Saturday, September 24, 2011

Mormon Peach Cobbler



Cobblers—we love the fruit and cake combination of these old-fashioned comfort foods. The fruit, usually immersed in a sweet syrup, is traditionally covered with a biscuit topping so that it has the rough, uneven appearance of cobblestones—hence the name “cobblers”. Now, the top is often more cake-like than biscuit-like.

Years ago, while vacationing in Yellowstone Park, we found a little cookbook titled Mormon Cooking: Authentic Recipes. Buried in the back of this book was a recipe for peach cobbler that was terrific. Over the years, we tinkered with the recipe using canned peaches instead of fresh and adding cinnamon and more butter. We think the result is divine. And you can always go back to fresh peaches—or another fruit for that matter—but canned fruit just makes this dessert so easy.

Here's the recipe:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Fruit Mixture

1 29 ounce size can of sliced peaches in syrup
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Drain the juice into a saucepan. Mix a little of the juice with cornstarch to make a soft paste and add the paste to the rest of the juice. Add the spices.

Heat until bubbly, stirring as needed. The syrup should thicken to a slurry.

Pour the slurry and peaches into a small casserole dish.

Topping

1 egg
1/3 cup milk
4 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, whisk the butter, milk, and egg together. Add the sugar and stir.

Combine the dry ingredients and add them to the liquid mixture. Stir until well combined.

Spoon over the peach mixture so that the fruit is covered.

Bake for 45 minutes or until the top is a golden brown.

Serving suggestions

Serve hot or cold. We prefer it hot with vanilla ice cream or even cold milk.