Peach Shortbread

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Whew! Did that Ramadan go by super-fast, or was that just me? So even though we're not eating during the days of Ramadan, no one seemed to pass on that memo to the young monsters in the house who insist on food around the clock, so I was in the kitchen quite a bit this past month. Add in the few iftaar dinners and some out of town Eid guests and well, lets just say there shouldn't be any shortage of posts these next few weeks insha'allah.

That brings us to these cookie bars; I've been wanting to tell you about these since the day I was randomly inspired to bake something fresh and fruity, light but satisfying (fasting really brings out some specific cravings!), and found these calling my name.In fact, these cookies were so good that it turns out, I didn't take any after-pictures. Between breaking my fast and ,you know, eating, I guess I was a little busy!

I know its officially autumn now and I know peaches aren't really the fruit of the moment. But trust me, you can do this with just about any fresh or frozen fruit and its not a bad way to use up any last-gasp stone fruit you see at your local market. I made a quick batch of a mango version for Eid and they were delicious!




Peach Shortbread Cookies
(I opted for the easier version and used room temperature butters instead of browning it, also halved the recipe. Everything came out perfect!)

(Smitten Kitchen Note: you can make it with straight-up non-browned butter if you are pressed for time. Simply cut softened butter into the flour (instead of frozen brown butter) and increase the flour by two tablespoons, bringing it to three full cups of flour.

1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon  baking powder
2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons cups all-purpose flour (or you can measure 3 cups and remove 2 tablespoons flour)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1 large egg
2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick)

Brown your butter: Melt butter in a small/medium saucepan over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Keep your eyes on it; it burns very quickly after it browns and the very second that you turn around to do something else. Set it in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).
[Don't have time for all this brown butter madness?use regular softened butter instead.]

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Butter a 9×13 inch pan, or spray it with a nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, stir together sugar, baking powder, flour, salt and spices with a whisk. Use a pastry blender, fork or your fingertips, blend the solidified brown butter and egg into the flour mixture. It will be crumbly.

Pat 3/4 of the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan, pressing firmly. Tile peach slices over crumb base in a single layer. Scatter remaining crumbs evenly over peaches and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until top is slightly brown and you can see a little color around the edges.

Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.