Lemonade and Peach + Apricot Tart

After being away from my kitchen for so long, I figured that it was about time to do a real cooking post. To make things easy, I went with two of my most favorite summertime treats- a lemonade recipe from an article my mother clipped out years ago and the other a variation of a peach tart that I have no self control over and really regret making after telling myself I was going to eat healthy once I got home from school. 

This makes a perfect after dinner treat or tasty afternoon snack with very little work. Hope to make some more of these in the future!

For the Lemonade

18 large lemons
2 cups of white sugar
4 cups of water
2 cups of ice
optional 1/2 cup of cranberry juice to make it pink

Start by getting out a BIG cutting board and slice all of the lemons in half. 

Get out a lemon juicer and "juice" all of the lemons but one. 

Place the water in a kettle until boiling and once ready place the water in a large bowl. Add in all of the sugar and stir until dissolved (this will prevent chunky sugar crystals from being in your drink). Add in the cranberry juice if you desire. 

After that mix in the lemon juice to the water/sugar solution and transfer to a glass or jar and add as much ice as you desire. Cut up the remaining lemon slice for some snazzy drink decor. Viola! 

For the Peach + Apricot Tart

2 jars of Trader Joe's Peach Halves (or 2 peaches)
1 jar of apricot preserves
1 stick of salted butter
1 cup flour
2 TBSP sugar

Mix the butter, sugar and flour together with a spoon in a bowl and then mix with your (clean) hands into a ball. Cover with saran wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Set oven for 350 and slice the peach halves into thin, half inch slices.

Once you have taken the dough out of the fridge, get out a tart pan and spread it with a rolling pin and your fingers until the entire pan is covered. 

Heat up about 1/4 cup of the apricot preserves in a small pan on the stove until it has a liquidy consistency. 

Take all of the peach slices and arrange them in the way shown on the photo below (but you can do whatever design you like). 

Bake at 350 for roughly 20 minutes. Slice up and enjoy (make sure to place in a fridge after- it tastes even better this way). 

Happy Tuesday! Hope you have a great day!