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serves 6 for dessert

In the entire universe of food, there are only a few occasions where we would ever consider using a canned or bottled product over a fresh one. The most obvious occasions are when the product has been altered, such as stewed tomatoes or anchovies or brined olives. For this dessert, we acknowledge that peeling and pitting your own peach halves is a lot of work and suggest that canned clingstone peaches are a fine substitute.

This is a very easy dessert to prepare and you can experiment by substituting Armagnac, Grappa, Grand Marnier or malt whiskey for the brandy in exactly the same quantity.

12 peach halves, peeled and pitted (fresh or canned)
75 ml unsalted butter
250 ml sugar
375 ml brandy
pinch of cinnamon

• Preheat your oven to 350F.
• In a medium saucepan, combine all the ingredients except for the peaches and warm over a medium low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved. Be careful not to boil, as you don't want the alcohol to burn away until in the oven.
• Place peach halves cut side down onto a baking pan. Pour the brandy mixture over the peach halves and bake in the middle of the oven for about half an hour, basing occasionally.
• Serve two peach halves per person over good vanilla ice cream. Drizzle with the remaining brandy liquid, which should be a yummy syrupy texture by now. Stick a cinnamon stick into the ice cream as garnish with a fresh mint sprig.

Recipe courtesy of The Great Canadian Food Show, as shown on the CBC television network.