Everywhere I turn there’s peaches either on sale or on the tree, and a lot of neighbors hoping to share their fresh peach bounty.

While pie fillings and preserves are a great use for peaches – and one we’ll talk about more next week. One of my favorite things to do is make these fresh peach cookies. These peach cookies are fantastic warm or cold and you can dip them in cinnamon sugar if you like, though honestly I liked the plan peach cookie the best. These kinda remind me of pumpkin cookies – that same softness and richness that you get from the fruit, but they’re naturally sweeter and not as earthy as the pumpkin cookies.

As we’ve done before we’re adding E-Z Gel to these peach cookies for additional tenderness and because it makes them freeze ever so well.

Fresh Peach Cookies with E-Z Gel

Fresh Peach Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 2 tablespoons
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large ripe peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch dice (about 1 3/4 cups)
1 Tablespoon E-Z Gel
2 tablespoons fine sanding sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (fresh ground is best!)
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg (fresh is best!)
1/2 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips (opt)

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, salt and baking soda and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Combine with dry ingredients until well mixed. Fold in peaches and chocolate chips. In a small bowl combine sanding sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Measure dough out by tablespoons and roll in spiced sugar before placing on a cookie sheet approximately an inch apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes until golden brown around the edges. Eat warm…or cool…or frozen…eat lots. Make more until peaches are all gone.