For months I have been planning and researching (read: pintresting) the perfect birthday cake. It was going to be hard to top my favorite. It has orange juice and orange peel ringlets, is incredibly moist and spongy, and has the world’s most perfect cream cheese frosting draped against its frame — all of it making my self control  that much more unwilling to resist its temptation. But who said birthdays are for the disciplined? Not me. Not him.

I was determined, unrelenting, fierce. And I found it. It was cake. It was also ice cream. In fact the cake part was nonexistent. It was just ice cream in the cake form. It was chocolate. It was also peanut butter. It was chocolate peanut butter ice cream cake, and it was going to be my also-favorite cake. That is, until I discovered the inconsiderate lack of peanut butter ice cream — the main ingredient, the key component, the soul of my cake — in the freezer section.

And so my birthday cake got ruined. By America. By the land of the free (unless you want peanut butter ice cream and then you must be a slave in a different country which exercises consideration over its citizens and slaves and makes such things for them as a peace offering for no freedom). I would probably be willing to make such a trade. But I made due with vanilla ice cream with vague and infrequent (and promised, but lacking) peanut butter swirls in what what supposed to be a chocolate peanut butter ice cream cake. It was vanilla with a few pokes of chocolate and miniscule remnants of peanut butter swirl that melted and refroze into even tinier microscopic pieces and basically should not even be mentioned in this cake.

So I bid adieu to another year with a lame birthday cake. And came home and decided the only thing that could possibly make up for a delicious disaster (even in my spite I cannot say ice cream is not good) was by finishing up the last of our peaches. I now bring you the second and final installment of the chronicles of boy and girl meet way too many peaches and gallantly finish them up in a simple peaches and cream, err creme fraiche tart. Don’t worry, this one has a happy ending. Because America decides fancy things like creme fraiche are more important than all-American things like peanut butter ice cream. But I digress. This peach tart is simple and quick and demands what I love most about summer produce. Barely nothing. When things like peaches and tomatoes and greens are at their freshest and have reached the pinnacle of perfection I find it sacrilegious to “do too much” with it. Frankly anything more than a decidedly purposed bite right out of the middle would be too much for most of our summer’s bounty. I guess that is part of the reason I love this tart so much. There is no peeling fuzzy skins or adding obnoxious amounts of sugar. It’s just peaches wedged into a tart shell, dolloped with a little creme fraiche and sprinkled with a bit of streusel before being baked into a perfect summery treat.

Peach and Crème Fraîche Tart
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Crust:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Kosher salt
6 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg

Streusel:
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4-teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick or 1/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Filling:
1 pound (4 to 5 small) yellow peaches, pitted and cut into six wedges
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
5 tablespoons creme fraiche

Crust: Combine flour, cornstarch, sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer (or a mixing bowl, or bowl of a food processor). Add the butter and mix with the paddle attachment (or by hand with a pastry cutter, or pulsing if a food processor) until combined. Add egg; mix until dough forms. (Note: I was apprehensive that this would not be enough liquid to get the dough to come together, but if you let the machine run long enough it will. BUT, if for any reason it is not, and flour can be temperamental, go ahead and add just a tiny bit of ice water until it does hold together. The dough should not be tacky or sticky, yet it shouldn’t be dry or crumbly.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12-inch circle. Place the dough in a 9-inch tart pan and press to remove any air bubbles. If you get cracks in your crust, you can take some of the excess and just press it into the crack. Trim the excess around the edges (I usually run a rolling pin over the top and the pan edge will cut right through the dough), and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Streusel: Sift together sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using your hands or a pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prick tart shell all over with the tines of a fork.  Line crust with parchment paper, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake, covered, 10 minutes. Remove weights and parchment. If crust has bubbled, pat it back down and smooth it out with the back of a spoon and place back in the over to bake until pale golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly; reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.

Filling: Put peaches in a medium bowl, and sprinkle with sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg; gently toss to coat. Let stand 15 minutes. Spread 2 tablespoons creme fraiche onto bottom of crust; sprinkle with one-third of the streusel. Arrange peaches on top in a decorative pattern (no need to include any juice left behind from the peaches); spread or dot with remaining 3 tablespoons creme fraiche. Sprinkle with remaining streusel.

Bake pie until creme fraiche is bubbling and streusel is golden brown, about 50 minutes. Cover edge of crust with foil if it’s browning too quickly. Let cool on a wire rack 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.