Peach Melba Tart

There are times when I look at a recipe in Dessert Person and I have a good feeling about it—I can’t say this was one of those times with the Peach Melba Tart. I have seen people struggle with this one on social media and surprise, surprise…I did as well!

This picture was taken the day I made the pastry cream, AKA when the peaches should've been poached!

The first challenge for me was the peaches. I have never bought fresh peaches before, so I didn’t really know what they look like when they’re ripe (I thought they were ripe when they were in the produce section!). I bought about six peaches and with the intention to use them about three days later. On that third day, I started by making the pastry cream for the first time because fun fact, it needs four hours to chill! Overall it wasn’t too difficult, but it involved a lot of arm strength to whisk it through the sieve. Nevertheless, it looked like the pastry cream I remembered in doughnuts.

Despite all that effort, I got tired and decided I’d wait another day to make the rest of the Peach Melba Tart. But guess what…I never got around to it because #life. By the time I got around to making this dessert, it had probably been five or six days since I bought the peaches. They looked pretty shriveled, but they were also soft like Claire had mentioned! Could this be the right consistency I needed? The real answer was no, definitely not, but I pretended it would be fine so I didn’t have to go back to the grocery store.

I started by adding sugar, wine, vanilla, salt, water and lemon halves to my Dutch oven. I used the rest of a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc for the wine. Once the sugar was dissolved, I halved the peaches and added them face down. I had no idea peaches had such a large pit, but I kept it in as Claire directed. The peaches weren’t pretty, but not rotten either, so I stayed hopeful as the they soaked in the sugar juice.

While the peaches continued poaching, I rolled out my Rough Puff Pastry dough I made a day or two beforehand to about 15”x11”. I cut off about a half inch of the edges, brushed egg wash on the sides of the rectangle and then placed those edge pieces over the egg washed sides. I brushed those sides again, then poked the pastry all over with a fork. After baking the pastry for about 20 minutes, it was a perfect, crispy golden-brown pastry. Now all it needed was some beautiful peaches on top!

…That, however, would have to wait.

After the peaches were cooled from poaching, it became abundantly clear that the skins were not coming off as easily as Claire suggested they would. They were nearly impossible to peel off. I tried a vegetable peeler, but absolutely no luck. I looked at the clock; the grocery store was closing in an hour. I looked at my beautiful puff pastry, and the pastry cream that needed to get used soon. Then I cleaned up and went to bed, knowing I had to get this entirely done the next day or everything would go bad. It was extremely annoying and yet not surprising (sometimes you just hope things will work out for the sake of time).

The next day, I searched two grocery stores for peaches. Not only did I find bigger peaches, I also found raspberries which were not available the first time around. I knew this time they were likely not very ripe, but I did not have two or three days to wait with my other components ready to go. I researched a bit how other people poach peaches; to be fair, no one does it like Claire. I’m not entirely sure her poaching method is meant to be as intense since it’s for a dessert rather than canning. I decided it would be better to try peeling at least one peach before poaching to see if that helped at all. And hallelujah, it worked! I decided to play it safe and peel all the peaches before poaching them all over. They were nowhere near as perfectly circular as the picture in Dessert Person, but by that point I could’ve cared less.

This second time around for poaching, I had peaches, but I was out of lemons! I used limes instead, which didn’t seem to make a big difference. Once the peaches were cooling, I used some of the poaching juice and crushed some of the raspberries with it before adding the rest of the berries.

Fortunately, with my pastry cream and pastry dough ready, all I had to do was assemble everything. I added most of the pastry cream to the bottom of the pastry dough; you will not need all of it for this dessert. Then I took out the pits and placed the peach halves on top in rows; I ended up having a few left as well. Lastly, I carefully spooned the raspberries over the peaches, allowing the juice to flow into some of the nooks and crannies. While it was a pretty dessert, my peaches honestly looked more like potatoes from how much they browned.

I’m definitely proud that I gave it a second try with the peaches, otherwise this dessert really would have fallen apart completely. I found it to be an enjoyable dessert, but I think you have to be someone who enjoys fruit as dessert (we all know I’m about the sugar). The peaches had a nice softness and went great with the raspberry, pastry cream and pastry. This dessert, however, is a bit messy! I highly recommend a plate and fork if you’re eating it anywhere besides alone in your kitchen.

Also side note, for those who wonder whether we eat ALL these desserts ourselves—hell no! With this dessert though, I recommend if you don’t want all of it to use the peaches and raspberries in a smoothie. I just took it off the pastry when I was done, added it to a blender with yogurt, strawberries and a little water. I didn’t need any sugar since the peaches had already been poached in sugar. It was absolutely delicious!

If Claire posts about the Peach Melba Tart on her YouTube Channel I will share it!