Sweetness, Peaches, Almonds - Sigh

I have a sweet tooth.

Correction, I have one whoopin' humongous sweet tooth.

So the description and photos of Peach Cobbler with Candied Almonds in new Tupelo Honey Cafe Cookbook had me at hello. How could I say no to a recipe that insists I serve it over vanilla ice cream?

I was surprised by the end result in that it didn't remind me of a traditional cobbler. I was imagining some warm fruit (which there is) and a floury-buttery-biscuity topping (which there isn't.) It didnt' matter.

Like several of the recipes I tried from Tupelo Honey, this requires a couple of steps - all that can be done before you actually want to eat the food. I recommend making the candied almonds the night before.

I combined vanilla, water, and cinnamon, added blanched sliced almonds and stirred. Then they went into a skillet until simmering and the liquid was reduced. After that, they headed into the oven for a few minutes until the moisture was gone. And after that, they sat around for me to munch on.

But first taste told me something wasn't quite right. I like cinnamon and vanilla, but if these were supposed to be candied almonds, shouldn't there be sugar involved? I consulted the recipe but no sugar was called for.

How can the almonds be candied without sugar? They didn't taste candied. Before the almonds were cooled off, I stirred in about a half cup of sugar. And THEN I had candied almonds. I couldn't stop eating them.

Candied Almonds

The next day I worked on the peaches. As the book recommends, I used canned peaches; perhaps in the summer I'll try fresh. First you have to take peaches and put them into the oven for 10-12 minutes until they and the juices are bubbly. If you would like bubbling juices, be sure to turn the oven on first. It's most helpful. Otherwise, like me, you will be waiting for a long time.

No Boil Peaches

So I turned the oven up to the recommended 300 and waited. I wanted a half hour for boiling. No bubbles. I waited a little longer, learned the words to Uberlin from the new R.E.M. release, and checked Facebook. Still no boil.

Instead of waiting longer, I took the peaches out of the oven, put them into a pan on top of the stove, and boiled along with some reserved peach juice. We're talking a simple sugar here, not rocket science.

After this torture, the peaches were still not properly prepared for cobbler. Nevertheless, they were drained and placed into a 4-cup baking dish. Now I don't know about you, but I had no clue what size pan would be a 4-cupper. I poured four cups of liquid into a 9x9 pan and had my answer. The peaches look rather pitiful, don't you think?

I combined some reserved liquid, brown sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and poured over the peaches. The peaches still looked sad.

The peaches went into the oven for 20 minutes, and looked much more promising.

They were then topped with the reserved candied almonds for an additional 3-5 minutes until the almonds were looking slightly toasted. And after that?

Vanilla Ice cream. Warm peaches and candied almonds.

Need I say more?