In most places around the U.S. (except Florida -- sorry Floridians), we're right in the thick of peach season!
Go pick those sweet, fuzzy fruits from your trees! Buy plump white, yellow, red and purple peaches in bulk at the farmer's market or grocery store!
Especially if you have a particularly lovely batch of them, peaches are delicious on their own, but if you want to change things up, here are some outstanding desserts you can whip up with the stupendous summer stone fruit:
1. Lazy Peach Cobbler
This fast recipe calls for canned peaches, but you're more than welcome to use fresh or frozen ones -- just double the sugar.
2. Ginger Peach Iced Tea Popsicles
Iced tea popsicles? Oh yes! Talk about a grown-up, sophisticated cocktail -- if you want to make it even more adult, they'd be swell with a couple splashes of bourbon.
3. Peaches and Cream Cake
This dense, moist spiced cake is absolutely divine! It works equally well for breakfast or dessert, making it an ideal brunch party offering.
4. Peach Caramel Blondie Bars
The peaches go on top of these gorgeous dulce de leche blondie bars, but if you want you can also bake them right in to give the fruit a softer texture and toasty flavor.
5. Grilled Peaches A La Mode
It doesn't get much easier than grill-scorched, caramelized peaches topped with ice cream -- I prefer with pecan praline, but use any flavor you like. Perfect to finish off an evening of grilling!
6. Brown Butter Peach Cupcakes
The rich nuttiness of brown butter, the smooth tanginess of cream cheese and a bright pop of vanilla perfectly keeps the mild peach flavor front and center, especially since you mix actual peach chunks (fresh, frozen or canned) right into the batter.
7. Peach Roses
This dish is pretty straightforward and really quick -- the only thing that might take your time up is slicing those peaches if you don't have a mandoline. This is a fabulous way to use up a big batch of gorgeous, ripe, fresh peaches if you want them to be the star of the show.
8. Peach Cookies
These are adorable and look just like real peaches! The recipe uses peach jam or preserves (learn how to make that here) as opposed to fresh peaches, so you can serve these all year long!