I know, some of you will be wondering why you’d bake a peach, not how. There are a few reasons.

1. You have Oral Allergy Syndrome like your hostess, and cannot eat fresh fruit.
2. Like your hostess, you’ve been seeing good results from trying something new.
3. Baked peaches are decadent and delicious.
4. They may impress guests.

I first had baked peaches at a bed and breakfast as the fruit course of a three-course breakfast and was quite charmed. (what did I tell you? Decadent and impressive!) I didn’t procure a recipe because I thought it would be simple. This is true. On the other hand, you may ruin some perfectly good peaches through trial and error, so why not profit from my scorched and underdone peaches? Here is something very simple, outlined in exhaustive detail.

Baked peach
1 small peach, halved and pitted
1 tsp diced crystallized ginger

• Preheat conventional oven to 380°, or convection oven to 350°.
• Sprinkle diced ginger on inner faces of peach halves.
• Place on cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

Your peach should be firm enough that it doesn’t squish when you take a fork to it, but soft enough to easily cut. Makes a lovely breakfast item, or a light, healthy dessert.

Tips:

• You can do this with nectarines as well. I like peaches, and find white peaches in particular are well suited to ginger.
• Ideally your peach should be ripe, but not overripe — if it bruises when you squeeze it, try cooking it for less time. 10 minutes has worked for me.
• If your peach is large, scale up the ginger and bake for 15 minutes.
• If you’re cooking multiples, try using a muffin pan to keep the peaches from rolling and shedding their ginger.