Summer Peach Cobbler

I have a bit of a confession: I don’t really like peaches. I know, I know, you’re thinking: “But you’re from Georgia…isn’t that I don’t know, the PEACH state?”. Yes it is, you insolent ass but that doesn’t negate the fact that I am not really a peach fan. They always seemed to lack flavor and had a weird fuzzy consistency that reminded me of eating bugs (not that I go around eating bugs, but you get the drift). But as with most things, that was before I had some fresh, lovely peaches straight from the farm.

It’s the height of the summer peach season in DC, so of course it was inevitable some of them would show up in my CSA share. When I saw them, I was immediately struck by how beautiful they were. These babies were nothing like the hard, furry little things I was used to seeing in grocery stores. They had a soft feel to them without being mushy and they smelled divine. And when I cut into one of them and took a small bite, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. This is why there are peach festivals and entire stores devoted solely to this amazing fruit (oh yeah, there are entire STORES in Georgia that sell nothing but peaches and peach related products), I thought as the slice melted in my mouth. I could have easily scarfed down the remaining six little beauties, but I forced myself to put the rest down. I was having someone over for dinner on Saturday night, so I decided to make a cobbler with the peaches.

And here is where the debate REALLY begins…

There are several schools of thought when it comes to cobblers. There are those who swear only the biscuit based cobblers are true cobblers (I call them losers). Then there are normal people like me who know a cobbler isn’t a cobbler unless it has a flakier, more pie crust type cobbler topping. My grandmother’s cobbler always reminded me of a pie that had been knocked around and served on a plate…and I loved every single bit of it. So of course when it’s time for me to make a cobbler, I went straight for the more pie like variety.

For the peach filling:

5-6 medium sized peaches, left at room temperature for at least an hour

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 tablespoons corn starch

For the cobbler dough:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

1/2 cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice each peach in half and remove the pit. You can remove the skin if you like, but it isn’t necessary. Cut the peaches into lengthwise slices and place in a bowl. Pour the sugar and the corn starch over the peaches, along with the vanilla. With your hands, mix everything together and set the peaches aside.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Again with your hands (yes, I like to get my hands dirty), blend in the cubes of butter until a crumbly meal is formed. Slowly add the whipping cream until the meal becomes more dough like. However, you don’t want the dough to become too wet, so add the cream slowly to ensure the proper consistency.

Butter an 8×8 inch baking dish (or a similar size) and crumble up some of the dough mixture on the bottom of it. Place half the peach mixture on top and then layer some more of the crumble mixture. Add the remaining peaches and top with the remaining crumble/dough mixture. If you’d like, you can top the cobbler with a handful of walnuts. Bake the cobbler for 50 minutes or until the top is golden and the fruit mixture is bubbling.

I want to thank you guys for being patient with me while I spent time away from my blog. I needed the time away and the perspective it gave me. But I’m back, wearing my cute little apron…and I’ve brought peaches!