Last week I decided to renew my Costco membership. I’d let my membership lapse because I’d gotten too lazy to go out of my way to get gas there (it’s much cheaper), and since there was only one person in my household, buying in bulk just wasn’t important. However, since my little household has gone from just dog + me to dog + me + boyfriend + roommate, the resources have been going at a much speedier rate. There are now three times as many people using toilet paper and eating the groceries. Man, I had nearly forgotten how great some of the stuff you can find at Costco is… Including fruit! I bought a huge container of Cotton Candy Grapes (which were eaten pretty quickly) and couldn’t resist the Peaches that were perfectly ripe and smelled amazing as I walked past them. Of course, we couldn’t eat them fast enough, and it was only a few days before I looked at them and noticed they’d gotten too soft and a bit wrinkly… But I hated the idea of just tossing them out and wasting half a package of peaches. My solution? Peaches & Cream!
The riper the fruit, the sweeter it becomes, and during that ripening process it reaches a point where it just isn’t necessarily a desirable consistency and flavor anymore. In this case my peaches were still edible and nutritious, as they hadn’t soured or molded yet, but they were a bit soggy and the texture wasn’t something I was interested in enjoying. I knew if I left them much longer they’d just end up in the trash, so Peaches & Cream was a great way to use up those peaches without wasting them. Well, most of them… I did end up trimming off some of the more ripe parts of the peaches before making them into Peaches & Cream.
Recipe for Simple Peaches & Cream
I’ve been making Peaches & Cream since I was a small child. My mother used to make this very simple recipe with just about any kind of fruit we had that was ripening faster than we could eat it… We had Strawberries & Cream almost as often as Peaches & Cream, and it was just as tasty. It’s such an easy way to use up what overripe fruit with what you have on hand. You really only need three ingredients and you probably already have them in your kitchen.
Also, you can totally do this with fruit that’s perfectly ripe if you just want Peaches & Cream or with underripe fruit to sweeten it up. Just leave it longer with the underripe fruit or add a bit more sugar.
Ingredients
- Peaches
- Milk (any will work, but I recommend Whole Milk or Half & Half for better creaminess)
- Sugar
Step 1: Slice Your Peaches
You’ll want to slice your peaches. The thickness of your slices or chunks will depend on your taste, I prefer thinner slices as they tend to absorb the cream a bit better, but if your peaches are perfectly ripe or overripe you may want to do thicker chunks. Underripe should be sliced thinner because it’s consistency will be less likely to absorb the fruit.
Step 2: Layer Peaches Evenly in a Bowl
Layer the peaches as evenly in your container as possible. I’ve used bowls for this often, but above I used a rectangle container so I could distribute the peaches more evenly. If you use a bowl that doesn’t allow that, you just need to make sure to stir it a few extra times over the course of the soaking.
Step 3: Milk/Cream
Pour the milk or cream over your peaches enough that they’re mostly submerged. You can make sure they’re fully covered if you’d like, it will just end up with more cream in the end (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing haha!). The less submerged they are the more often you’ll want to stir during soaking so that they all get equal time in your mixture.
Step 4: Sugar
Add sugar to your mixture. It’s up to you how much you add… You can have too much, so be careful with the mixing. Remember that if you taste it now while you’re adding, it will be sweeter later as the sugar dissolves into the milk.
Step 5: Soak
Cover your bowl of peaches, milk, and sugar and put it in the refrigerator overnight or for 24-48 hours. You want to give it enough time for the milk sugar to dissolve into the milk, and for the peaches to soak up some of that sugary creamy goodness. If you need to, stir once or twice during the soaking process to ensure that all the flavor is evenly distributed.
Step 6: Eat!
Now you get to enjoy your delicious treat! It’s great for breakfast or dessert, or a nice little afternoon sweet snack. It should keep for a few days, but I wouldn’t leave it too long-especially if your peaches are already overripe.
Other ways you could use up overripe peaches include peach cobbler, peach butter or peach jam (try: Fresh Peach Jam, Spiced Peach Jam, or Peach Jalapeno Jam), Peach Pecan Crisp, Peach Bread, or even peach cocktails!
Have you tried Peaches & Cream?
How do you use overripe peaches or any other kind of fruit?
