It's time for this month's Secret Recipe Club! The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time. It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes. It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before.

This month I was assigned to Sarah's blog, The Pajama Chef. I've been following Sarah's blog for quite a while since we've both been in Group A for a long time now. I also felt a special connection to Sarah when I learned that she was a student at Indiana University, which is my alma mater. (I attended the campus at Fort Wayne.) Go Hoosiers! Sarah has a really great blog with some amazing recipes. Despite the fact that July was crazy busy for me, I ended up making two of Sarah's recipes. The first one was her Salmon with Lemon, Tarragon, and Garlic Sauce.
The next recipe of hers that I tried was her Peach Shortbread Bars. We had out-of-town friends staying with us overnight so I made these for dessert. We had five kids ranging in age from 1 year old to 5, and these bars were a hit with everyone! They are so easy to throw together, but they definitely deliver the "wow" factor.
Peach Shortbread Bars
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 cups flour
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg, beaten
2 peaches, peeled, pitted, and thinly sliced
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Coat a 9×13 inch pan with baking spray.
In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, baking powder, flour, and ginger. Using a pastry blender or two forks, incorporate butter and beaten egg into the dry ingredients. Mixture will be crumbly. Reserve 1½ - 2 cups of the crumb mixture and press the remainder into the bottom of the pan, pressing down to set. Cover crust with peach slices in a single layer. Top with reserved crumbs.
Bake for 30 minutes, until topping is golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
Yield: 24 squares.
The only change I made to Sarah's recipe was to use powdered ginger instead of cinnamon and nutmeg. I just really love the combination of peaches and ginger, so I had to try it. I would say that the ginger flavor is pretty muted, being easily overshadowed by the gorgeous peaches.
Aren't they beautiful bars? I love how the pretty red parts of the peach slices make an appearance. Our friends thought they had two different kinds of fruit in them.
I am so glad that I had Sarah's blog this month, because I not only got a chance to cook with an herb I had never used before, but I also got a fantastic summer dessert recipe to add to my collection. Thanks Sarah!

I have made these before and just love them. First time stopping by and love the blog!
ReplyDeleteI think that salmon looks fabulous to me and one I want to try right away.
ReplyDeleteThese both looks so good - especially that salmon! What a cool rice color. :)
ReplyDeleteI love purple rice, we buy the Korean kind. I think it makes for stunning photos. I would have liked to have dinner at your house so I could eat your salmon for dinner and the bars for dessert.
ReplyDeleteTwo really great-looking recipes. I'm always looking for new flavors with salmon, and I think I'll try that recipe this week (good to know about the mustard though!)
ReplyDeleteYum! Those peach bars look great :-)
ReplyDeleteOoo! I love shortbread bars and well, I've been on a SERIOUS peach binge lately so these are calling my name. Great pick!
ReplyDeleteGreat picks. Those shortbread bars look ah-mah-zing!
ReplyDeleteThis year's crop of peaches has been particularly good, and I just can't stop buying baskets of them... I have a feeling that these bars will be made sooner rather than later!
I made a similar recipe not too long ago. Delicious!
ReplyDeletethank you for your kind words, lesa! you chose two tasty recipes, too! :) yum! so fun that we were paired together!!
ReplyDeleteThose bars look really good, and the recipe sounds really easy, too. I will have to try them soon.
ReplyDeleteBoth the dishes look fantastic and I imagine they tasted great too. I'm quite eager to try the salmon out!
ReplyDelete