The Life-Changing One True Cobbler®

There is nothing I like better than a good peach in season. Under normal conditions, eating it out of hand (often over the kitchen sink) is sufficient for me. Occasionally you need to embellish perfection. This is where cobblers come into play.

Many years ago, my department in North Carolina hosted a going-away party for a colleague who was moving to Montana. The dessert was a peach cobbler that had appeared in Southern Living magazine that month. (For the uninitiated: Southern Living and the Charleston Receipts cookbook are the main arbiters of foodie good taste in the Carolinas.) The host tried to double the recipe and put it into a baking dish that was too small for the amount of peaches and batter. This resulted in a minor oven fire; however, what was left in the dish was very tasty. I remembered that I had that issue of the magazine at home, and the rest is history. If I opt to try a different recipe, the SO will ask, “Why have you deviated from the path of The One True Cobbler?”

The beauties of this recipe are many. Folks who grew up in the 1970’s will think it’s similar to the old “impossible pies” on the back of Bisquick boxes. You don’t have to mess with making a pastry crust or biscuit dough as with other cobblers. The recipe is easily halved for two-person households such as ours. I often add more peaches than the recipe requires. Although it’s primarily peach, you can gild the lily by sprinkling blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries on top just before it goes into the oven. You can make it with all whole-wheat flour with no problem. I have yet to try a gluten-free (GF) version of the recipe, but it shouldn’t be hard to adapt. I wouldn’t use a GF flour mix that has a large amount of bean flour in it lest it produce an off-taste in the final product.

The One True Cobbler® (accept no substitutes)

The recipe is adapted from one that was published in Southern Living in July 1997 as Easy Peach Cobbler.

1/2 cup unsalted butter (NOT margarine), melted
1 cup flour
2 cups sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup milk (skim is fine)
4 cups peaches, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp. lemon juice
nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, or crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 375°F. Pour melted butter into 13″ x 9″ x 2″ baking pan. (If you halve the recipe, use an 11″ x 7″ or a 9″ square pan.) I usually melt the butter in the pan in the oven while it’s preheating. Watch it to make sure it doesn’t burn.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in milk, mixing until just combined. Pour into pan on top of the melted butter. DO NOT STIR.

Stir together peach slices, 1 cup sugar, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan; heat at medium on stove burner until mixture just comes to a boil. Spoon peach slices and juice evenly over the batter in the pan. Again, DO NOT STIR. Sprinkle top with seasoning of choice and/or berries, as desired.

Bake cobbler for 40-45 minutes until top is golden brown. Serve warm or cold alone or with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. The full recipe usually serves 8-10 in our hands.

Note:

A variation of this recipe appears in Molly O’Neill’s One Big Table as Dori Sanders’s Cobbler. In this recipe, the raw peaches (no need to peel) are mixed with 1 cup brown sugar and left to stand for 10 minutes before spooning on top of the batter. Lazy bum that I am, the no-peel, no-cook variation has merits. The peach essence is not diminished by the pre-cooking. In addition, the brown sugar gives it a bit more caramelization. We like this variation even better than the original, so it is referred to as the One Truer Cobbler®.