Peaches and Cream Almond Crumb Tart

Late July. The heat is enormous and unrelenting and I have made peace with it the way you make peace with a neighbor who plays music too loud: you cannot change it so you adjust your patterns around it. I swim at the YMCA twice a week now, which I started in June when it got bad, and those mornings I go in before work and the pool water feels like a gift from someone who understood the problem completely.

On Sunday Gloria made peach preserves. End of season, she said, these are the last good peaches and we put them up now. Her kitchen was hot beyond description, the canning jars sterilizing in a pot of boiling water, the preserves cooking in the big Dutch oven, and I stood at the stove and stirred and sweated and did not care at all. The smell of peaches cooking down with sugar is one of the best smells I know. Rich and fruity and warm in a way that is separate from the ambient heat.

She let me ladle the preserves into jars. Her hands were stiff, the heat is hard on the arthritis too she says, and I had better control of the ladle anyway. We got eight jars. She kept four and gave me four. I have them lined up on my kitchen windowsill and the afternoon light comes through them and they are the color of amber. I have been eating the preserves on biscuits in the morning and every time I open a jar I think: I was there when we made this. My hands did part of this. That matters to me in a way I cannot fully explain.

DeVon at the daycare has started calling me by my real name, Savannah, instead of Vanna. He is very proud of himself for this. He practices it. Sa-VAN-nuh. I let him.

Those four jars on my windowsill will last me into fall, but Gloria’s kitchen that afternoon reminded me that peaches deserve more than one kind of tribute — and that the same fruit that goes into a jar also goes beautifully into a tart, layered over cream and finished with an almond crumb that smells, while it bakes, almost exactly like that Dutch oven on the stove. This Peaches and Cream Almond Crumb Tart is what I make when I want the whole experience of a summer peach to slow down and stay a little longer. It is the kind of thing you bring to someone whose hands are stiff and whose kitchen is always warm, and it says everything you mean without saying any of it out loud.

Prep Time: 25 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the crust:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 egg yolk
1–2 tablespoons ice water
For the almond crumb topping:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
For the cream filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
For the peach layer:
4 large ripe peaches (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, pitted, and sliced 1/4-inch thick
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Make the crust. In a food processor, pulse together flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Add cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Add the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of ice water; pulse just until the dough comes together, adding the second tablespoon of water only if needed. Press the dough evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Blind bake the crust. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line the chilled crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the weights and parchment and bake an additional 5 minutes until lightly golden. Set aside to cool slightly. Leave the oven on.
Make the almond crumb topping. In a medium bowl, combine flour, sliced almonds, sugar, and almond extract. Work in the cold butter with your fingertips until clumps form. Refrigerate until needed.
Prepare the cream filling. Beat the softened cream cheese and sugar together until smooth and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and almond extract and beat until just combined. Spread the cream filling evenly over the bottom of the par-baked crust.
Prepare the peaches. In a bowl, gently toss the peach slices with sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Arrange the slices in overlapping concentric circles over the cream filling.
Add the crumb and bake. Scatter the almond crumb topping evenly over the peaches. Bake at 375°F for 35–40 minutes, until the cream filling is set, the peaches are tender, and the crumb topping is deep golden brown. If the top browns too quickly, tent loosely with foil for the last 10 minutes.
Cool and serve. Let the tart cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store any leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Peaches and Cream Almond Crumb Tart — The Last Good Peaches of Summer