This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Traditional Piedmontese baked peaches (Pesche Ripiene) stuffed with crunchy amaretti cookies and dark chocolate. A simple, easy and delicious Italian summer dessert that’s perfect served warm with some vanilla gelato.
Pesche Ripiene are a traditional dessert from Piedmont (Piemonte), a region in the north of Italy. Traditionally, they’re made with cocoa powder, although nowadays it’s common to use either cocoa powder or dark chocolate.
I absolutely love this dessert and have tested many variations (see my notes below). This is my favourite version using chopped dark chocolate. It’s such a simple summer dessert, and it’s so easy to prep.
The peaches are best served warm alongside some fresh cream or cold vanilla gelato. Enjoy!
Ingredient notes
Pin this now to find it later
Pin It- Peaches: make sure your peaches are ripe, so they are easy to hollow out. I’ve always used yellow flesh peaches for this recipe, but I’m sure white flesh peaches will also work. Yellow flesh nectarines are a good alternative too. If you go with freestone peaches, you’ll be able to remove the stone really easily.
- Amaretti cookies/biscuits: there are two types of amaretti cookies: soft or crunchy. You want to use crunchy amaretti cookies for this so they can be crushed into crumbs.
- Dark chocolate: I recommend using a good quality dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa if possible.
- Sugar: I only use 1 tablespoon of sugar as I find peaches and amaretti add enough sweetness, but you can add more to taste just before stuffing the peaches.
My top testing notes for making Italian baked peaches
Leave a good border: make sure to leave around 1cm (a little more than 1/4 inch) border around the peach so it still stands firm. If you hollow out too much, the filling just oozes out. The dish will still be delicious, but it’s not so great for presentation.
Dark chocolate vs cocoa powder: you can replace the dark chocolate with two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. I’ve tested both ways, and although they are both delicious, the dark chocolate gives a more intense, rich and indulgent flavour, which I love.
Add liqueur: quite often liqueur is added to Piemontese stuffed peaches, which is delicious. I find 1 tablespoon is enough; you could add Amaretto, Marsala, brandy or even Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur).
More easy Italian desserts to try
Italian Desserts
Strawberry Semifreddo with Strawberry Sauce
Italian Desserts
Ricotta al Caffè
Italian Desserts
Pistachio Affogato
Italian Desserts
Torta Caprese Bianca (Lemon Caprese Cake)
If you’ve tried these Italian baked peaches or any other recipe on the blog then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest or sign up to our newsletter to see more of our delicious food.
Step By Step Photos Above
Most of our recipes come with step by step photos, helpful tips and tricks to make it perfectly first time and even video!
Italian Stuffed Peaches (Pesche Ripiene alla Piemontese)
Equipment
- Sandwich bag
- Rolling pin (for crushing the cookies)
- Baking dish (I use a 9×11 inch dish)
Ingredients
- 4 ripe peaches, yellow flesh (around 740g)
- 3.5 oz (100g) crunchy amaretti cookies, crushed (about 14 cookies)
- 3 oz (85g) 70% dark chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon (15g) unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- pinch of salt , (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180℃/350℉ fan or 200℃/400℉ static. Grease your baking dish with butter. Crush your amaretti cookies into crumbs using a sandwich bag and rolling pin. Finely chop your dark chocolate.
- Cut the peaches in half and carefully remove the stone. Using a small spoon, remove some of the peach flesh, leaving a border around the edge (about 1cm/ just over 1/4 inch). Place the peaches in your baking dish.
- Put the peach flesh in a bowl and use a potato masher or fork to mash it into a pulp. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and mix until combined.
- Add the crushed amaretti cookies and chopped dark chocolate and mix until everything is well combined.
- Spoon the filling into the peaches, then dot each peach with a small piece of butter. I like to add a tiny pinch of salt to each, but that's optional.
- Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the peaches are tender and the chocolate has melted. Serve warm with cream or ice cream.
Notes
- Variation – you can replace the dark chocolate with 1-2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Storage – the peaches are best served warm straight after baking. They soften a lot as they are left due to all the peach juices.
- Prep in advance – you can prep and fill the peaches, then store them in the fridge for 1-2 days until you are ready to bake.
Helpful Info for All Recipes
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise
- When I use canned or jarred tomatoes of any kind I always use Cirio or Mutti brands for the best results and flavour.
- All vegetables are medium sized unless stated otherwise
- All recipes are tested and developed using a fan (convection) oven
- Find out more about how nutrition is calculated.
- Check out our must have Italian Pantry Staples.
- You can also find all our Essential Kitchen Tools for Italian Cooking.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
