Slice a peach cleanly in half and gently pull the pit from the center, revealing blushed craggy walls. This textured core gives way to juicy ochre flesh surrounded by skin that echoes the simultaneous soft and rough quality of a cat’s tongue.

The sweet tang of a perfectly ripe peach is irresistible and can’t be improved upon.

But as is the way of humanity, it remains difficult to resist the temptation to transform something beautiful in both flavor and appearance into a new creation that can be shared with others.

Ingredients

1 Cup AP Flour
1 Stick Unsalted Butter, Cold
1 Cup Vanilla Sugar (or just regular white sugar)
1 Tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Sea Salt
2 Peaches
Apricot Jam (at least a 10 oz. jar)

Cookie Crust

• Cut the butter into cubes
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, add the flour, butter, sugar, baking powder, and salt
• Turn the mixer on medium-low speed to help break up the butter
• Turn off the mixer, then get in there with your hands to make sure the ingredients are fully integrated – using the stand mixer is not completely necessary, it just gives a bit of a head start
• The final result should resemble the delightful texture of damp sand

Assemble

• Preheat the oven to 350°F
• Cut the peaches around the middle to remove the pit, then slice up each half
• Prepare a baking dish with butter or baking spray – I chose a 7” x 11” glass baking dish
• Press approximately ⅔of the dough into the bottom of the dish
• Slather on a generous helping of apricot jam – I used about ⅔ of my 10 oz. jar
• Neatly arrange the peach slices on top of the jam – there will be a few leftover to snack on
• Evenly sprinkle the rest of the dough on top

• Bake 22-25 minutes until golden edges surround a bubbly center
• Allow the treat to relax for at least 30 minutes before slicing – no judgment if you ignore that though and spoon out a giant glob to enjoy with ice cream