Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce, and a song

When Becky and I were growing up, our family went on a lot of day trips.  On the car ride home, we always made up a song to the tune of "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah."  For instance:

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!
We had a Jelly Belly Factory Day!
At Old Sacramento we almost went broke,
and at Budweiser we all got free Coke!

(Note: The over-21 crowd got free Bud, obviously.  But us young'uns were pretty darn excited about the free Coca-Cola. It smelled way better than beer.)

 

I got to go on a day trip with some new friends recently.  You know what's coming, right?

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay!
I went a-peach-pickin' last Saturday!
Hayrides and bubbles, ice cream and sun,
Who knew farm labor was so much fun?!

(Yes, I know that "sun" and "fun" are the boring-est words on the planet to rhyme.  But quality lyrics are not the point here.  The point is to be silly.  Be silly!)

Have you ever been peach picking?  No?  Well then today's your lucky day!  I happen to have some photos from our outing.  I'll take you on a tour.

This is the peach orchard.

This is a just-picked peach.

This is a just-picked, half-eaten peach.  Yum.

 This is the adorable baby I got to go peach picking with.  Couldn't you just eat her up?! (Note: You should not actually eat her.  She is not a peach.)

 This is our (not yet) 20-pound bag of peaches.

And this, my friends, is what we made with (some of) that 20 pounds of peaches.

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce from The Pioneer Woman. It's ooey, it's gooey, it tastes like you went peach picking and maple-syrup gathering all in one day.

(Maple-syrup gathering - is that a thing? Can you do that? If so, someone please tell me where...I'm feeling another zip-a-dee-doo-dah coming on already.)

If you don't have a peach orchard near you, go pick some peaches from your local market and make this peach crisp right away. You'll be very glad you did.  And if you happen to write a song about it, please do share!

Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce
from The Pioneer Woman
Makes 8 servings

• 5 to 6 whole fresh peaches (best when not overly ripe or soft)
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 stick butter (1/2 cup)
• ½ lemon
• 7 tbsp real maple syrup, divided
• 1-½ cups whipping cream
• 3 tbsp light corn syrup

For topping:
1. In a medium bowl, mix flour, sugar, light brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt using a fork or pastry blender. Cut butter into small pieces and gradually add to flour mixture until evenly mixed.

For filling:
2. Peel and slice peaches into a bowl. Add the zest from half a lemon. Squeeze juice from lemon half and stir in with peaches and zest. Add 2 tablespoons real maple syrup to peaches; stir well.

3. Pour peach mixture into a small pan (8” or 9” square) and cover evenly with crumb topping.

4. Cover with foil and bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes or until crisp and brown on top. (I baked mine for about 40 minutes after the foil came off.)

For Maple Cream Sauce:
5. Pour whipping cream into a saucepan. Add 5 tablespoons real maple syrup, 3 tablespoons corn syrup, and stir over moderate heat until thickened and reduced by about one-third, approximately 15 minutes.

6. Refrigerate mixture until it is cold and thick, or set the saucepan into a small bowl of ice.  Stir the mixture until cool and thickened, about 15 minutes (ice will melt and turn into ice water).

Drizzle sauce over peach crisp. Serve warm.