[Cookie 017] Fresh-Peach Drop Cookies

I'm so glad that it's summer! The first week that I came home from New York, I have to admit I was kind of depressed and not really looking forward to a summer that was completely void of plans, commitments, employment, and/or traveling, but I'm slowly getting into my groove and finding things to occupy my time with. Obviously, baking is one of these things, but I'm also crafting things and shooting photos and taking on other projects. In fact, I'm going to be restarting my old blog one of these days, and eventually start selling things on my old Etsy site soon.

But another reason I love summer is most definitely the fruits. I am a fruit fanatic, and could probably survive on various incarnations of Fruit Salad for my entire life; but alas, summer fruits are so time sensitive, and if you forget to eat one fast enough, it's gone! Gone forever! Mushy and terrible, harboring mold and brown spots and other woeful terminal illnesses! So, when my mom comes home from the market with fruits, I eat them up as fast as I can, and try to bake the ones that are a little past their peak.

I had been eyeing this Fresh-Peach Drop Cookie recipe for some time now, and couldn't wait until summer to try it out with some delicious fresh peaches. In all honesty, making anything with a pit-fruit is a pain in the ass because you have to deal with the pit in a way that is usually rather cumbersome. Cutting the pits out of these peaches wasn't too bad, but peeling them was kind of annoying, especially with the peaches that were a little on the over-ripe side. The harder ones peeled quite easily, but the whole ordeal is a slippery mess, to be sure. Also, the recipe calls for 2 large peaches, about 8 oz each, but mine were half the size, so I had to peel, pit, and dice 4 peaches instead.

Other than that, the recipe is very simple. It also calls for peach jam, and I could only find some high-fructose corn syrup-filled jam at my supermarket, which was disappointing. Next time I'd like to try them with a nice (perhaps homemade? Summer project anyone?) peach preserve, but after the cookies are baked, they still taste great.

I think my only issue with them would be their consistency. These cookies are listed in the cakey and tender category of the cookbook, but they were a little too cakey for my liking. My dad said they tasted like pancakes a bit, and I would have to agree. Not that there's anything wrong with pancakes, of course! These cookies still taste delicious and sweet, but they are just a little too squishy for my personal taste. But they will probably ship well, because of their elasticity and durability--at least I hope that's the case, because I'm mailing these to a friend of mine for her birthday.

Fresh-Peach Drop Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 3/4 cups)
• 1/3 cup peach jam or preserves
• 2 tablespoons fine sanding sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda.
2. Beat butter and granulated sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Add peaches and jam, and beat until just combined.
3. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment, spacing about 2 inches apart. (If not baking all of the cookies at once, refrigerate dough between batches; dough can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 days.) Combine sanding sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle each cookie with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon-sugar mixture.
4. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 11 to 13 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, and then transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

****

{End Results}
Baking Difficultly: 3/5 (It's just the peaches that are a tad tricky)
Ingredient Accessibility: 4/5
Tastiness: 4/5
Attractiveness: 2/5 (Mine were a little wonky-shaped)
Is it worth it?: Yep! Perfect summer cookie!

****

Addendum: So, I've been thinking about this blog a lot lately, and with 158 more cookies to bake, I'm worried about my blog posts going stale. I don't want this to get boring! So, my question for you, is what do you think I should write about/do in my blog to make it more interesting? Should I write more about things happening in my everyday life? Or maybe have more funny anecdotes to accompany the recipes? Or should I stop talking about myself so much and do something completely radically different? I'm open to any and all suggestions! Let me know!