Earlier this week I was looking for something to make as a dessert. I wanted it to be sweet, easy, and a little different. I think these broiled peaches fit the bill nicely. We liked them so much we’ve made them twice already.
Broiled Peaches
This recipe is from Your Gas Range Cook Book. It was published in January 1940 and was distributed by the Wyandotte County Gas Company in Kansas.
- corn flakes or cereal crumbs
- lemon sauce (see below)
- 6 peach halves
- melted butter
Dip the peaches in melted butter, roll in cereal crumbs, and place in broiler. Broil to a golden brown. Serve with lemon sauce.
I chose a lemon sauce from another cook book because I couldn’t find a lemon sauce in the same one. I looked in the index and didn’t see one, but after we made the peaches, I looked again and found it under Magic Lemon Cream Sauce. I’m assuming that is the lemon sauce they referred to in the recipe, but they didn’t include a page number or exactly what it was called. I’ll list the ingredients for that sauce here in case you want to try it, too.
- 2/3 c sweetened condensed milk
- 1 tsp grated lemon rind
- 1/4 c lemon juice
Blend and stir all ingredients. Add water to create desired consistency if needed.
Lemon Sauce
- 1/2 c sugar
- 1 tbsp corn starch
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- nutmeg (no quantity listed)
- salt
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 c boiling water
Mix the sugar and corn starch. Add the boiling water and a pinch of salt and boil until thick and clear. Continue cooking over hot water for 20 minutes. Beat in the butter, lemon juice, and nutmeg. A grating of lemon rind may be added.
This recipe is from the 1940 edition of The American Woman’s Cook Book.
Results
These peaches were so yummy! They were sweet with just the right amount of crunch from the corn flakes. The lemon sauce was good, but when we added it we couldn’t taste the lemon over the flavor of the peaches. I don’t think it added much, so definitely don’t be afraid to make these without the sauce. They were delicious either way. We used canned peaches and they worked well. Our local store doesn’t have good peaches right now, but I’m excited to try this during peach season with fresh peaches, too. We warmed up the leftover peaches and found them to be just as tasty.
This would have been the perfect recipe for the home front housewife. Most, if not all, ingredients would have been easily obtainable. My newly 6-year-old daughter and I have been reading the American Girl books about Kit Kittridge. They are set during the Great Depression, so we’ve been talking about how people changed their eating habits during these years, too. I wonder if that is when this recipe was created or if its history reaches back even further than that. It’s a great dessert that uses affordable, easy to get ingredients.
Is this a dessert that you’ve had before? Let me know if you’ve tried it or if you decide to make some for yourselves.
History in the Kitchen 