Baked Golden Queen Peaches with Frangipane

According to our outstanding recipe editor, Kathy Paterson, Golden Queen peaches bake extremely well with their flesh and skin becoming meltingly tender. Leefield Station Riesling makes a great wine match, taking this dish to a new flavour level.

Makes 12 pieces

Ingredients

60g butter, softened

60g caster sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract or a drop of pure almond extract

60g ground almonds

1 tablespoon plain flour

6 Golden Queen peaches, wiped

1 lemon

icing sugar for dusting, optional

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Make the frangipane, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy then beat in the egg.  Sprinkle over the almonds and flour and fold through. Cover bowl and put in the fridge to firm up.

Heat the oven to 190°C. Line a large shallow baking tray with baking paper.

Golden Queen peaches are clingstone so you will need to cut two cheeks from each peach, cutting as close to the stone as possible.

Put the peach cheeks in the prepared baking tray with the flesh side up and squeeze over a little lemon juice. You may need to pop a little piece of folded baking paper under some of the peach cheeks to keep them level. I prefer to do this rather than cut away some of the peach.

Put in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until just tender. Remove from the oven and set aside for about 5 minutes.

Put a scant teaspoon of the frangipane mixture on each (it will spread during baking), then return to the oven and bake for a further 10-15 minutes until set and golden brown.

Serve peaches warm dusted with a little icing sugar, if using and yoghurt. We suggest Dreamview Creamery Natural Yoghurt or Poppa Jax Natural Yoghurt Bella Vacca. Gelato or ice cream is great too.

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Tips

• If you’ve missed the window when Golden Queen peaches are in season – March through to April, you can use bottled peaches and fill the cavity with the frangipane mixture. Put in the oven to simply bake the frangipane.

• As you are preparing the peaches, roughly chop the remaining peaches and poach in a light sugar syrup for breakfast.

• Uncooked frangipane will keep in the fridge for a few days if well covered or you can freeze for 2-3 months.

• As an alternative, you could make individual serves - simply line small muffin pans with small cupcake baking cups and dollop in frangipane, top with thinly sliced fruit or 2-3 blueberries. Bake until set, springy to the touch and golden.