Peaches!!!

Do you see these peaches? Do you know how many peaches these are? A little over five pounds buddy. Yep. That’s A LOT. It took me approximately an hour to wash, sort, and slice these puppies. A dear friend of ours has a beautiful peach tree along with an avocado, lemon, lime, and orange tree; boysenberries, grape vines, and a lovely gazebo to complete the lovely yard. Very picturesque. When we arrived the tree was ABUNDANT with peaches. Nothing I had imagined to see or let alone to be picking from.


Now I understand how technology haters feel. Computers, phones, cameras, iPods. All of that. All of it is unpredictable and absolutely stubborn. The point is, I’m going to have to “paint my pictures with my words.” That being said, allow me to continue.

When we arrived to this magnificent abode of a yard, the tree was laden with peaches. Now these peaches didn’t look like your typical grocery store peaches. They were more of an orange apricot color than the typical red color. The red was present, but the orange more so.

Peaches are known for being the “fuzzy” fruit. You think the peaches in the store are fuzzy??? Ha! That’s HILARIOUS. These peaches are so fuzzy, when taken a bite out of; fuzz would literally be sitting on the top of your lip. Instead of a milk mustache, it’s a peach fuzz mustache!

What’s incredible and almost bizarre, is the fact that the peaches would begin to rot almost instantly after being picked. Four hours after being picked, I had to begin cutting off appearing bruises and throw out liquefying fruit.

Like I said, it took me about an hour to complete this job. The single picture above is the one picture my camera decided to cooperate for.

And guess what?! Remember when I was, uhmm, talking about superfine sweet rice flour? Well, I’ve learned a lot. Allow me to explain. We’ve already established that Sweet Rice flour is sticky or for a “chewy” sort of substance when used. Tapioca Flour gives you elasticity needed in your goods. Normally, any sort of rice flour makes for a very delicate scone, bread, anything, when combined properly with the correct ratio of tapioca and/or potato flour.

…I just realized I haven’t told you what I’m sharing with you. Lol. Sorry about that. Peach Cobbler. Yum. Goes perfectly with a Southern meal. Fried catfish, ribs, Mac n’ cheese, chili, cornbread, greens, jambalaya, and end it with sweet potato pie or peach cobbler :-). (Make sure to wipe up that drool on your shirt).

Back to my scientific discovery. The scone batter I used for the cobbler called for rice flour, tapioca flour, and xanthan gum. The only kind of rice flour I have on hand is the superfine sweet rice flour. That being taken into context, combination of all those ingredients would just about equal…..sticky, chewy mess. So, I extracted the Xanthan gum from the picture. And the result? Tahdah! A tasty top on your cobbler!

The scone recipe was produced by Darina Allen and Rosemary Kearney. I tweaked it a bit, of course, to fit the cobbler needs.

*If you use regular rice flour, 2 tsp Xanthan gum is needed. The scone recipe was originally produced in grams and ounces. If you can follow the weights, I highly recommend it. To give you an idea for the ounces, 8 oz is approximately one cup.

**I suggest serving it or devouring it with Butter Pecan Ice Cream.



GF DF Peach Cobbler

-1/2 cup Water
-3 tbsp Cornstarch
-3/4 cup White Sugar
-1/2 cup Brown Sugar
-1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
-8 qt. sliced Peaches

-275 g/10 oz superfine Sweet Rice Flour
-50 g/2 oz Tapioca Flour
-4 tsp Baking Powder
-1 tsp Salt
-1/4 White Sugar
-1 tsp Cinnamon
-110 g/ 4 oz Earth Balance
-2 Eggs
-125 – 175 ml/ 4 – 6 oz Plain Soy Yogurt (Wildwood)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line with parchment paper or oil a 9*13inch pan. Stir cornstarch into water until all clumps are gone. On low heat, dissolve cornstarch and sugars to the point of simmering. Add vanilla extract. Follow with peaches. Simmer on low heat until peaches are soft and juices become syrupy. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. With a pastry cutter or fork, break up and mix earth balance until a coarse mixture forms. In a separate bowl mix eggs and yogurt. Add egg mixture to dry ingredients until well combined. Don’t over mix. You still want to see the butter pieces. Pour to the peaches into the pan and spoon the batter on top. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until knife comes out clean when inserted.

The world of EXPERIMENTING

Note to self:  Don't use superfine authentic sweet rice for cakes...ever, EVER again.  If you want pancakes...sure, but for a cake???  NEVER.  Number one, it's too chewy.  Number two, it becomes hard.  I could see it making a pretty good batch of cookies though. 
I can definitely envision that.  Hmmm?  ...oatmeal cookies.. ...butterscotch brownies... See, there's so much to discover and learn.  Oh!  And it could probably make some pretty darn tasty chocolate chip cookies!  Fosho!  Foshiiizzzzlllee! 

I'm not going to be a hater though.  I will try a cake recipe with the authentic sweet rice again.  But.  I'm not going to use the gf mix that consists of the rice flour, potato and tapioca starch. 

