I wish I had time to make all of the recipes I find on other people's blogs. I'm always oohing and aahing and super impressed by what my fellow bloggers have accomplished. Sometimes, I'm inspired by a recipe that I actually have all the ingredients for right at home, and I'll jump right in and make that recipe.
When I read Michelle from Brown-Eyed Baker's recipe for peach crumb bars, my thoughts drifted immediately to the handful of ripe peaches sitting in my fridge. After a quick glance at the rest of the recipe, I decided peach crumb bars were clearly the best way to use those peaches.
A simple dough is used for the bottom crust and then sprinkled over the top like streusel.
Chopped peaches are layered over the dough. The recipe calls for 7 peaches, but I only had 5. I used what I had and found that to be plenty of peach, but of course there's always room for more.
The chopped peaches are flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice and sweetened with a little sugar.
The peach mixture is then spread over the dough.
The remaining dough (streusel) gets crumbled on top.
And the whole thing gets baked in the oven until the topping turns golden brown and the peaches get warm and bubbly.
These bars were perfect right from the oven, piping hot with crisp topping and soft crust. But they were also magnificent the following day, shaking off the chill from spending the night in the fridge. They're decadent enough for dessert, served warm with ice cream, and simple enough for breakfast or an afternoon snack.
I'm so used to making apple things with crumb topping. Peaches were a welcome change. I loved the way the soft peach texture mixed with the light crunch of the topping (this combination was similar to the roasted peaches I made a while ago but was even better because the peaches were softer). If you have some peaches on hand, you'll want to give these bars a try. Head over to Michelle's blog for the recipe.