Brown Butter Peach Raspberry Bars

It is September  (oy!) and I have already pumped out a few pumpkin desserts.  It doesn’t seem right.  A pumpkin freakazoid, I am not.  I am not one of those chicks just waiting for Starbucks to roll out their limited edition Pumpkin Spice latte (it is like Disney releasing Beauty and the Beast or The Lion King out of ‘the Disney vault’ every year around Christmas, real limited there Walt) – it is pumpkin flavored syrup, and I am a bit leery of flavored syrups, plus I prefer my coffee black.  But I am one of those chicks waiting for pumpkin doughnuts (or donuts, I am never quite sure how to spell something so delicious) at Dunkin’.  Because, seriously, they may not have an ounce of real pumpkin in them, however they are freaking amazeballs.  Especially if you are eating them along with a hot cup of joe.

That past paragraph just proves I prefer to eat my calories versus drinking them…

But does flipping the calendar from August to September truly mean it is pumpkin season?  Perhaps, in some corners of this world it does, or corners of our brains.  Brains that are a tad bit fried from summer.  Brains that have been deprived of cinnamon and sugar and bodies craving sweatshirts and chunky sweaters.  However, I never crave pumpkin until about November.

Which means…It is still summer fruit season in this house – and I just got peaches in my CSA this week and it isn’t officially fall (and therefore time to break out all things pumpkin) until next week sometime.  So, peaches it is.  But don’t count these out as a summer only dessert…the browned butter adds a hint of fall, but doesn’t shout it from the roof tops.  It is like the smell of the crisp morning air this week that made it feel almost like fall, but then you have the warm (seriously, downright hot) sunshine of the afternoon that makes you dream of sweet juicy peaches.

Oh, September, how you mess with my brain …

Who cares if you have fully swung into fall or grasping to the last rays of warm summer sunshine…find peaches, brown butter, and bake these bars…They are all sorts of loveliness.

Brown Butter Peach Raspberry Bars

Makes a 9x13in pan (12-16 bars)

• 1 cup White sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cup) cold unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 2 peaches, pitted and thinly sliced (between 1/8 and 1/4-inch thick)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup Raspberry Jam

Brown your butter: Over medium heat, place butter into a small/medium saucepan.  Melt.  Once melted, the butter will foam and then it will turn clear/golden, and finally begin to brown and smell nutty.  Stir frequently, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan.   Keep a close eye on the pan, it will go from browned to burnt in a blink of an eye.  Once brown, remove from heat and place in a small bowl.  Set it in the freezer until solid (about 30 minutes).

Preheat oven to 375F.  Butter a 9×13 inch pan (or line it with parchment paper).  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together  sugar, baking powder, flour, cinnamon, and salt.  Using a pastry blender or a mixer with paddle attachment, cut chilled browned butter and egg into mixture.  It will be crumbly, but will come together when pressed between thumb and pointer finger.

Press 3/4 of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared 9x13inch pan.  Evenly spread raspberry jam over crust, leaving about a 1/2 inch border without jam. In a single layer, tile peach slices over raspberry jam.

Scatter remaining crumbs over top of the peaches.  Place bars in preheated oven and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until the jam is bubbly around the edges and the crumb becomes golden brown.   Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting into squares.