Baking & Beer | Grilled Bourbon Peaches
Updated: Aug 4, 2020
Happy Friday! We made it through another week!
I've mentioned already how ambivalent I am to the season we call summer. One additional reason I find summer to be the absolute pits is that I love baking, and the heat of summer strips me of the simple joy of being in the kitchen next to an oven. This explains the Baking & Beer hiatus here at Queer Martha headquarters. We also spent much of the summer with all of our kitchen gear packed in boxes after our move to the house called Lady Mildred. When we invited our friends Maurie and Casey over for dinner, however, my desire to give them a full meal was more powerful than my aversion to sweating (Ugh, sweating). I wanted to give them a cooked dessert that highlighted summer's produce, counteracted the stifling heat, and tied me to the stove for less than 30 minutes. Thus the grilled bourbon peach a la mode was born.
If you are looking for a quick and easy summer dessert that does not betray your commitment to butter (And why wouldn't you be?), read on!
1. As always, gather your ingredients. Brutal heat is no excuse to forego your mise en place.
- Approximately 3/4 cup of bourbon
- Peaches: you will need 1 peach for every two people you are serving
- Butter (for amounts, see below)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
Great. We're not even sweating yet. The first step is reducing the bourbon.
2. Place a dry saucepan over medium-high heat. When it is warm, pour the 3/4 cup of bourbon in.
We heat the pot first so that when the bourbon hits it is sizzles and steams and we feel like we are really accomplishing something.
3. Let the bourbon reduce for about 5 minutes. It should thicken slightly. You might think there is not enough bourbon in the saucepan. Go ahead and add a little more.
Wait - what if your bourbon isn't good anymore? You didn't even check, did you?
4. Check to see if your bourbon is still good.
Yeah, it's totally fine. Good thing you took one for the team.
5. Add the butter to the pot of reduced bourbon.
How much butter do you add to the bourbon?
To be honest with you, dear reader, I have no idea how much butter is the right amount of butter. You are going to have to go with your gut and add as much or as little butter as you think is right. I added about 5 tablespoons to my sauce, and it was great. Add butter until the mixture is opaque and taupe in appearance.
6. Add the brown sugar.
This is the boring part when you have to stir until the sugar is dissolved in the bourbon and butter. At this point, the heat was starting to get to me. Good thing the sauce is done and you can turn off the stove!
Let the sauce sit and cool to room temperature. Stir to remove any film that forms.
7. Cut the peaches into halves. Remove the pits and scoop out the middle of the peaches to create a small bowl.
8. Grill the peaches on both sides until they soften, but still retain their shape. If you are not using a grill, cook the peaches in a frying pan.
9. After plating the peaches, scoop ice cream into the hollow in the middle of the peach.
10. Pour the bourbon sauce over the peaches and ice cream.
Bam! Bourbon Peaches.
My Maurie actually really loves summer, that is why she looks so happy and beautiful here. For me, even in my rage against the weather, bourbon peaches a la mode reminded me that there are some joys to celebrate every season.
But I'm still counting down the days until fall.