Honey-Coated Walnuts and Peaches

Dine like the Roman aristocracy with this tempting dessert: walnuts, peaches, and honey were all traded as luxury foods around the ancient Mediterranean, and the city’s wealthy and powerful elite could afford to enjoy a dish shipped in from the far corners of their vast empire. Honey was especially prized as one of the few sweeteners available (sugarcane, a New World crop, was still unknown), and celebrated in literature, art, and music as a gift from the gods.

On a more prosaic note, be aware that the honey in this dessert makes it delicious, but also contains a lot of sugar. As the recipe is written, one serving (1/4 of the recipe) has approximately 32 grams of sugar (17 from the honey and 15 from the peach) – that’s higher than most Paleo meals. On the other hand, for a treat, that’s not much to worry about, and it can easily fit into a healthy day’s eating, especially for people who aren’t trying to lose a lot of weight. If you still feel like this is too much honey, simply don’t use as much. You could even make the recipe entirely without the honey, just by cooking the peaches and walnuts in ghee.

For a truly indulgent dessert menu, serve your peaches and walnuts with a scoop of homemade ice cream, and enjoy a treat that’s relatively nutritious and certainly a much better choice than anything you can buy in a box.

Honey-Coated Walnuts and Peaches Recipe

SERVES: 4 PREP: 5 min. COOK: 10 min.

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Ingredients

• 4 peaches, quartered (leave the skin on or not, as you prefer);
• ¼ cup raw honey; (optional)
• ½ cup walnuts, chunked;
• ¼ cup clarified butter (ghee);
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon;

Preparation

1. In a skillet, melt the ghee and honey over a medium high heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add the peaches and cinnamon to the mixture, and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
3. Add the walnuts and cook for another 2 to 3minutes, stirring frequently.
4. (Optional) Serve with a scoop of homemade ice cream.