After almost 10 years spent living North of the Mason Dixon line, I am about to re-embrace my Southern pride. That’s right, Gus and I are moving to Atlanta in about a weeks time! In honor of this news, I just HAD to bake up a homemade, from scratch, peeled the peaches myself, Peach Cobbler. Well, that and I took on the duty of hosting our own “hoedown” going-away party this past weekend (this is what happens when you’re the only one of your friends who knows how to cook shrimp n’ grits!), and what’s a hoedown without Peach Cobbler?! The good news for my blog is that I am going to have a lot more time on my hands with my current state of joblessness in Atlanta, but I’m welcoming the break and an opportunity to get caught up since I have quite a few sinful Southern dishes to share. We’ll be in transit for the next couple weeks, but I’m eager to get going in my new (and even bigger!) kitchen, so y’all better get excited for a taste of the South!
Back to the mascot of my new home…This cobbler recipe can be made with just about any fruit and the topping is the perfect marriage of golden brown crunchy-ness with soft, doughy goodness. Plus, anything topped with cinnamon sugar is an automatic winner in my book. The peach filling can be made with frozen or canned peaches, but now that I’m about to become a true Southern belle, I can only recommend using the fresh fruit from my new home state. It was actually a lot easier than I thought to peel the peaches once I found a great cheat method in my America’s Test Kitchen cookbook…score the peaches with an X on top, drop in boiling water for 30 seconds, and the skin peels right off. Easy as pie, or in this case, cobbler.
Peach Cobbler
Fruit Filling
- 8 fresh peaches – peeled, pitted and sliced into large chunks
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 3 tsp. cornstarch
Topping
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combine peaches, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, vanilla, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 9×13 baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, white sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
- Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake until topping is golden brown, or about 20 minutes.
