prepare – all of the ingredients are added to a food processor and mixed until crumbly.
A note on the dates – here are the dates that I use and highly recommend. These dates are perfectly textured and the pits are easy to remove. They blend up into a perfect date paste which is what I use in this dessert. To make the date paste, you simply place the dates in your food processor and process until they come together to form a ball of paste. That is the only sweetener used in this recipe.

The peaches
I kept the peaches super simple for this – they are diced and then mixed with just a bit of arrowroot starch, in order for the peach layer to thicken while baking. I use arrowroot starch but you could just as easily use another starch, like corn starch. You don’t have to do this, but I like smashing the peaches up a bit with the back of my spoon while mixing together the peaches and arrowroot.

I love this dessert because it’s wholesome, it’s healthy and I can eat it without consuming lots of sugar. It’s a great dessert but would also make a wonderful snack, or even breakfast!

Grain Free Peach Crisp Bars

Ingredients

Peaches

4 cups peaches, diced
2 tablespoons arrowroot starch

Crust/Crisp

6-8 dates, depending on your preferred sweetness
1 cup pecans
1 cup almond flour
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons coconut oil, or butter

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish by lining with parchment paper or greasing well. Set aside.
Add the diced peaches to a bowl and sprinkle the arrowroot starch on top. Mix well, even smashing some of the peaches with the back of your spoon. Set aside.
Add dates to a food processor and process until they form a ball of paste. Remove and set aside.
Add pecans, almond flour and coconut to the food processor. Pulse a few times. Add the salt, vanilla extract, coconut oil and date paste and process until mixture is well combined and crumbly.
Add about 2/3 of the crisp mixture to the bottom of prepared baking dish. With a spoon, smooth out the crust evenly. Top the crust with the peaches. Crumble remaining crisp mixture over peaches.
Bake for about 25-30 minutes, or until peach layer is bubbling and the top is slightly browned. I recommend letting it cool completely before serving.

Freezing Peaches

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Today, more on cherishing the end of summer.

I couldn’t have been happier to see peaches still at market last Sunday – a variety of them appropriately named “Encore,” and of course thanks to the best – Three Springs. After missing market for three weeks for various reasons, I was worried I had missed that last call for peaches, but gratefully I was able to snatch a bag-full of the last ones.

While I think that there is not much better than eating a sliced, fresh peach, I’ve recently gotten into freezing the juicy summer stone fruit. Greg and I drink smoothies most mornings and because of that, frozen fruit is an always on-hand item in our freezer. Naturally, having a freezer full of Three Springs peaches makes me happier than having a freezer full of generic grocery store fruit, so freezing peaches it was! It does require a tiny bit more work than buying grocery store fruit, but not too much work, I promise! (It’s worth the effort!)

I don’t know why freezing peaches seemed like such a mystery to me for such a long time. I’ve done much reading, research and experimentation over the summer and today I’m going to share with you what I’ve found. What works for me, and what is the simplest process out there. There is no peeling, blanching or measuring in the process that I use. It’s a simple as just washing, slicing and freezing! So as simple as this post sounds (how hard is it to freeze peaches?), I thought it’d be worth sharing in case there is anyone out there like me. And even though this is the first week of fall, I have a feeling that I am not the only one with a fridge full of summer to preserve.

{Keep in mind – I’m freezing peaches mainly for making smoothies. Maybe I’ll use them for a dessert or for muffin making at some point during the winter, but my main use will be for smoothies. If your main use for them would be much different than for smoothies, I would suggest doing further research for your specific desires.}

Freezing Peaches

2014-09-25 13:31:54

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Ingredients

Fresh peaches
Baking sheet(s)
Parchment paper
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Gallon freezer bags

Instructions

Start with fresh, preferably local peaches. Wash the peaches thoroughly. I just use good old fashioned water to wash my fruit! Let peaches dry.
Prepare your peach freezing station. Line a baking sheet (or several baking sheets, depending on how many peaches you are freezing) with parchment paper. Plan for about 4 peaches per baking sheet, of course depending on the size of your peaches and baking sheets. Slice the peaches. I leave the skins on. I don't mind the slight texture the peach skins add to my smoothies.
Evenly arrange peach slices on baking sheet(s). It is important that the slices are not touching. Line them up with a bit of room between each slice.
Once baking sheet(s) are full, place in freezer for up to 24 hours, or until peaches are frozen. I usually leave the baking sheets in the freezer for a full 24 hours.
After 24 hours, remove baking sheets from freezer and let peaches sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. This will make peaches slightly easier to work with. Transfer peaches from baking sheets to gallon-sized freezer bags. I usually do one baking sheet per bag.
Seal bag tightly, with as little air left in the bag as possible and place in freezer!
Once the bag is empty, I wash it out, let it dry and reuse it for my next batch!

The Dreaming Foodie https://www.thedreamingfoodie.com/

Peach + Cranberry Baked Oatmeal

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Baked oatmeal, again.

This is the 63rd post on this little blog and the third time I made baked oatmeal for you. That’s one baked oatmeal every 21 days. Except that my first two baked oatmeal recipes were posted just 10 days apart.

I was going to take a break from making baked oatmeal until this past weekend. I ate it at a restaurant. And after the first bite, I knew I’d be making it for you soon.

This combo of peaches + cranberries was inspired by what I ate at Cafe 101. I’ve had the idea of peach baked oatmeal in the back of my mind for a while, but have been waiting for fresh peaches. Cafe 101’s baked oatmeal was so good though, and I’m pretty certain the peaches weren’t fresh, so I decided to go for it. What made my decision even easier was the can of Three Springs Fruit Farm peaches I had in my cupboard. With that, I had no doubt that canned peaches would suffice.

Even though this is the third time I made you baked oatmeal, this is the first time it doesn’t contain nuts. Or golden raisins. But it does have dried cranberries. Those are close to raisins. I really wanted to use fresh cranberries, but could not find them! I don’t think I realized fresh cranberries were a seasonal purchase. Definitely wrong about that.

And! I baked this in my cast iron skillet. Yes, I am obsessed. It’s the best.

This oatmeal is delicious. Not overly sweet, but for me, just the right amount. The cranberries get plump and the juicy peaches break right apart after they are baked. Sweet cinnamon and vanilla compliment the fruit perfectly.

Ingredients
2 cups oats (I used old fashioned)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups milk (I used almond)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter or coconut oil, melted + cooled
5 canned peach halves, diced

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a cast iron skillet or a baking pan with butter or coconut oil.

In a bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and dried cranberries.

In another bowl, mix together the milk, egg, vanilla extract and melted butter or coconut oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix well. Fold in the diced peaches.

Transfer batter to the greased skillet or pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until oatmeal is set and slightly golden brown.

Enjoy!

The Dreaming Foodie

Sharing dreams. On food and life.

Tag Archives: Peaches

Grain Free Peach Crisp Bars