Guest Author - Shelley Pogue

Peach Cobbler reminds me of the summer season because of the fresh peaches, and making cobbler, and serving it with a good vanilla ice cream. My great grandmother Ruth Hoops used to make one of the best peach cobblers I have ever tasted. They had a couple of peach trees around and she would make her cobbler from the peaches that came from her peach tree. I do not have any recipes of hers because she never wrote any of them down. I have come to realize that I have had many relatives in my family that we very good in the kitchen. If you like what they are cooking, it doesn’t hurt to get the recipe on paper, if you want to have it for future generations.

I am going to give you my version of what I remember her peach cobbler tasting like. I hope that you will enjoy this recipe. If you live in the south and have access to Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla I highly recommend this ice cream to be used with this peach cobbler. Enjoy!
Ingredients you will need:
4 Cups of Fresh Peaches that have been pitted, and sliced.
1 Cups sugar
3/4 cup water
¼ Cup of light brown sugar
1/2 Teaspoon of cinnamon

You will need a sauce pan to add your ingredients for the first part of the recipe. First you will add your water, and cornstarch to the pan, and mix the cornstarch well into the water before you add any heat. You will then put the sauce pan over a medium heat. You will add both of your sugars. You will want to get them dissolved, so you will heat for about 2-3 minutes and you will then add the cinnamon, and peaches. You will cook these for about 5 to 10 minutes to get the peaches semi cooked and saturated in the sugar water mixture. You will then Remove from heat and hold until you create your dough mixture.

Ingredients for the dough:
2 Cups of flour Sifted
1 Cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
1 1/2 cups cold milk
6 Ounces of Cold butter
3 Tablespoons of sugar, this is optional, and it is added to the top of the dough crust before baking.

You will need a mixing bowl to make the last step of this recipe. It would probably be a good idea to go ahead and preheat your oven at this time to 350F if you have an electric oven and about 325F if you have a gas oven. If you have a convection oven turn the fan off for all of the baking other than the last 5 minutes or so.

You will add your sifted flour, sugar cinnamon and salt to the bowl first. Then add the butter and work the butter in with your hands for about 2 to 3 minutes at most. You will then add your milk and start to work it into dough. Do not overwork with your hands you will want a biscuit like consistency.

Now it is time to add all of our ingredients together. You will take a square or rectangular baking dish and add your peaches and juice to the bottom of the pan. You can do the dough in 2 different ways. You can roll it out lightly to fit the top of the pan and bake or you can make small dough balls and add it to the peach mixture and stir. I prefer to roll it out and place on the top of the cobbler with slits in the top, and then I bake it with a little dusting of sugar on top of the dough.

Some people like to use a biscuit mix or even biscuits out of a can. I have never tried it but I have heard that it works. So, if you want to play around with this recipe feel free to do it and let me know how it turns out. It is pretty hard to mess up a sugary dessert.

You will cook the peach cobbler for about 45 Minutes to an hour or until done depending on your oven. I do recommend that you turn your cobbler during baking about halfway through to ensure even baking. The top of the crust when it is done will be a light golden brown. You will want to remove when done and let cool for about 20 to 30 minutes, so it will not burn anyone. Add some vanilla ice cream and serve. Enjoy!