Peach Streusel Coffee Cake

I am loving the peach season this year. I am a little sad I will miss the peak of the peach season (and most of the freestone season). However, I am making the most of it while I can. Little I is my peach lover this year (well, M is, too). I can hand him a peach and he will somehow suck the thing to the stone. I think he's my little peach vampire.

A week ago, we got some small, not very ripe freestones at the Farmer's Market. We were slow in eating them because they took a while to ripen. I decided to make the last three into a recipe. Since they were small, I probably should have used 4 or 5, but I only had three. I sliced the peaches pretty thinly (1/4" thick at the most) to make it stretch over the whole cake. I used a 9" springform pan, but a regular 9" square baking pan would work too.

We loved this! Curtis has yet to taste it, but I shared it with our neighbors for an impromptu coffee break. It was fabulous! I'll make this again if I can wrangle up more peaches this afternoon at the Farmer's Market.

Peach Streusel Coffee Cake
from The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book

Streusel
3/4 c flour
1/3 c brown sugar
1/4 c sugar
1 t cinnamon
6 T cold butter, cut into small pieces

Cake
1 1/2 c flour
3/4 c sugar
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 egg
4 T butter, melted
1/2 c milk
1 1/2 t vanilla
1 t almond extract
1 lb peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced 1" thick

For the streusel: In a small bowl, stir together flour, sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Add the butter and mix using your fingers or pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Set aside.

For the cake: In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate mixing bowl, beat with an electric mixer or by hand with a whisk the eggs, melted butter, milk, vanilla, and almond until creamy, about 1 minute (My mixture never completely became creamy--the butter separate because of the other cool ingredients, but it all worked out fine). Add the flour mixture and beat until just evenly moistened. Do not overmix. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9" springform or square baking pan. Spread it evenly with a rubber spatula. Arrange the peach slices attractively over top (concentric circles or rows, depending on pan). Gently press peach slices into batter. Sprinkle evenly with streusel.

Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven (325 degrees if using a glass baking dish) for 40 - 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 10 - 20 minutes. Remove the sides of the springform pan and serve, warm or at room temperature.