Rosie Romances The Stone.

  Rosie is romancing the stone - the stone fruits of summer, that is.

 I love the dribblicious drupes of summer. We’re talking stone fruits — fruits with a thin skin, or exocarp, and a fleshy interior, or mesocarp, which surrounds the stone, or endocarp, which contains the seed. Cherries, nectarines, apricots, plums, pluots, and peaches, among others, are members of this botanical group.

To me, nothing says summer more than a cobbler, a crumble, a buckle, a pandowdy, a slump, a grunt, or a sonker. I don’t think there is any universal consensus as to the exact differences between all these creations. I would imagine that regional versions of each might vary throughout the same county.

Just know they’re all soupy messes of fruit and juices that melt into a rich, buttery crust, whether made with biscuits, batter, or pie dough. These creations will beg for a scoop of ice cream, then they will shout from the rooftops, “It’s SUMMER!”

Drupe Cobbler
with Peach Ice Cream

Filling:

 3 lbs. stone fruits, cut into 8 wedges

I used a combination of plums, apricots, and pluots.

1/2 cup sugar

2 TB flour

pinch kosher salt

Whisk together sugar, flour, and salt.

In a large bowl, toss mixture with fruits until well-mixed.

Set aside.

Topping:

1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

two pinches kosher salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

2 ounces almond paste

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

2 handfuls of sliced almonds

Heat oven to 350°.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

With a mixer, beat butter, almond paste, and sugar

about 3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time,

beating after each addition.

Mix in dry ingredients.

Transfer fruit mixture to a 9 x 13 baking pan.

Plop batter over top of fruit

and sprinkle with almonds.

Bake about 50 minutes,

tenting with foil after 20 minutes.

Topping should be golden brown and fruit juices bubbling.

Let sit for 20 minutes.

Serve with homemade peach ice cream.

Rosie’s Peach Ice Cream
6 peaches, peeled and chopped (about 2 cups)
½ cup sugar
juice of ½ lemon
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, with seeds scraped out
2 ½ cups heavy cream
½ cup skim milk
Combine peaches,  ½ cup sugar, and lemon juice in a sieve set in a bowl to collect the

juices. Stir and press fruit occasionally, for about 2 hours, to extract the juice.

In a stand mixer, beat the eggs until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Gradually beat in ¾ cup sugar, a little bit at a time. Beat on high for about 2 minutes.
Pour in cream, milk, vanilla seeds, and extracted peach juice and mix all together.
Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s directions.
When the cream stiffens, add in the peaches. Continue processing until the ice cream is ready.
I ended up with 2 quarts and 1 pint of peach ice cream.

Be reckless.
Throw in a maraschino cherry.