I have a new fruit obsession: peaches! I use to despise them: my sister was always eating them growing up. The dripping, the stickiness, the smell, the weird fuzz on the outside. Why would I want that when I could have a fruit I already knew was delicious and safe? And less drippy.Last week I was at my new favorite market, City Fresh. The first thing that caught my eye was the mound of beautiful, plump, peaches. I had to try a few. I bought 2 thinking I could pawn them off at work if I didn't like them. Then it happened, I bit into the crispy, not so juicy and fuzzy fruit I always hated.I was hooked.This past Sunday as I did my shopping, I bought 3# at 49c. It was too good to be true for my new addiction! As I was reading through Bon Appetit this week, I realized the wonderful new cooking opportunities this opened! Fortunately, the August issue has a whole section of peach recipes, and one that caught my eye: Roasted Peaches with Amaretti Crumble. My husband is allergic to coconut, so macaroons are out. I tweaked it to be an almond crumble, and it was a hit with my neighbors who came over for dessert!. Well, here's to my first posting! Bon Appetit!

Roasted Peaches with Almond Crumble

Recipe by Cindy MushetTaken from Bon Appetit magazine, August 2009

Ingredients

• 5 amaretti cookies (Italian macaroons; about 3/4 ounce total) (I used double the almonds)
• 3 tablespoons whole natural almonds
• 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 firm but ripe large peaches, rinsed, wiped clean of fuzz, halved, pitted
• Vanilla ice cream

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Combine cookies, almonds, flour, and sugar in processor. Using on/off turns, process until cookies and almonds are coarsely chopped. Add 3 tablespoons chilled butter to processor. Using on/off turns, process topping mixture until moist clumps form.
• Place peach halves, cut side up, in prepared dish. Spread topping over surface of each peach half (about 1 generous tablespoon for each), pressing lightly to adhere and leaving 1/4-inch plain border.
• Bake peaches until tender when pierced with knife and topping is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool slightly. Transfer 1 warm roasted peach half to each of 6 plates. Serve with scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside.

Well, hello. Let me introduce myself. My name is Alicia, and I'm addicted to cooking.  I live in Chicago with my husband in our small one bedroom apartment near North Park University where my husband is studying for his Masters in Christian Formation.Like all good Seminary wives, I work full time to support my husbands grad school stint and come home and perform wife-ly duties for the remaining 4 hours of the day post work+commuting. The wifely duties: not as bad as they may seem. They may include cleaning, doing wash, making the bed, reorganizing our small library of books that live under our coffee table, and so on. But the one duty I love the most: the grocery store. I am one of the few people that can say I enjoy grocery shopping, and have on occasion; happily offered to grocery shop for my friends, family and coworkers.They think I'm nuts.The grocery store on any given night could mean many things to the average shopper: long lines, bad produce, overpriced items, packed parking lots, etc. But not to me. The grocery store, to me, is therapy. Don't ask me why. I could go to the grocery store every night if I could.This leads to the cooking aspect. Ever since I started cooking for myself in college, I'm an addict. I love to look at a recipe, head to the store (obviously) and pick up the goods. This is where my blog comes in. With all this experimenting and tasting, why not document it? Hopefully you enjoy my recipes, my bravery to try things, and join me on the journey!