Peach-Pecan Cornbread

as promised, i recently met some friends and their little ones at the nearby peach orchard.

the kiddos loved riding in the wagons to the ready-to-pick peach trees, dodging the left-behind rotting, vinegar-scented peaches strewn across the ground, and pulling the perfectly ripe peaches from the branches of the trees to place in our bags to take home. though, i think their favorite part (or at least i know my son’s ‘cherry on the top’) was the peach milkshake after our hot harvesting session.

there’s always a little bit of excitement when picking fruits which erases reason regarding the actual amount of fruit to pick. i always end up with more than i really need because it’s hard to not get carried away with the fun of the picking. knowing i wanted to avoid excessive refined sweets, instead of a pie, cobbler, or sugared scone i wanted to come up with something a little less dessert-y. but something more exciting than sitting down to yet another plain piece of fruit.

so here we have it… why not marry some of the south’s favorites… a favorite fruit, favorite nut, and favorite bread. and even favorite sweetener, molasses! it all went so wonderfully together. it’s not an overly sweet bread, but i typically love to drench my cornbread in molasses and butter. so this way i didn’t feel tempted because a bit of the flavor was already there. the peaches added a delicate sweetness, while the pecans add some tasty crunch.

definitely a marriage made in heaven.