In summer, I generally have a few summer bucket list items to check off and one of them is to eat as many ripe, juicy peaches as possible. While I am no stranger to eating one whole while standing over the sink with the juice dripping down my arms, I also love to tuck them into easy desserts and salads and more. These simple Upside Down Tarts are one of my favorite ways to use them. Like magic, they’re formed upside down (with just five ingredients!) and when flipped over look like something out of a bakery window. So simple, so stunning, and perfect for summer.

What Ingredients Do You Need for Peaches and Cream Upside Down Tarts?

Just five ingredients stand between you and the most beautiful dessert of the summer. You’ll need:

• Ripe peaches. (The riper the better — you want maximum sweetness and juice here!)
• Demerara sugar. (This is what creates that gorgeous caramelized layer under the peaches.)
• Cinnamon.
• Cream cheese, but make sure it’s cold. (It helps it not melt all over.)
• And a sheet of puff pastry.

And an egg, for the egg wash. (Which I guess counts as six ingredients.)

What is Demerara sugar?
It’s a minimally processed cane sugar with large golden crystals and a subtle molasses flavor. It doesn’t fully dissolve when baked the way regular sugar does, which is exactly what you want here — it creates a slightly crunchy, deeply caramelized base under the peaches that makes these irresistible. Look for it near the other sugars at your grocery store.

How Do You Make Peaches and Cream Upside Down Tarts?

The upside down method sounds more complicated than it is — this is really just a matter of layering a few ingredients together! The key is building each tart directly on the parchment paper so they flip cleanly. Here’s how you do it:

Once it’s totally thawed, slice the puff pastry sheet into six even rectangles. On your lined and greased baking sheet, sprinkle a little Demerara sugar in six spots roughly the size of your pastry rectangles and add a pinch of cinnamon to each. Lay the peach slices over the sugar in a neat, overlapping layer, then top the peaches with a few slices of chilled cream cheese..

Lay a rectangle of puff pastry over each one and press down gently

Brush the pastry tops with the beaten egg and slide the whole sheet into a hot oven until the pastry is deeply golden and puffed.

Let them cool for just a minute or two, then carefully flip each tart over onto a serving plate.

That should reveal caramelized peaches, melted cream cheese, and crispy golden pastry! A summer combination that’s hard to beat.