Southern Fried Peaches Food

SKILLET-FRIED PEACHES

Steps:

• Toss together peaches, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
• Melt sugar and butter in a large skillet over medium-high, stirring often, until mixture is bubbly, about 2 minutes. Stir in peach mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and sauce is thickened, about 6 minutes. Stir in peach schnapps, and cook 1 minute. Remove peach mixture from heat, and let stand 5 minutes. Serve warm over vanilla ice cream.

FRIED PEACHES

Steps:

• Scald the heavy cream in heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat, stirring frequently. Add 1 t cinnamon.
• The cream will begin to steam, as soon as it starts to boil, remove from heat and pour into glass bowl. Add vanilla, then whisk in powdered sugar.
• In large frying pan, pour oil to 1/2" deep. Begin to heat over medium heat.
• Process graham crackers in food processor or blender until finely ground. Pour into bowl. Add flour, cinnamon, sugar, and salt. Mix well. Separate half into another bowl.
• In separate bowl, whisk eggs and 1/4 c milk. Separate half into another bowl.
• Once oil is hot enough for frying (flick water into it and it immediately begins to sizzle gently. If it sizzles fiercely, it's too hot.), dip peach slices into egg mixture, then cracker mixture. Repeat so you have two layers of egg/cracker mixture. Halfway through your peaches, begin using second bowls of graham cracker crumb mixture and egg mixture.
• Drop slices into hot oil and let cook for about a minute. Once that side is firm and golden, flip over with tongs and let other side cook until golden. Depending on how big your pan is, you could fry 4-6 peaches at a time. Do not overcrowd pan. Place on paper towel-lined plate. Finish remaining peaches.
• Serve hot with warm dipping sauce.

JEAN HALBERSTAM'S DEEP-FRIED PEACHES

Steps:

• Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Form a well and stir in oil and egg yolks, then 3/4 cup very cold water little by little until the flour is incorporated. Add brandy and stir for 10 minutes until batter is smooth and a bit thicker. Let batter rest for at least two hours.
• Skin the peaches by dropping them in boiling water for 5 to 10 seconds and plunging them immediately into ice water. Peel off the skin, then sprinkle the peaches with lemon juice to prevent browning.
• When the batter is ready, beat egg whites stiffly. Stir 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then gently fold in the rest, as you would for a soufflé.
• In a large, deep pot, heat the shortening to 360 degrees. Cut the peaches in half, remove their pits, dip them in the batter, and fry a few at a time in the hot oil until golden, 30 to 90 seconds per side. Don't put all the peaches in at once or the oil temperature will drop too much. As soon as the peaches are golden, remove them to drain on a rack or paper towels and quickly roll them in sugar to coat completely.

SOUTHERN FRIED PEACH PIES

Steps:

• Place flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
• Cut in crisco with pastry cutter or fork.
• Add enough milk to make dough, do not mix too much.
• Let biscuit dough sit for 1 hour.
• Meanwhile take dried peaches and put in sauce pan with enough water to cover and cook until soft.
• Add 1 1/2 cups of sugar and cook 15 minuts more.
• Remove from stove and mash with potato masher; set aside.
• Preheat electric skillet to 300 degrees.
• Take biscuit dough and pull enough off for one pie, roll it out thin on floured board. Take a saucer, place on rolled out dough and trim around it with a sharp knife.
• Place two big spoons of peaches on one side of dough and lap the other side over in half moon shape. Seal the edges with a fork.
• Fry pies in skillet until brown, then turn and brown other side.
• Drain on paper towels.
• These pies can be eaten warm or stored in a container and eaten the next day room temperature they are awesome either way.