Gluten-Free Peach Brown Butter Buckle

Every week, Shauna Ahern of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef -- and Gluten-Free Girl Everyday -- will be sharing smart tips and smarter recipes that will please even the most devout gluten-eaters among us. Come one, come all -- we're going flourless. 

Today: Shauna asks us to resist eating the entire bowl of ripe, juicy peaches so that we can bake them into a plump and bubbling buckle.

It's peach season again. A plate of them, plush and juicy, sitting and waiting on the table, is a most welcome sight.

I know that it's hard to imagine doing anything with these peaches besides eating them one after the other over the kitchen sink. It's hard to imagine sharing them. After all, peach season is so brief and we wait so long for it. 

Try to restrain yourself. Eat one, share one, and save the rest for this brown butter peach buckle. 

Oh, a buckle. This is one of the great American baked goods. Is it very different from a grunt? A slump? A cobbler? A crisp? Well yes, there are small differences (or large, if you really want to yell at someone else about a summer baked good). Most of the time, we make crisps: a fruit mixture with a crumb topping. But sometimes -- and especially when there are ripe peaches -- it's buckle time.

Buckles are like soft squishy cakes, studded with slices of ripe fruit, a little plump, a tiny bit soggy on the bottom, with a sweet streusel topping. If you like the sound of this, follow along. 

But let's get something out of the way first: does a buckle require gluten? Oh heavens no. 

Gluten is good for elasticity, for crunchy crusts and air holes in a baguette, for the stretchability of a pizza dough. Why would you need any of those for a buckle? A soft and tender crumb does not require gluten at all. Simply start with the right mix of flours with proteins and starches -- and this all-purpose gluten-free flour mix.

Now all you need is a plate of ripe peaches, some gluten-free flours, a little browned butter, some sweeteners, and an oven. Let's make some peach buckle.

Gluten-Free Peach Brown Butter Buckle

Adapted from Gluten-Free Girl Every Day by Shauna James Ahern and Daniel Ahern 

12 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 cups thick-sliced ripe peaches (about 8 medium peaches)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
265 grams gluten-free all-purpose flour mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup whole milk (you can use non-dairy milk here)
1/3 cup dark brown sugar

See the full recipe (and save and print it) here.

Photos by Shauna James Ahern