Peaches and Cream Bars Recipe

Millions of Peaches!!!!! Celebrate with this Peaches and Cream Bars Recipe!

It’s that time again. For me to visit my favorite fruit stand and pick up a 1/2 bushel of peaches. Weekly. Maybe daily. Ahem…..So, I’m a peach lover? Nothing wrong with that.

We gobble peaches up quick around this house, but I try to set some aside if I can to make some fantastic desserts. There’s this awesome peach trifle that my mom always made us, that peach juice that we imitated from our favorite little Chilean restaurant, peach lemonade, and, of course, this peaches and cream bars recipe. They are SOOOO easy and SOOOO yummy! It’s just a simple little shortbread crust layered with a cheesecake layer, fresh delicious peaches, and then a little more crumble. You will hardly be able to wait as they are baking because the smell is DIVINE!

Do you know what I really love about this fruit bar recipe? It’s so versatile. Wanna switch it up? How about you swap out for blueberries, like in these blueberry bars? Or maybe a blueberry peach combo. Endless possibilities.

*One quick note: Depending on the juice level of your peaches, you may need to adjust your cornstarch. For really juicy peaches, use more, more, more! Like possibly up to double more. And then when you layer on the peaches, leave the juice behind in the bowl, or it will take longer to cook and might sog things up a bit.

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Peaches and Cream Bars Recipe

Course Dessert

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 45 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Servings 24 bars

Author Tammy Blankenship

Ingredients

For the crust:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold unsalted butter 2 sticks or 8 ounces
• 1 egg

For the fruit filling:

• 2 lbs fresh peaches skinned and sliced thin about 5 large peaches; skinning is optional
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch may need more depending on level of juiciness - if very juicy, do not transfer juice that has pooled out of the fruit when spooning peaches into pan

For the cream filling:

• 8 oz cream cheese at room temperature
• 1/4 c powdered sugar
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9x13 pan or line with parchment paper.
3. In a medium bowl, stir together 1 cup sugar, 3 cups flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Use a fork, pastry blender, fingers or food processor to blend in the butter until the clumps are pea size and smaller.
5. Mix in the egg until crumbly.
6. Pour half of dough into the bottom of the 9 x 13 pan and pat down evenly.
7. In a separate bowl, mix peaches, 1/2 cup sugar and cornstarch.
8. In another bowl mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and egg until smooth.
9. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly on the crust in the 9 x 13.
10. Distribute peaches on top of cream cheese.
11. Sprinkle the remaining dough on top of peaches. (I like chunks so I sometimes take a fist full and squeeze into clumps before places on top of peaches.)
12. Bake for 45 minutes until top is lightly browned.
13. Cool completely before cutting.

Recipe Notes

Dress it Down:
For a simple cream cheese layer (less cheesecakey), eliminate the egg.
You can also eliminate the cream cheese layer completely.
Easily 1/2 this recipe for an 8x8 pan
Change it Up:
Add a touch of cinnamon to the peach filling.
Try different fruits such as blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, or a combination (like peach-blueberry, peach-raspberry, mixed berry). You may need to adjust the cornstarch depending on the juiciness of your fruit.