Summer date nights require a few essentials. Booze ✔️ Ice Cream ✔️ Booze ✔️. Throw in some fruit so you can feel good about yourself and you’re good to go! These Baked Bourbon Soaked Nectarines with Brûléed Sugar have all of those elements… and then some.
I’ve found that there are few things better than a warm piece of fruit or a cookie straight from the oven, with a nice big scoop of ice cream on top. The contrast of warm and cold is just… Mmmmm. Plus, the second the hot nectarine touches the ice cream it pretty much turns into a sauce that mixes with the residual bourbon and, I can’t. You HAVE to try this. If you don’t feel like turning your oven on, you can SO do this on the grill instead. You might as well soak up as much of summer as you can, right?
Try this out for your next date night in. You (or your partner) won’t be sorry.
- 2 ripe nectarines
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- While the oven is preheating, prepare your nectarines. Slice the nectarines in half, scooping out the pit (like an avocado).
- Using a fork, make several punctures in each half to allow the bourbon to soak in.
- Place all four halves in a baking dish, cut side up. Combine bourbon and vanilla together in a measuring cup and pour into the cavities of the nectarines allowing the liquid to pool where the pit was. If there is any excess pour around the nectarines in the baking dish.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
- While the fruit is in the oven, combine the sugar and cardamom to sprinkle on top.
- When the nectarines are finished in the oven, sprinkle the tops generously with the cardamom sugar.
- Using a culinary torch, brulee the sugar on top of the nectarines until golden brown and hard. Alternatively, you can turn your oven up to broil and stick them under the broiler for a couple minutes. Just make sure you do NOT take your eyes off of them.
- Serve warm with a scoop (or two) of vanilla ice cream and a spoonful of any leftover warm bourbon.
