Peach Melba Parfaits

Over the long weekend I got to pick fresh raspberries… and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If it weren’t for my two boys who were pretty much over the sun, heat and the whole experience of being at a farm buried in prickly bushes foraging berries, I would have easily been there for hours. But alas, at least they can say they attempted it. Sort of. Joel spent most of the time at the berry farm picking what he could and stuffing them into his mouth. The Baron on the other hand did a great picking black raspberries but by the time we got to the red raspberry bushes he was zapped from any more berry picking energy lol. Thankfully I managed to get quite a few oversized pints of berries to bring back home. A good pairing with fresh raspberries are peaches, just like in these Peach Melba Parfaits. Layers of ice cream swirled with fresh peaches, macerated fresh raspberries and crumbled buttery shortbread cookies make for a quick and simple dessert to highlight the sweet seasonal fruit…

We really loved how refreshing this parfait was, especially on a hot summer night. The freshness of both the peaches and raspberries together really came through. But if you prefer, you can substitute  the fresh fruit with frozen raspberries and canned peaches. It won’t be as good but it will serve as a substitute in a pinch. If you don’t have Grand Marnier on hand or prefer not to use any alcoholic liqueur, feel free to use orange juice instead – which is what I did for Joel’s portion.

• 4 cups vanilla ice cream, softened 
• 1 cup mashed peeled fresh & ripe peaches (about 3/4 pound) 
• 1 tablespoon amaretto
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
• 3 tablespoons sugar 
• 1 tablespoon Grand Marnier or other orange-flavored liqueur
• 1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries 
• 8 peach slices 
• 1/2 cup crumbled {GF} shortbread cookies