One of the best things about the summer in eastern North Carolina, are the peaches (I guess it's mother natures way of apologizing for the humidity). Though it wasn't 100% planned, but fortunate none the less, there are two peach orchards less than 15 minutes from our front door (the closest stand being under 5 minutes away). So, whenever the hankering arises, it's out the door to go buy a basket (we get 9-10 peaches for $7).

From our last stop, I saved the 4 ripest peaches from the batch (I mean juice running down your arm ripe) and decided to make PEACH TARTS!

They're small, packed with flavor, and sure to hit everyone's sweet spot!

I whipped up a quick batch, using a scaled back version of my peach pie recipe and the results were scrumptious. I ended up eating three by myself...(yes, they were that good)!

Step 1: Ingredients:

1 Single Pie Crust Rolled Flat (I made mine using this recipe, A Healthier Flaky Double Pie Crust w/ Coconut Oil)

4 Ripe Peaches - Pared and Sliced

1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 Table spoon Cornstarch

1/16 Teaspoon Salt (literally a pinch)

* For the pie crust, because I only needed a single crust, so I divided the ingredients by 50% and it worked like a charm.

Step 2: Prep Work - Pie Crust and Maceration

I highly recommend making your own crust, for this recipe. It's super easy and 100% worth it in the end, plus there are tons of great recipes out there. I use A Healthier Flaky Double Pie Crust w/ Coconut Oil for all of my pies and tarts. It takes 5 minutes to pull together and only an hour to chill. The final results are melt in your mouth flaky.

While the pie crust is chilling, combine the sliced peaches, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a medium sized bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

* I call this prep work, because both of these items will need to be done, well in advance and will need to sit for at least an hour.

** Every 20 minutes or so, I give the peaches a toss in the sugar mixture as they macerate.

Step 3: Preparing the Crusts

Once the pie crust has chilled, remove it and let the dough disk rest on a floured surface for about 10 minutes.

Gently, roll out the dough evenly in all directions to form a 14"x14" sheet. Now cut 6 - 6" rounds out of the dough sheet (I used the lid of a pot, which worked great, however any round object will do as a template). You may need to reshape the dough disk and roll it out a second time, to get all 6 rounds.

Next, place each of the dough rounds in to the muffin pan, carefully working each round into the shape of the cup (if any small holes develop, you can easily patch them with a small piece of the the scrap dough).

Finally, to top the tarts, using a small cookie cutter, stamp out 6 shapes (be creative, there are a million cool cookie cutters out there...I used a star shape) and transfer them to a foil lined baking sheet.

Cover both the baking sheet and the muffin pan with plastic wrap and put them back into the refrigerator to chill.

Step 4: Peach Tart Filling

Remove the macerated peach slices from the refrigerator and drain well, reserving the liquid in a medium sized pot and returning the peach slices to the bowl.

Next, add lemon juice, cornstarch, and salt to the pot with the reserved peach juice. Bring to a rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to thicken (5-6 minutes).

Once thickened to your desired consistency (I stir for about 10-12 minutes) , pour it back into the peach slices and stir until combined.

Step 5: Filling the Tarts

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and move the oven rack to the lowest position.

Next, spoon the peach tart filling into the prepared crusts and top with your decoration of choice.

Finally, bake at 425 degrees until the edge of the crusts are a light golden brown. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees and continue baking until the edge crusts are golden brown.

Step 6: Relax, Eat, and Enjoy!!!

Remove the tarts from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 4-5 minutes, until set. Then remove the tarts from the muffin pan and cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.

Now it's time to sit back, relax, and enjoy. I promise these tarts will not disappoint. Plus, they are the perfect size to hold 1 scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, for a prefect peaches and cream experience.

Warm or cold, they are delectable...In fact, I wish I had one right now (seriously).

I really hope you've enjoyed this Instructable! Happy Baking!!!

Just a note: Please, when ever possible, support your local growers. Not everyone is lucky enough to have access to locally grown produce, if you do, it's important to help keep it alive. Thanks!