edibleportland.com | 3 Piedmontese Baked Peaches with Amaretti and Cacao By Cathy Whims | Photo by Dean Cambray Serves 4 to 8 INGREDIENTS 4 large, ripe, sweet, freestone peaches 2 tablespoons sugar Eight 2- inch amaretti cookies, crushed 2½ tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus more for buttering the dish 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature 1 teaspoon Dutch-processed unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Valrhona brand Crème fraîche, mascarpone or ice cream for serving (optional) Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Cut the peaches in half around the equator and twist to separate; wiggle the pit to loosen and discard. Carve out the center of the peach to make a slightly larger hollow (about the diameter of a golf ball) and finely chop the removed flesh. Combine the chopped peach with the sugar, half of the amaretti cookie crumbs, butter, egg yolk, and cocoa powder in a small bowl. Place the peach halves in the baking dish and fill each with a mound of the amaretti mixture. Sprinkle the remaining amaretti on top. Bake until the peaches are soft , about 45 minutes. Serve warm alone or topped with crème fraîche, mascarpone, or ice cream (vanilla or almond would complement nicely). There’s a reason that peaches and almonds go so perfectly together. Tucked inside a peach pit is a diminutive kernel that looks a lot like an almond, not because of some fluke of nature, but because peaches and almonds are cousins. And that kernel is a source of intense and highly prized bitter almond flavor, like almond extract but in its natural form. In fact, in this classic dessert found in tratt- orias throughout the Piedmont region, the kernel often gets chopped up and mixed with amarett i cookies to create a double-almond filling for fresh peaches baked until warm and soft. I think amaretti are flavorful enough, so this version skips that laborious step, but feel free to hammer your peach pits open if you like. Piedmontese Moscato d’Asti is a classic pairing, but the addition of cocoa powder adds a note of gravitas that allows the dish to pair just as wonderfully with a light-bodied red. Add a dollop of ice cream or whipped cream and savor the warm-cool contrast. Reprinted with permission from The Italian Summer Kitchen: Timeless Recipes for La Dolce Vita by Cathy Whims. Copyright © 2025. Published by Countryman Press, an imprint of W. W. Norton. Illustration by Kate Lewis
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==