Guess what is showing up at our local farmer’s market right now? Peaches! Beautiful, soft, juicy peaches. This past Saturday I arrived at our local farmer’s market, Farmer’s Market of the Ozarks, at exactly 7:30 a.m. (yes, this is when they open and quite a few people had already beat me there!) to be sure I could get my hands on some before the crowds arrived. I made a beeline to the booth that had them and happily paid for my peck of peaches. I also managed to score some strawberries but barely, there were only a couple of pints left!
So I got what I came for and headed back to my kitchen…I had a plan for these peaches that involved champagne, brown sugar and lots of spices. I could hardly wait to get started. What resulted was one of the most delicious ice cream sauces I have ever tasted. My kitchen smelled like a cross between Christmas from all the spices in the sauce and summer from the orange zest and peaches. Pure. Heaven. If you are a fan of peach pie, this will remind you of just that…but without the crust! It is decadent and delicious over vanilla ice cream, especially homemade vanilla ice cream, which is exactly how we enjoyed it this past weekend. Next week I’ll have another recipe that involves this peach sauce that is OUT OF THIS WORLD. Stay tuned!
- 2 c. Champagne (I used a Spumante)
- 1½ c. Light Brown Sugar
- ½ t. Cinnamon
- ½ t. Nutmeg
- ¼ t. Ground Ginger
- 3 t. Cornstarch, divided
- Zest of one Large Orange, finely chopped
- 4 c. Sliced Peaches
- In a small saucepan, bring the champagne, brown sugar, spices and 1 t. cornstarch to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Add orange zest and let cool completely.
- Place peaches in a shallow dish and pour the sauce over the peaches. Refrigerate overnight. Remove the peaches the next day and place in a bowl. Pour the sauce in a small saucepan again, whisk in 2 t. cornstarch and bring to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Cool completely. Sauce will thicken as it cools (mine was VERY thick after being in my refrigerator overnight).
- Serve sauce over ice cream with reserved peaches.