I did some research.  Next time, I'm going to use Sorghum flour in place of the potato flour.  We'll see how that goes.  I haven't experimented with cookies in a long time.  That should be fun :).  And ooo!  It should do some gingerbread cookies justice.  Most definitely. 

While doing my research I found that the Sorghum flour, along with the Rice flour and tapicoa starch, is a self-rising flour.  Ima give that a shot and we'll see how that goes. 

I shouldn't be complaining.  I know I shouldn't.  But we all know the feeling of working hard and our product turns out lower than satisfactory.  Oh well.  This is going to happen often during my career.  You learn by mistake.

They do look awful pretty though.  I'm sorry...I'm not going to lie.  I like how they look.  They're not fabulous...but they're the type where if you saw them in the window of a downtown bakery you would SAY, "Ooo." 

I would have to say its the most pastry-like thing I've made.  It's not amazing, but I'm proud of myself :-].

Not to mention my wonderful aunty, who got me some beautiful pans and a Silpat.  I need to tell you something....if you don't have one...get one.  You will be one of the happiest bakers in the whole entire world.

Now, I have a friend, who loves bacon.  Many of you love bacon.  You're probably thinking, "Is she talking about me?"  You know who you are.  You know exactly who I'm talking about...  YOU. 

For the rest of you, don't even worry about it.  But please, continue reading. 

Now, I know, I know that we agreed you would be present when I began baking once this Evil Poaching Chamber of Heat of Dear ol' San Diego was over.  But, as you can see,  I began baking without you being present.  Now, I want you to be thankful.  For, this occasion of baking is not exactly a joyful one.  Its more like a chewy one.  But, I wasn't going to forsake you.  Please believe me.  I wasn't.  I was going to reserve you one of the cakes.  For fear I should die.  But, as you can also see, it didn't turn out very tasty.  Lol. I know I can be a drama queen.  That's how I role sometimes ;-).

Have you noticed how I never once mentioned what I baked exactly ?  Yes a cake, but never what kind...  And this one is a no brainer...one lonely picture......sorry.

I know...I know...I know...

Its been a while, and please forgive me for that.  I need to upload you on all of my major events.

1) School is OOUUUTT!!! Oh yeah...alrightt...uhhuh...thats right I'm raisin the roof!  "Ceeelaabration time!  Come home!!"  Use your imaginary music.  All of the seniors have passed on the torch.  All of whom, I'm going to miss.  But now I'm rulin the school! ;-)

2) My camera broke.  That's one of the main reasons why I haven't posted anything lately.  Money is tight and I can't afford a new one on my own.  A new camera was already on my wish list before this one kicked.  And now, it's bon voyage for good.  So, I don't have any delectables to show you.  My lovely friend took a picture of a Carrot Cake I made for her though.  Thank you! Xoxo.  It's my aunt's secret recipe so this one is off limits.  No recipe this time.  Sorry!  And yes, yes it is gluten free.

3) Kicked it at La Jolla.  Met a couple new people.  Chilled with Wii later that evening.

4) Went to the fair....  You know, I wonder sometimes....who in the world would come up with the idea of deep frying a stick of butter??? And EATING it???!!  I mean come on now.  Really, why?  That's like eating a heart attack on a stick. 
These are all of the marked fair foods:  Deep fried, oreos, pop tarts, butter, and twinkies; chocolate covered bacon, blooming onion, funnel cake, fried zucchini, gigantic cinnamon rolls... I can't think of anything else...can you?  Well, if you do, let me know.  This list should be completed.  Oh!  Duh!  The corn dog!!!  But still, let me know if you think of anything else.
I tackled most of the major rides, all but one.  I absolutely refused to go on it.  My friend's little brother and his friend threatened to knock me out and put me on the ride while I was still unconscious.

5)  I got my Food Handler's License.  Twenty five bucks at the Food and Beverage Corp.  That, my dear friend, is cheap.  The first place I looked, it was a hundred.  The second, forty.  The third, twenty-five.  Bingo.
When my mom and I walked into the office, the lady was sooo rude.  Once she found out that I be representin Grossmont, she softened up.  (Her daughter graduated valedictorian from g-mont).

6) We, my friend and I, toured her cousins around downtown San Diego.  A couple gals from Buffalo, New York.  We had a blast :-).  We went to this place called "Chocolat"?  The moment I walked inside, my jaw dropped.  They're gelato?  Ah! Omgness...fabulous.  I send a shout out to you ladies!  Xoxo.

7) I got my Driver's License.  Ooohh yyeeeaa...:-D.  I am so happy.  You have no idea.  You do, but Ima say that anyways.
Everyone was always talking about the Lady.  The instructor that everyone dreads.  The one that is ultra tough.  And guess who I got?  Lo and behold, I got the Lady.  But, I passed!

8) I start work Monday!  I'm an apprentice for Chef Betsy G.  She's the bomb.  I'll have to post an entire thing about her.  But, I'll be baking gluten free goodies and she'll be showing me the ropes :-).

That is the upload on my life at the moment.