Peach Shortbread

'Tis peach season. Is there anything better than a ripe peach, so fragrant and juicy that you have to eat it over the kitchen sink?

I purchased a 10 litre basket of peaches to make jars of jam. Fortunately, I had leftover peaches: some were eaten as is, others stirred into yoghurt, and I even made a peach caprese salad.

As I'm often inspired to make dessert with in-season fruits (I made a killer strawberry ice cream last month), I started searching and came across this peach shortbread recipe.

The shortbread has a hint of deep, nutty flavour due to the brown butter. However, if you're too lazy to brown the butter (we've all been there), you can forgo that step and the shortbread will still be delicious.

This recipe can easily be halved. I decreased the amount of sugar and cut my peaches thicker so the flavour of the fruit shines through.

Peach Shortbread
Barely adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 cup (2 sticks or 227 grams) cold unsalted butter
2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons (359 grams) cups all-purpose flour (or you can measure 3 cups and remove 2 tablespoons flour)
2/3 cup (133 grams) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon (2 grams) salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 large egg
3 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (between 1/4 and 1/2-inch thick)

Brown your butter: Melt butter in a small/medium saucepan over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Keep your eyes on it; it burns very quickly after it browns. Set it in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter a 9×13 inch pan, or spray it with a nonstick spray. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. Use a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips, blend the solidified brown butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly. Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. Tile peach slices over crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs evenly over peaches and bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown and you can see a little color around the edges. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.