Healthy Family Recipes

healthy family recipes

Never Fail Summer Fruit Clafoutis

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Peach Plum Claufouti

For less effort than for a cobbler, you can make a fancy French dessert that just sounds impressive when you say it: clafoutis (pronounced: claw-foo-tee).

The things I like about this dessert is that there is no guesswork like there is for a cobbler or crisp. How thick should the topping be? How wet? How dry? How much thickener for the filling? Oats? Nuts? Butter or shortening?

No guesswork with this recipe! You just follow the recipe for the batter exactly and then pour the batter in a deep dish casserole (4 quart) and scatter fruit on top. That’s it. Really.

I love the custard-y texture of the cake here – it is the perfect marriage of cake and custard. Creamy, yet cake like – words are not quite adequate here. I guess you’re going to have to make this to experience it yourself!

The original French recipe calls for dark cherries and a vanilla batter, but I use whatever fruit I have on hand, and it works great. In the summer, you just can’t go wrong with this no fail dessert!

Never Fail Clafoutis

Prep time: 10 minutes  Bake time : 50 minutes

Serves 8

1/2 cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
4 cups mixed fruit (I used diced peaches, plums and apricots)
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Scatter the butter pieces into a 4 quart baking dish and place in oven for about 10 minutes, or until butter melts and begins to bubble.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and milk. Remove baking pan from oven and pour the whisked batter into the melted butter in pan. Do NOT mix. Sprinkle diced fruit on top of batter, scattering evenly. Do NOT stir.
Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until golden brown and set in center. Best served warm, right out of oven.

Never Fail Clafouti
 
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Serves: 8 servings
Ingredients
  • ½ cup butter, cut into 8 pieces
  • 4 cups mixed fruit such as diced peaches, plums and apricots
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup milk
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Scatter the butter pieces into a 4 quart baking dish and place in oven for about 10 minutes, or until butter melts and begins to bubble.
  3. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and milk. Remove baking pan from oven and pour the whisked batter into the melted butter in pan. Do NOT mix. Sprinkle diced fruit on top of batter, scattering evenly. Do NOT stir.
  4. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, until golden brown and set in center. Best served warm, right out of oven.

Other bloggers do intriguing spins on clafoutis:

Berry Clafoutis, Julia’s Album
Grain Free Blueberry Almond Clafoutis, Everyday Maven
Peach Clafoutis, Honestly Yum

Easy Fresh Peach Tart Recipe

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Easiest peach tart ever.

Peach Tart

Got Ten Minutes? You, too, can make this fabulous Peach Tart.

If there were a list of culinary miracles, frozen puff pastry would be on that list.

Just whip it out of your freezer and you become an instant pastry chef in the eyes of your devoted diners. And yes, I have made a quick version of puff pastry from scratch. It is something to cross off your culinary bucket list: Make Puff Pastry from Scratch. Check. But the store bought kind is even easier than this.

Puff pastry works wonders with just a few ingredients tossed on top – five, to be exact. And with just 10 minutes of prep time ((No, that’s not a typo!))

Here is the entire recipe: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut one sheet of puff pastry in half. Slice two medium sized peaches into 1/4 inch thick slices. Spread slices overlapping on center of each piece of frozen puff pastry. Brush peach slices with a little honey that has been heated in the microwave. Optional: Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until pastry puff around edges and is browned.

Serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is not optional. You won’t be sorry.

— posted by Donna

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Peach Cobbler Upside Down Cake Recipe

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Peach Cake Square

Peach Almond Upside Down Cake

Classic peach cobbler flavors can take so many forms – why not cake?

Peaches always bring back such great summer childhood memories for me.

My brother and I would visit our grandparents in Cochise Stronghold in southeast Arizona and we would earn money by picking peaches. Juicy, ripe white-fleshed peaches. Eat right off the trees peaches. Drip down your elbows peaches. In the Arizona heat after several hours peach fuzz  got everywhere – all over our hands and arms, in the sweat that was dripping down our necks,  in our hair and even tickling our nostrils.

But we pressed on – knowing we were getting rich on that paycheck of 50 cents an hour. And a splash in a cool mountain stream – and picking wild watercress – awaited us at the end of the day. We picked bushels and bushels, and ate ourselves sick as we picked. And then there was grandma’s peach cobbler at night. I am pretty sure there is a law somewhere that says if you’re a grandma, you MUST make peach cobbler. Not optional.  This grandma had only two dishes that were predictably exquisite: beans and ham hocks and peach cobbler.

Peach cobbler is one of my very favorite desserts. And, I’m in good company – even the fabulously low-glycemic Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kicthen has a weakness for this peachy deliciousness.  Maybe that is why I love this cake so much –  peach cobbler flavors and textures. This cake is mostly soft, sweet baked peaches with a little cake at the bottom. And I love the upside-down approach!

