Delicious vegan desserts don’t come any easier than these peach upside down tarts. The herb cream cheese adds even more garden fresh flavour!

When I saw the new upside down tarts viral trend on social media I knew I had to try it.  Sometimes I see these trends and don’t understand the hype.  But much like these smashed tacos (or smashed burgers if you’re a taco purist!) I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to be disappointed!

But I always want to add my own twist.  As well as celebrate all the wonderful herbs that are growing like gang busters on my windowsill!  My very favourite thing about summer is all the produce.  The fresh fruit, aromatic herbs and garden vegetables. So much yum.

These upside down tarts are SO easy to make and are just as delicious for a sweet breakfast or topped with a dollop of ice cream for a quick and simple dessert.

Peach tart ingredients:

Puff pastry – I simply don’t make my own anymore.  Most of the shop bought stuff is accidentally vegan and making it takes way too much time.  The ready rolled puff is also really really good and makes these vegan tarts a literal 10 minute job to prepare.

Cornflour – vegan cream cheese is a little softer than dairy cream cheese.  And I learnt when making these passion fruit and berry breakfast pastries that adding a little cornflour to the cream cheese stops it from becoming too runny and just not staying put!

Icing sugar – mixed in with the cream cheese, could be subbed with caster or granulated sugar.

Thyme and Mint – the fresh herbs really add something special to these cream cheese tarts.  They could be subbed with dried and you can swap the herbs – maybe try basil instead of the thyme or even tarragon for an aniseed vibe.

How to make these upside down tarts:

Line a large baking tray (or two) with greaseproof or a silicon mat and generously sprinkle over the demerara sugar.

Slice the peaches.  Cut them into fairly thick slices or wedges.  As they cook down, if they’re too thin they can go a little mushy and almost disappear into the cream cheese.

Lay the peach slices in groups of 5-6 slices, spacing evenly or overlapping a little.  Space them fairly far apart on the tray as they will be covered with rectangles of the puff pastry.  You want 8 ‘piles’ of peach slices.

Add the icing sugar and cornflour to the cream cheese and mix together with a small whisk or spoon.

Pick the leaves off the thyme and shred the mint and add to the cream cheese.

Mix the milk with the turmeric in a small bowl.

Unroll your puff pastry sheet and lift it off the paper it comes rolled in, then place it back on the paper.  This just helps when you come to lift them off the paper again and put them on the peaches.

Cut the puff pastry into 8 even sized pieces then add roughly one teaspoon of the cream cheese to each piece.  Spread it out a little, not going all the way to the edge, leave a 1 inch gap round the cheese.  Lay one piece of inverted pastry over each of the peach ‘piles’ so that they cover them.

Brush the topside of the pastry with the milk and turmeric then bake in a preheated oven 180 Fan / 200 C / 400 F / Gas 6 for 20-25 minutes until the pastry is well risen, puffed and golden!

The sugar will caramelise as it cooks, giving the pastry a lovely golden crust.  When they’re cooked, use a spatula or palette knife to carefully lift the pastries off the tray.  You’ll want to do this fairly soon after they come out the oven or the sugar sets and makes the lifting a little more demanding!

Storing and serving your pastries:

Like most things puff pastry, these upside down tarts are best eaten not long after coming out of the oven.  However, any leftovers may be stored in an airtight container in the fridge – crisp them up by putting back in a warm-hot oven for 10-15 minutes.

Serve plain or with a scoop of ice-cream – vanilla or nut ice ice creams work especially well with these peach tarts!

Looking for even more vegan summer recipes?

Well, I’ve written a very handy blog post of all my very favourite vegan summer recipes right here!

If it’s just vegan summer desserts you want try these:

Strawberry Cheesecakes

Pina Colada Ice Lollies

Rustic Blueberry and Lemon Tarts

Raspberry Muffins

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