The BEST Peach Cobbler! (Adapted from Southern Living Recipe)
Do not let this order of elements throw you. YES... add the butter first to the 13x9 baking dish (I use a foil pan). NO... you do not mix in the butter with the crust, you place the melted butter and then LEAVE IT ALONE! And YES... add the butter first, then the crust mix and do NOT stir together, and then spoon on the peach mixture, and do not mix together. It is weird! I was certain I was screwing this up. No. It's heaven! I wavered from the Southern Living recipe a bit so here is what I did, and will do forever!
Peach Mixture:
8 Peaches, ripe but not over-ripe. (give or take, depends on size)
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
1 Tsp Vanilla (GOOD vanilla! Call me if you don't know what this is!)
Crust Mixture:
1/2 cup Butter, melted (1 Stick). This does not go in the mixture, it is melted and goes into the 13x9 by itself
In a medium size bowl mix:
1 cup Flour
1 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
Dash Nutmeg
Dash Salt
1 cup Milk
Start with the peaches. Peel them. Only a fool does this with a knife as I have seen on some recipe sites. Rookies! Slip the skins. Wash them well, and bring a pot of water to a boil. Insert 4 peaches at a time and leave them in the boiling water for about 45 seconds or so. Remove them onto a paper towel or a paper plate. Cool slightly and then with your fingers just pull apart the skin. It will slip right off. On a cutting board, slice the peaches in half and remove the pits, remove any pit remaining inside the middle of the fruit and slice the peaches into smaller sections. When they are all pitted and sliced, I like to give them a final rinse in a colander to make sure no hard parts of the pits are remaining.
Rinse the pot of the boiling peel water out, wash and dry, and use the same pot for the peach mixture. Add sliced peaches, 1 cup Sugar, 1 Tbsp Lemon Juice, 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon, and a dash of Nutmeg. Heat and stir until all the sugar is dissolved. Do not overcook, leave the peach mixture in the pot and remove from heat. Stir in 1 tsp of Vanilla to the peach mixture.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Prepare the crust mixture. In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup Sugar, 1 cup Flour, 1 Tbsp Baking Powder, 1/2 Tsp Cinnamon, Dash Nutmeg, Dash salt, and 1 cup milk. Whisk together until combined but do not overmix.
Assemble the cobbler.
Melt the 1/2 cup (one stick) butter, and put in the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish or foil pan. Spread it around and the LEAVE IT ALONE. Then place the crust mixture on top of the butter, as evenly as possible but do NOT mix it. It will look weird. It's ok.
Last, spoon the peach mixture onto the crust mixture, again you are NOT mixing, just spooning it on top evenly over the whole 13x9.
Bake 40-45 minutes and get a good golden brown top before removing it. The crust makes its way to the top because of the rising of the baking powder (SCIENCE!!) and results in a crust that has absorbed the delicious peachy syrup in the process. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. The cobbler stays fresh for days, if covered. Easy!
You have now, rightly, made a perfectly healthy fruit into a decadent dessert as it should be. Carry on!
