Peach Cobbler
As promised, a second cobbler in the same week and what a peach of a treat it is! Lol! If peaches make you 🥰 😁 then you, and everyone lucky enough to partake of this classic seasonal dessert, are going to fall head over heels in love with the explosion of peachy goodness from this easy-to-make Peach Cobbler!!🍑🍑🍑 (ok, I’ll stop with the emojis!)
Every golden bite just screams summer! And since the season seems to be plowing ahead (how is it almost mid-August already?!!) you owe it to yourself to make this asap!!
Especially because peaches are so, so good right now. We actually went peach picking last week and I currently have a bunch ripening on my living room table! It’s so hard to wait!!!
But that wait is totally worth it! Now once those babies ripen up all you have to do is slice and peel them (unless you’re hail from the kind of stock that can tolerate peach skin in baked goods in which case you can boldly and happily skip the drippy peeling process ). But if you have any eaters with even the slightest peach skin discomfort, you’re going to want to bring a pot of water to boil and blanch those peaches for a minute or so, tossing them into an ice bath to stop the cooking. This makes it super easy to remove the skins and not waste any of the divine, juicy peach fruit below.
Anyhoo, once that’s done, you toss those wedges with a little flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter and vanilla—
Before topping them with a simple cornmeal-enhanced, sweet butter biscuit.
Look at how gorgeously golden brown and orange-y everything bakes up! Is your mouth watering yet?!!
I know mine is! I can’t wait to spoon every sweet/tart/biscuity bite into my mouth!
Add a scoop of good ice cream (here I used my straciatella gelato, per someone’s suggestion) and you’ll swoon.
And this my friends, concludes Cobbler Week around here. Who knows, maybe next week it’ll be crisps!!
Peach Cobbler
Makes 8 servings
Prep Time: 25-30 minutes; Bake Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
For the filling
3 pounds fresh, ripe peaches
¾ cup sugar
¼ cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, plus a little extra for buttering the dish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the topping
1 ½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
½ cup fine yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
Generous ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream, divided
2 teaspoons sugar
Ice cream or sweetened whipped cream (optional, but not really)
The Recipe
1. To make the filling: Preheat oven to 400ºF. Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish and set aside.
2. If you like your cobbler with unpeeled peaches, simply cut the fruit into wedges into a large bowl, discarding the pits and go on to the next step. If you have peeps that hate even the mere suggestion of peach fuzz, bring a large pot of water to boil. Set a large bowl of water and ice next to the stove. In batches, using a slotted spoon, lower the peaches a few at a time carefully into the boiling water and let cook about 1 minute. Now use the slotted spoon to transfer the peaches to the cold water bath and repeat the process until all the peaches have been blanched (while the second batch is boiling, remove the first batch from the cold water and set aside to make room for the incoming batch). Slip the skins off the peaches, discard the skins and pits and cut the fruit into wedges, placing into a large bowl as you slice.
3. To the peaches in the bowl, add in the sugar, flour, melted butter and vanilla and toss well together. Transfer to the prepared pan, spread into an even layer and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the juices are starting to bubble.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the biscuit topping: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add in the cubed butter and use a pastry cutter or your fingers to work the butter into the flour mixture until a coarse meal forms. Add the 1 cup of heavy cream and stir with a fork just until a dough forms.
5. Flour a board or clean counter and turn the dough out onto it. Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out into a 10-inch wide, ½-inch thick oblong. Use a floured round 2-inch biscuit or cookie cutter (or the mouth of a glass) to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Then re-roll the dough and continue to cut out biscuits until all the dough has been used up.
6. Remove the dish from the oven and place the biscuits all over the top of the fruit, leaving a little room between each one. Brush the tops of the biscuits with the remaining 1 tablespoon heavy cream and sprinkle with the sugar. Return the dish to the oven and cook for another 30 minutes or so, until the fruit is bubbling and the biscuits are golden brown. Let sit for a few minutes, then spoon into dishes and serve topped with ice cream or whipped cream.
Enjoy!
Note: Recipe adapted from a very old issue of Gourmet Magazine.
