Just Peachy!

Dessert every day: It's just another reason Randy loves harvest.

Here on the County Line, we don't usually have dessert after every meal. But during harvest, dessert is just as much a part of the day as wheat dust. The only difference? People like the dessert. Not so much on the whole wheat dust thing.

With extra people at the dinner table, dessert is on the menu daily.

Saturday's dessert was called Butter Brickle. It's kind of false advertising. It should have "Peach" in the title somewhere. The original recipe called for a butter brickle cake mix. I rarely find those any more. But the recipe says to use a caramel cake mix as an alternative.

I know it's almost sacrilegious to admit it in the summertime, but it also uses canned - not fresh -peaches. Yes, I know I could have used fresh, especially since I obviously had fresh peaches sitting on my counter (as documented in the photo below.) But I'm not sure how to make the adjustments in the recipe to account for using the canned fruit in syrup.

Plus, as any farm wife knows, time is a precious commodity during harvest. It is much easier to open the big can of peaches instead of standing there peeling and slicing.

So, now you know all my little secrets. Yes, I used a cake mix again. Yes, I used canned peaches, not fresh. Yes, I used a caramel cake mix instead of butter brickle.

Top it with a little vanilla ice cream on the warm dessert right out of the oven, and all three of my harvest crew guys were happy.

Randy was happy again when he came in at the end of the day, and there were leftovers.

Did I mention Randy loves this time of year?

Butter Brickle

1 large (29 oz.) can sliced peaches, not drained
1 pkg. butter brickle or caramel cake mix
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Spray 13- by 9- by 2-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Put peaches and juice in the bottom of the pan. Pour dry cake mix over peaches. Pour butter over cake mix. Sprinkle with coconut and pecans. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until bubbly. If the coconut starts to brown too quickly, top with foil.

Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Fortunately, all our harvest crew likes coconut. But if you have someone who doesn't, I think you could omit the coconut and it would still turn out great.

Enjoy!