The Music Man looovvees cobbler. On a recent trip to my home state of Ohio, he devoured some super yummy cobbler whipped up by my sweet cousin Liz. I thought this would satisfy his cobbler cravings, but it appears that it merely whetted his appetite for more. When his birthday approached he asked for cobbler instead of cake. Here's what we made...
Peach Cobbler
Filling:
5 cups sliced fresh peaches* (about 6-8 peaches)
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. cornstarch
Topping:
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
4 Tbs. packed brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
6 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup half & half
Filling: Place sliced fresh peaches in a large sauce pan, barely cover with water and heat just to a simmer, cook for five minutes then remove from heat and let set another five minutes, barely softening the peaches. Drain peaches, reserving your liquid. Combine sugar and cornstarch with 1 cup of the reserved liquid. Place your sliced peaches in a shallow baking pan, cover with sugar mixture and set aside.
Topping: Finely dice or grate butter and place in the freezer to set. In the bowl of a food processor combine flours, sugar, baking powder and salt - pulse till well combined. Add grated butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal (8-10 pulses). Transfer flour mixture to a large bowl and gently add the half and half, stirring until just combined. Spoon balls of mixture on top of the fruit. Bake 1 hour at 375 degrees. The topping should be golden brown and fruit should bubble.
*Live-It-Up Variation: can substitute 5 cups of fresh blueberries in place of peaches, adding the zest of 1/2 lemon and leaving all other ingredients the same.
