I can’t get enough of summer fruit. Every day I gorge on melons and berries, knowing that their days in my farmers’ market and garden are limited. It’s peaches, though, that not only make me know it’s summer but that also take me back to my roots. There simply is nothing in the world like a ripe, fresh, juicy peach. I eat a lot of them fresh, but it’s cobbler that makes me think of family.
Some day, I’ll part with my Georgia grandmother’s recipe for peach cobbler, which in fact is a deep-dish pie with a crunchy crust that you dish out with a big spoon. Some day, I said. Not today. Today I’ll give you the quicker, easier but still incredibly tasty version that I make for our smaller, slightly more health-conscious family. We’re going to make it in a cast-iron skillet for ideal caramelization. The topping, based on part of my grandmother’s cobbler pastry recipe, is amazingly simple (equal parts butter, sugar, and flour), and you will no doubt find its formula useful for sprinkling on muffins and coffee cake as well as cobblers.
For an 8-inch cast iron skillet you’ll need:
- 4-5 ripe, large peaches
- 2 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour
- 2 tablespoons (or less) sugar
- 1/3 cup cold butter
- 1/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/3 cup sugar
- pinch or 2 or 3 of nutmeg
For a 10-inch cast iron skillet (or deep pie pan) you’ll need:
- 6-8 ripe, large peaches
- 3 tablespoons whole-wheat pastry flour
- 3 tablespoons (or less) sugar
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- pinch or 2 or 3 of nutmeg
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Begin by peeling the peaches and removing the pits. I do this by slicing the peaches in quarters first. Then slice the peaches into 8 pieces each. Toss with the first sugar and flour listed. Put them in your cast iron skillet or pie pan after making sure that your baking vessel is well-buttered.
Next cut the chilled butter into the larger quantities of sugar and flour using a pastry cutter or just a fork. Just be sure to keep the butter cold; we’re not making cookie dough, and the resulting mixture should retain discrete tiny pieces of butter encapsulated by flour and sugar. Sprinkle in the nutmeg. Crumble the butter mixture on top of the peaches and bake at 375 degrees F for 30-45 minutes, until the peaches are bubbly and the top is golden brown and crusty. Serve with a small scoop of real vanilla ice cream on top. Mmmmmmm.
Peach-blueberry cobbler: Add fresh or frozen blueberries on top of the peaches.
Peach-bramble cobbler: Add blackberries on top of the peaches. I think this is my favorite variation!
Blackberry cobbler: You got it–go all blackberries. Try a pinch of allspice in the blackberries or a splash of lime juice and/or zest.
Blueberry cobbler (for Leigh): You may want a bottom pie crust for this variation.
Fall Variations:
Apple cobbler: Use apples (a bit more thinly sliced than the peaches) with cinnamon mixed in with the apples and cinnamon and a tiny pinch of allspice with the nutmeg in the topping. You could also add cranberries for a really festive touch, but first chop them and toss them with more sugar, as they are very tart.
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You just make my mouth water. Alas with the heat along the Gulf coast, I don’t turn the oven on usually late Fall. I make lots of jello and cook n serve puddings in graham cracker crusts, no bake cheese cake during the hot weather…dang electric bill is an event every time it arrives!
The peaches would go good in the jello….blackberries were selling like hot cakes here which I froze and also put in jello.
Now if I could figure out no bake pizza what a world it would be!!!
Avahome, I used our toaster oven to bake our cobbler. That’s all we use in the summer. It works great and barely adds any heat to the house at all. And you can make pizza in it! As a matter of fact, some of pizzas I’ve posted on the blog came out of the toaster. 🙂
That is a good idea. I never thought of that!!!!
We use that toaster oven for so many things. It has convection and a broil cycle, so it’s really versatile. It holds a 2-quart Dutch oven easily, too.
We just recovered from going to a friend’s peach orchard. We have eaten peaches, had several cobblers, made peach and vanilla bean jam, and frozen some. It’s one of my favorite signs of summer here-we get to go to the orchard and pick all the peaches we can carry.
I hope you can get some good ones in your neck of the woods…
We can get them pretty good but not as good as I remember coming from Georgia. Your peach ands vanilla bean jam sounds absolutely delicious! Have you thought about posting it? or just emailing me the recipe?
The peach and vanilla bean jam is very simple-I peel and cube the peaches, and take equal amounts of sugar to fruit. I use 2 vanilla beans(scraped plus let the pods simmer with the jam) per 6 cups of fruit. Also, wash and slice 1 lemon for every 6 cups of fruit.
So fruit, sugar, vanila seeds and pods, and lemon slices-bring to boil and simmer until you reach your desired consistency, stirring often. I don’t add pectin to this because we use it over ice cream and with roasted pork and I like it un-jelled, but you can add pectin if you prefer it that way. I usually end up cooking it until it’s a deep golden color-about an hour. Take out the vanilla pods, pour in hot sterilized jars, lids on, process in boiling water for 10 minutes, done.
I give this for Christmas gifts to friends and my daughter’s teachers-everyone loves it.
Also really good with pears. Same recipe, swap the fruit.
Well that sounds wonderful!!! I will have to look for
those vanilla beans in a pod.
Oh my gosh, these peaches sound decadent, Polly. Thank you! I may try this next week when my mother-in-law visits, if I can still get local peaches. Is is basically a butter when you’re done, or will you still have bits of peaches?
(and thanks for the b-day wishes :-))
Mmmm! This sounds delicious. I made cold soup from the last batch of peaches I bought at the farmers market. You’ve inspired me regarding what I will do with the next batch.
Oh my goodness, the peach soup sounds so fresh and cooling too. I’ve got to get more peaches! How did you do the peach soup?
Thank you! This recipe sounds easy and delicious. I will definitely give it a try.
My blueberry bush is an old one that was here when we bought the house. It was so overgrown that we didn’t even know it was there until our neighbor told us about it. The first year was disappointing. We were in the tail end of a drought and the blueberries were small and seedy. Last winter we got lots of rain, plus we cleared out around it and mulched with pine needles. This year the bush is loaded with huge, sweet, tasty berries, and we are delighted with it.
Oh, Leigh, your blueberry bush sounds a bit like our grapevine. We discovered it by accident and have learned over the past 4 summers what to do and what not to do to get it to produce. We picked almost 8 pounds of grapes from it earlier today! (Yes, you can expect a post about my adventures in grape jam making soon.)
We have two ancient apple trees that came with the place too, and when I thought we were going to have to lose them to the new septic system, I almost cried. They survived, though, and although the weather could still wipe out our crop, I’m now envisioning a long weekend this fall of making apple butter and apple conserve.
Pardon my Ozark English, but there ain’t nothin’ like a good cobbler! Yummmm! Thanks for sharing, because I’ve never been able to do one as well as my mom or grandmas.
Regina, some day I’ll post her original full recipe, with both crusts. Meanwhile, I think you’ll really like the crumb crust on so many things.
yes, there are still bits of peaches. Sometimes I even use my potato masher if the bits are too large for my taste.
Thanks, Polly. I’m thinking, after I process the grapes . . . .