One of my first failures as a mom, with recipe

This is an adaptation of a recipe I have had for many decades. It is handwritten on a 5X7 index card by a Southern gal named Thelma who was such a good cook that she is the reason eg wasn’t engaged and all sewed up for a bride at three years old.

Summer fresh

Thelma lived across Chestnut Street from us in Fall Church. She was Michael’s mother, and Michael was a most unusual four year old. (She has other children, but Michael has wiped them from my memory if they were ever there.) Only a few months after we moved into that house, Michael announced to me that he was probably going to marry eg, but he needed to eat more of my cooking to see what kind of a cook she was likely to end up.

Time and again, Michael told me, “That’s good, but not as good as my mother’s.” My chili was good, but Thelma made Chili Mac. My spaghetti was good, but Thelma’s had cheddar cheese on it. It just goes to show, men are hard to please at any age. Anyway, between Thelma and me the match was unmade and we have not seen nor heard of Michael since. Some ten years afterward, eg announced she was not going to marry, so failing with Michael has permanently impacted all our lives.

The only alteration to the recipe is its size. The original is twice as big and feeds lots of people and so is not nearly as useful a dessert these days as this smaller one. I also left half an egg out of the base and I think it is the better for it. If you need a big dessert, just double the recipe and cook the crusts in two 8” buttered cake tins. Assemble it like a layer cake, but use some bamboo skewers to keep it tidy, because it is architecturally a disaster waiting to happen, although glorious to see.

This is fast and easy and can be whipped up in about 15 minutes if you use frozen peaches or have previously peeled and sliced some. I used peaches I froze last summer when they were coming out of our ears. I just sprinkled them with a little sugar as I left them to partially thaw. You probably know that peaches should never completely thaw so they retain a nice texture, but just in case you didn’t hear that before, now you have.

Italian ingredients work perfectly, and if you can’t buy pecans, use almonds, which is sort of the go-to flavor for peaches, although I love the toasted pecan taste in this.

I used my food processor to whip up the crust, but you could use a pastry cutter, too. I did chop the pecans by hand.

Plantation Peach Shortcake (half recipe: serves 6 )

1 cup (130 g) flour
2 teaspoons (cucchiaini) baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Mix these together, then add:

2 tablespoons, heaped, (cucchiai colmi) brown (canna) sugar
2 ounces (60 g) butter

and cut in or process until it looks like crumbs.
Add 1/3 cup of cream and quickly incorporate it
Add ¼ cup (tazza di caffè) chopped pecans and incorporate them.

Butter an 8” (20 cm) pie plate. Scrape this thick dough into it, then using wet fingers, press it into the plate evenly, leaving a slightly higher border. Cook it in the oven for 10-13 minutes. If your pan is glass like mine, it will take the shorter time.

Cool slightly on a rack. It makes something halfway between a cookie and a breakfast biscuit.

your nutty buddy