Peach Upside-Down Cookies

Peach season never lasts long enough. It always seems there are just a handful of days in the year when you can head to your local grocer or farmers market and find perfectly ripe, juicy, aromatic peaches on demand. During the other 360-ish days of the year, you either can’t find peaches at all or they’re far from peak ripeness. This year, we’re setting our priorities early in terms of which peach recipes we plan to make with our limited peaches—and these peach upside-down cookies are at the top of the list.

Imagine the best peach upside-down cake. Now, shrink it down to the size of your hand and add a sweet cinnamon crumb topping. Then, multiply that heavenly image by a million, and that’s how good these cookies are.

The base of these peach upside-down cookies could be described as a marriage between your favorite pillowy, soft-baked snickerdoodle cookies and the best sugar cookies you’ve ever had, and then add your favorite fresh stone fruit. These cookies will be your new reason to look forward to peach season.

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Ingredients for Peach Upside-Down Cookies

• Peaches: Fresh peaches are one of our favorite fruits to cook and bake with. No matter what peach dessert you’re making, store peaches on the counter and use them within a few days’ time. If you keep them in the fridge, they’ll last a little bit longer but will get wrinkly in the process. If you accidentally pick an unripe peach from the store, you can attempt to ripen the peach by putting it in a folded-over paper bag and leaving it on the counter for a day or two.
• Flour: No need to get fancy with a special type of flour. A bit of all-purpose flour is all you need to get baking.
• Baking soda: Baking soda serves as the primary leavening agent in this upside-down dessert recipe.
• Cream of tartar: Cream of tartar is often added to cookie recipes as a secondary leavening agent that contributes to a softer, chewier cookie.
• Cornstarch: Cornstarch also helps cookies turn out softer and chewier, while also limiting their spread so they stay thick.
• Cinnamon: Cinnamon isn’t just for apple desserts. It also pairs like a dream with juicy, fresh peaches.
• Salt: Salt enhances the flavors in the dough and helps balance sweetness.
• Butter: When creamed with sugar, butter helps incorporate air into cookie dough, resulting in lighter, fluffier cookies.
• Brown sugar: Brown sugar is a key ingredient in an upside-down cake, contributing immensely to the sweet, molasses-flavored syrup. Likewise, the brown sugar in these cookies helps caramelize the peaches and infuse molasses flavor into the dough.
• White sugar: While brown sugar helps add moisture and flavor, granulated sugar helps make the cookies a little bit crisp.
• Eggs: Eggs contribute to a cookie’s flavor, texture and structure. The extra yolk in these cookies helps make them supremely soft and chewy.
• Vanilla: For great cookies, choose great vanilla. Use a high-quality vanilla extract brand like Nielsen-Massey or Spice Islands.
• Buttermilk: While regular milk could be used instead, we love the extra tang that buttermilk gives to these cookies. Buttermilk also reacts more strongly with the baking soda, giving the cookies a little extra loftiness.

Directions

Step 1: Blend the dry ingredients

In a bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, cream of tartar, cornstarch, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine and then set aside.

Step 2: Beat the wet ingredients

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Next, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, two to three minutes. Add the whole egg and egg yolk, beat until fully incorporated, then stir in the buttermilk and vanilla extract.

Step 3: Combine and chill

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With the mixer on its lowest speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix just until they are incorporated and no dry patches of flour remain. Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

Editor’s Tip: For the best peach upside-down cookies, do not overmix the dough. Overmixing dough is one of the most common cookie mistakes that bakers make. It overworks the gluten in the flour and causes cookies to become tough.

Step 4: Make the streusel topping

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Meanwhile, combine the all-purpose flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and softened cubed butter in a shallow bowl. Use a fork to combine until the mixture resembles a coarse, crumbly sand, then chill until you are ready to bake the cookies.

Step 5: Assemble the peach and brown sugar bottom

Preheat the oven to 375°F and line two sheet pans with parchment.

Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of the reserved brown sugar onto the parchment and top with three or four thin peach slices. Repeat to make 12 mounds, leaving 2 to 3 inches between each one.

Step 6: Press the cookie dough on top

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Then, take a 1-1/2-tablespoon scoop of cookie dough and roll it into a ball. Press the top of the cookie dough ball into the bowl of streusel topping, and then place the cookie dough onto a mound of brown sugar and peaches so the streusel side is facing up. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.

Editor’s Tip: Firmly press the dough into the streusel topping to help it stick. Also, don’t be afraid to press the balls of dough gently onto the peaches before baking to ensure the peaches adhere to the bottoms of the cookies.

Step 7: Bake

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Bake until edges are golden and the tops appear set, 11 to 13 minutes. Cool on pans for 10 to 15 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Editor’s Tip: Check on the cookies halfway through baking because the peach slices may slide out from underneath the cookie dough a little bit as they bake. Use a fork to push them back underneath. If the cookies are a little bit misshapen once they come out of the oven, you can also use a round biscuit cutter that’s slightly larger than the cookies to gently scoop and reshape the cookies into circles. This will also help tuck any exposed peach edges securely under each cookie.

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Peach Upside-Down Cookie Variations

• Add a drizzle on top: For extra decadence, top each cookie with a drizzle of homemade salted caramel sauce or a vanilla confectioners’ sugar glaze.
• Swap in another fruit: These cookies can be made with other thinly sliced fruits you enjoy. Swap in other seasonal produce such as plums or nectarines for the peaches. Pears or apples would work nicely too.
• Create some crunch: For extra texture and crunch, stir up to 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans into the cookie dough before chilling.
• Add more spices: Peaches can be paired with an array of warm spices for more depth and aroma. Try adding up to 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, nutmeg, cardamom or cloves to the cookie dough.
• Make them into ice cream sandwiches: Once the cookies have fully cooled, sandwich two cookies around a generous scoop of your favorite homemade ice cream. While vanilla ice cream is a tried-and-true classic, cinnamon ice cream or bourbon ice cream would be totally divine.
• Serve a la mode: Serve these cookies as you’d serve your favorite slice of warm fruit pie: with a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream.

How to Store Peach Upside-Down Cookies

Due to the fresh fruit used in these peach upside-down cookies, we recommend storing cookies like these in the refrigerator in an airtight food storage container separated by layers of parchment. Before serving, remove the cookies from the fridge for 20 to 30 minutes to allow them to come to room temperature. Alternatively, we also love warming these cookies in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds.

How long do peach upside-down cookies last?

Peach upside-down cookies will stay fresh for four or five days in the refrigerator.

Peach Upside-Down Cookie Tips

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Why do you need to chill peach upside-down cookie dough?

Chilling cookie dough is very important because it helps limit the spread of the cookies in the oven. Chilling resolidifies the butter in the cookies and allows the flour to hydrate and absorb any excess moisture. The result is a batch of taller, softer and fluffier cookies.

Can you make peach upside-down cookies with frozen or canned peaches?

Yes! Fresh peaches always seem to be in short supply, even when they’re in season. While fresh, ripe peaches will yield the most peachy flavor, you may substitute frozen or canned peaches if that’s what’s available to you. Note that frozen peaches should be fully thawed before using, and both frozen and canned peaches should be patted dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Canned and frozen peaches tend to be sliced thick, so you will also want to slice them thinner to use for this recipe. Here are more tips for knowing when to select fresh vs. frozen peaches for your recipes.

Should you peel the peaches for peach upside-down cookie dough?

Peeling the peaches is a matter of personal preference. We like the added color the skins give the bottoms of the cookies. However, if you don’t enjoy the texture of peach skins, you can peel the peaches before slicing them for these peach upside-down cookies.