Gilmore Girls-Inspired Peach Sauce Recipe

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If living in a charming small town is your dream life and you're working on your rapid-fire dialogue skills, you're no doubt a super fan of the popular TV series Gilmore Girls. The show follows the lives of Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter, Rory, who live in the quirky small town of Stars Hollow, which is full of lovable and eccentric townspeople. One of the show's most memorable characters is Sookie St. James, an accident-prone chef who creates exquisite and memorable recipes, including a delicious peach sauce. She feeds a spoonful of it to Lorelei, who declares it incredible. Sookie says she wants to serve it with waffles, and Lorelie responds that she wants to take a bath in it. We'd recommend the waffle option with our version of the incredible Stars Hollow peach sauce recipe, which features peaches, maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and cinnamon. 

The sauce is perfect to spoon over ice cream, pancakes, waffles, or oatmeal. It's sweet with a hint of citrus and vanilla, and the peaches are simmered to tender, juicy perfection. Recipe developer Miriam Hahn brings us this recipe and says, "One of my favorite aspects of Gilmore Girls is the focus on food and how it is intertwined in the daily lives of the characters. The peach sauce is similar to a jam but with the flexibility of a sauce, and it takes less than 30 minutes to throw together."

To make this recipe, you only need 5 simple ingredients. Pick up some canned peaches, maple syrup, lemon juice, cinnamon, and vanilla. For the syrup, look for pure maple syrup, which is made from the sap of maple trees, versus the mass-marketed brands that are made from high fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors. This will have a more complex and earthy flavor, more suited for this elegant sauce.

Drain the peaches in a colander but do not rinse them.

Add the peaches to a small saucepan and cook over medium for 10 minutes.

Stir in the maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and cinnamon.

Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 10 more minutes.

Mash the peaches with a wooden mallet or potato masher, leaving some chunks for texture, and continue to simmer for 8–10 minutes, until thickened.

Transfer to a jar and serve warm or chilled.

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You can use fresh or frozen peaches instead of canned in this simple and versatile recipe. To use fresh peaches, you'll need to pit and peel them first. The easiest way to peel peaches is to blanch them first. Start by cutting a small X on the bottom of each peach. You want to just cut through the skin lightly and avoid cutting too deep. Then bring a large pot of water to boil. Once it is boiling, add the peaches to the water for 1 minute, then transfer them immediately to a bowl of ice water. Let them cool for a few minutes, then starting at the X, begin peeling away the skin. Once peeled, slice them and discard the pit.

If you happen to have a bag of frozen peaches or if you're craving some summery peach sauce in the colder months when good fresh peaches aren't available, you can easily make this with frozen peaches. If you're using frozen peaches, you'll want to thaw them first. You can do this by leaving them in the refrigerator overnight or by letting them sit on the counter for a few hours. If you're making the recipe with either fresh or frozen peaches, you may want to add a touch more maple syrup.

Once you've mastered the perfect Stars Hollow peach sauce, you can easily customize it to alter the flavor profile — we're sure Sookie would approve. In terms of sweeteners, you can swap the maple syrup for honey, brown sugar, or coconut sugar. Honey will add a hint of floral to the taste. Brown sugar and coconut sugar will both add a molasses-like caramel flavor. Instead of cinnamon, try a combination of ginger, cardamom, and nutmeg. For a little more complexity of sweet spicy flavor, add a pinch of clove or allspice.

Instead of lemon juice, use orange or lime juice, and feel free to add some fresh citrus zest to enhance the flavor. To add more texture, fold in a handful of blueberries or raspberries. Just place them into the saucepan in step 2 when you are cooking the peaches. Adding fresh herbs is also a nice touch. Make a bouquet garni with fresh thyme and rosemary and add it to the saucepan while the fruit is simmering. You can remove it before serving, and the herbaceous aromatic flavor will still linger in the sauce.

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