The Sexy Spellcaster

Welcome to another Tasty Tuesday!

[Adam] had spent most of the last two weeks preparing for this spell. He had chosen peach for the candle--color and scent--for peach was the fruit of eternity. He had encased it in a thick coating of white sugar scented with rose water, to symbolize the sweetness and purity of love. He had adorned it with a string of pearls, and set it upon a bed of dragonfly wings. 

He’d purchased the pearls as a Valentine’s present for his lady.  But she had not arrived, and now they must go to serve another purpose; they would form a part of the offering that would accompany the spell he was attempting to weave tonight.

That's an excerpt from the opening scene of Touch of a Vanished Hand, the fifth book in the Oberon series. My hero, Adam Sasso, runs a winery--when he's not casting spells. He's also eager to open a Bed & Breakfast in the renovated farmhouse where he lived as a child. From the moment he meets Sinead Quinn, the woman he eventually hires to manage the B&B, he's pretty sure she's his soul mate--the woman he'd been attempting to summon when he cast his spell the previous Valentine's Day. 

The first dinner she cooks for him that really convinces him of this fact, especially the white peach galette she makes for dessert. By the end of that dinner, it's a little hard to tell who's cast a spell on who.

This recipe uses puff pastry--just to make things easier--but any pie crust will do. The custard filling is also optional. I prefer it for its creamy texture, but it can be omitted if you're feeling pressed for time, although I would probably double the amount of almond paste, if that were the case. 

Ingredients

1 sheet of puff pastry

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1/4 powdered sugar

6 white peaches 

(white nectarines can be substituted for the peaches, or a combination of summer fruit--plums, apricots, berries, etc)

1 tablespoon sanding sugar

Optional Custard Filling 

1 lightly beaten egg
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon either vanilla or almond extract
1/4 cup half and half

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Unfold pastry sheet and place on buttered baking sheet
Place almonds and powdered sugar in food processor and grind until they form a paste
Spread almond paste on pastry, leaving a 1/4 border
Slice peaches and arrange over almond paste
Moisten the edges of the pastry and roll up or fold over to form a crust around the outside of the galette
Sprinkle pastry border with sanding sugar

For custard variation: Bake galette for 20-25 minutes. Meanwhile assemble custard by mixing ingredients listed above. Remove galette from oven and carefully pour custard over fruit. Depending on how much juice you have, it might not all fit. Return galette to oven and bake for another 20 minutes, or until custard is set. If not using custard, bake for 45-50 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool for 15 minutes on pan before transferring to wire rack.

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And now, here's another quick excerpt from Touch of a Vanished Hand:

Picking up his fork again, he took a bite of the galette; and then he didn't say anything else. 

 The taste of ripe peaches, combined with the scent of the roses blooming unseen in the darkness that surrounded the terrace propelled his mind back through time to the night, almost six months earlier, when he'd performed his summoning spell. His eyes squeezed shut as a feeling that went way beyond deja vu swept over him. Past and present melded, then split apart. For an instant, so did he. He found himself in two places at one and the same time. And then, like an elastic band that had been stretched too far, he was all at once snapped back to the present. 

 He opened his eyes to find her staring at him again, her expression one of alarm. He pushed the plate away from him, and alarm changed to dismay. 

 “You don't like it?” 

 “Like? No.” He shook his head. After one taste he was ready to declare his undying love, either by getting down on one knee and begging her to marry him, or by grabbing her up in his arms and ravishing her with kisses. Either one would work just fine for him. But, certainly neither would be the kind of response she expected. He wasn't sure if he could come up with an answer that would express how he felt and not sound deranged, but he figured he had to try. “Like is...too insipid a word. I think I could fall in love with it.” 

 She set down her fork and gaped at him. “In love? With your dessert?” 

And with you. But it was probably best not to say that yet. He nodded. “Why not? It's very possibly the best thing I've ever tasted.” 

 “Oh.” She stared at him a moment longer. “Well, thanks, but...all the same, I think that would be a bad idea.” Seeing the question in his eyes, she added, “It's a pastry, Adam. It will never love you back.”

Be sure to stop by the rest of the Tasty Tuesday blogs to check out these other fabulous recipes: 

Pesto Making Season by Selena Robins 

A Little Sumpin' Sumpin; Sausage and Peppers by Moira Keith

Sinful Cinnamon Pinwheels by Nancy Lauzon