I joined Instagram less than a year ago, but now that I've become a regular user, it amazes me how much Instagram has changed my baking. There are a lot of things that I bake only because I've seen pictures of them on Instagram, including many recipes that I probably never would have learned about if they didn't pop up in my feed. Such was the case with the Peach Shortbread from Smitten Kitchen, which I made shortly after seeing an Instagram post about it from blog reader Sally.
This recipe has a layer of fresh peaches sandwiched between a browned-butter cookie base and crumb topping that are made from the same mixture. You need to prepare the brown butter a little in advance, because you need to cool it until it's solid (the recipe says to put it in the freezer, but our freezer was completely full and I put the butter in the fridge instead; it worked out just fine). Once the butter is ready, the recipe comes together quickly. You just mix together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; and blend in the solidified butter and an egg. The mixture formed large crumbs. I dumped three-quarters of the crumbs into a parchment-lined 9-inch by 13-inch pan and patted them into a solid crust. Then I tessellated thinly sliced peaches on top and scattered over the remaining crumbs.
The skins and interior flesh of my peaches were solid orange and devoid of any reddish hue, so my finished bars didn't have the same range of colors as the one pictured online with the recipe. I was impresesed that the shortbread base wasn't soggy at all even though it wasn't pre-baked and there were slices of peach directly on top of it. Likewise, the crumbs on top were super crunchy and just delightful. These bars held up remarkably well in the fridge for several days. The shortbread and crumbs had loads of flavor, although I don't know that I would be able to identify browned butter as a component if I didn't know it was an ingredient. My one complaint is that I didn't think there was enough peach flavor, which was disappointing since I tasted the farmers market peaches I was using and they were perfect. These bars were mostly shortbread and crumbs with just a bit of peach.
I would definitely cut the peaches thicker next time, or perhaps just add a second layer of fruit (and hopefully more peaches wouldn't cause the crust to become soggy). Another thing I would probably do is lightly sprinkle the fruit with salt (and perhaps a little squeeze of lemon) before adding the crumbs, because salt helps bring out the flavor of fruit. I look forward to giving this recipe another shot once peach season rolls around again.
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