Peach Almond Upside Down Cake

— posted by Donna

 

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Sugar Free Frozen Peach Souffles

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Peach Souffle 1865x1865

Bake to Remember – what a lovely thought. Marla at Family Fresh Cooking has started a lovely way for bakers to pay homage to the victims of terrorism who lost their lives on 9-11-2001. Making something delicious comforting and then gathering friends and family members to share love, support and gratitude for our lives and our freedoms – a beautiful way to honor those who fell that day as our nation watched in horror – live on every television screen in America.

I remember watching in horror and then talking on the phone with many loved ones that day – I don’t know why, but perhaps because we needed the comfort of each other on a dark day.

My lovely co-blogger and daughter Anne called me that day. We had only been reunited as a birth mother and daughter a short time by then, and I remember feeling honored that she chose to reach out and call me and we shed tears together that day.

In honor of one of my grandmothers, who loved peaches so much she had a small orchard in her yard, and Grandparents’ Day this Sunday, I decided to join the Bake to Remember event with these luscious little frozen peach souffles. Frozen souffles are so refreshing in the last days of summer, and peach is one of my very favorite flavors. I added almond extract to the dish because almond and peach are a match made in heaven.

Most frozen souffles use real whipped cream, but I decided to go light and used a low calorie whipped topping and low fat cream cheese. But, if you want to go all out on a calorie blitz, the real deal is always good, too. Then, since baking is not required, I used stevia in place of the sugar for a sugar free version. These are just as good as the full fat version – and so cool and refreshing. My hubby, who has type 2 diabetes, ate two!

I’ll be making these again on Sunday, with loved ones close, in remembrance.

— posted by Donna

FROZEN PEACH SOUFFLES

2 cups crushed shortbread cookie crumbs
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
3 cups peeled chopped peaches
8 ounces low fat cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons stevia, or other sweetener, to taste
4 cups low calorie and low sugar whipped topping (or whipped cream)

Mix together cookie crumbs and butter. Press a little of this mixture into the bottoms of  8 large muffin tins or 8 one-cup ramekins.

Whirl in food processor until smooth the peaches, cream cheese, almond extract, stevia. Gently fold in whipped topping or whipped cream with a rubber spatula.

Spoon mixture into tins or ramekins. Freeze for 2 or more hours, until solid.

Just before serving, remove from freezer and run a kitchen knife that has been held under hot water around edges of tins or ramekins. Serve frozen, garnished with more whipped topping and a peach slice, if desired.

Peaches and Cream in Pistachio Phyllo Cups – Summer Bliss on a Plate

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Fresh peach tarts in phyllo cups!
Peach Cups Square

I just love peach time of year. My favorite way to eat peaches is to hold a ripe juicy peach over the sink and eat it while it drips from my elbows – not even worrying about wiping the sweet juiciness off my face.

This recipe just might be a contender for my second favorite way: soft creamy peachy middle and crunchy phyllo outside. What could be yummier than that? I can’t think of a single thing.

I am blessed to live in the Rocky Mountains, where peaches are perfection this time of year. Fresh peach pie is one of the best things about summer.

But then I saw this idea in Fine Cooking magazine, and, yes, I still get an actual paper magazine delivered to my home mailbox by an actual mailman. I know. Weird.

These little phyllo cups would be so yummy for so many things – anything that is pie-worthy, for example.

I made my own creamy fluff instead of using ice cream. And I used butter and sugar brushed between the phyllo layers.

CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED:  this was a huge hit at our house. YOU MAY NEED A 12-STEP DESSERT ADDICTION PROGRAM AFTER EATING THIS DESSERT.

Happy Peach Time, Y’all.

— posted by Donna

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Peaches and Cream Quesadilla Recipe

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Peaches and Cream Quesadillas

If you’re looking for a peach dessert recipe, I’m guessing that “quesadilla” is not the first thing that comes to mind. Most people don’t think of quesadillas being a dessert. That’s too bad, because dessert quesadillas are fabulous! And, they are a perfect “Desperation Dessert” that you can throw together in just minutes. If you don’t believe me, [ Warning: Shameless Plug Ahead] check out my book “Quesadillas” and try one of the recipes from the dessert section – Mango Madness, Caramel Apple or Triple Chocolate Decadence for starters!

The crispy crunch of the tortilla and the soft melted cream cheese inside are the perfect template for an easy dessert feast with whatever fruit or traditional dessert ingredient you have in your kitchen. And, quesadillas take only minutes to make. Drizzle on some caramel or chocolate sauce, or sprinkle some cinnamon sugar on top and you’re in business –

The key to making a top-notch quesadilla is something I learned as a kid growing up a few miles from the Mexican border: Cook them in a large covered skillet over medium heat with NO FAT IN THE PAN.  Let me repeat for emphasis: DO NOT PUT FAT IN THE PAN!!! If you put fat in the skillet, it only makes the quesadilla greasy and often brunt on the outside. Just trust me on this – your flour tortilla will NOT burn and will NOT stick. It will turn out with a perfect crispy golden crunch. Go ahead – test me on this. I promise you will be in Quesadilla Heaven!

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