Peach Upside Down Cake

Since we apparenlty love cornbread-related desserts, Z and I this week made a Cornmeal and Peach Upside Down Cake from Martha Steward (recipe here). We thought it was very delicious, although with a stick and a half of butter, it was certainly not healthy! I followed the recipe exactly (baking is not normally my strength, so I don't like to take too many chances!), but I will make some minor changes next time. Specifically, the recipe calls for too much butter to be melted in the cast iron skillet to form the top-crust/cook the peaches, at least for the size skillet we have. If you make it yourself, I'd suggest starting with about half the butter, and melting it, and, based on how thickly it coats the bottom of the pan, you can add more until it seems like an appropriate amount for your skillet.

Blueberry Corn Muffins

A few months ago, Z found a recipe for "individual blueberry cakes" in Family Circle magazine. We tried these once, and thought they were delicious. Then, we tried them again, and again, and again (just to be sure), and still feel this way. They're a remarkably easy "semi-homemade" dessert that starts with a box of cornbread mix. We bake them in muffin tins...


and then flip them over to serve.


We usually dust them with a little powdered sugar and occasionally some whipped cream (when we have some).

Blueberry Corn Muffins

Ingredients:
1 - 1-1/2 cup blueberries
1 box Jiffy corn bread mix
1 egg
1/3 c granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk

Directions:

• Mix cornbread mix, egg, sugar, & milk in a bowl and set aside - I sometimes do this before dinner, and then do the remaining steps after dinner
  
• Preheat oven to 400°
• Coat muffin pan with cooking spray
• Place 3-4 blueberries in each (of 12) muffin cups
• Dollop 1 tbsp of batter in each tin
• Repeat with another layer of blueberries, more batter, and more blueberries
• Bake for 12-15 minutes
• Cool on a wire rack.
  
• Once they are cool enough to handle, take them out of the pan and put them "upside down" (which now becomes "rightside up") on the wire rack to continue cooling
• When ready to serve (OK to serve warm), place on a plate and dust with confectioners' sugar and/or whipped cream
  

Grilled Dessert

So, the other day, I asked Z to go to the grocery store to pick something up for dinner, and she brought home some peaches for dessert. I'd never heard of grilled peaches, so I'll admit I was skeptical at first. Based on the number of different grilled peach recipes she was able to find, however, I was convinced it was, in fact, a real thing, so I went along with it. These turned out great. We had them with grilled pound cake, but I would imagine that they would go great with vanilla ice cream - especially with the syrup drizzled all over.


It turns out, these make a good breakfast too... (the morning lighting is better than in the one above)



Grilled Peaches (recipe adapted from "the internet")

Ingredients:
4 tbs butter
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 c amaretto (or rum)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
4-5 cloves
6 peaches - halved and pitted

Directions:
Heat syrup ingredients (everything but peaches) in a small fry pan until sauce thickens while the grill preheats.
Grill peaches 3-5 minutes per side, basting with syrup
Served with grilled pound cake or vanilla ice cream and drizzle with remaining syrup