Texas Peach Cobbler

Peach season in Texas is not to be missed.  Roadside stands lining the back roads feature a ridiculous assortment of freshly-picked peaches as well as peach ice cream, peach pastries, peach pie, peach butter and peach preserves.   We have been planning our annual pilgrimage to Hill Country to gorge on these delights, but work and family obligations keep delaying our trip.  Luckily, this year the peaches came to us by way of our dear family friend Kenny.

Kenny gave us a big bag of peaches from Rhew Orchards in Floresville, a town southeast of San Antonio.  By the time they got to us, the peaches were perfectly ripe and so juicy that the bottom of the bag was leaking.  The fruit definitely had to be used right away, so we pulled out our favorite cobbler recipe.  This recipe works with almost any fruit, and is perfect in a pinch because it comes together so quickly.  We've used this recipe to make strawberry cobbler, blackberry cobbler, and rhubarb-strawberry cobbler.  The buttery biscuit topping can't be beat.  It complements the fresh peaches perfectly here, although frozen peaches would work well too if you aren't lucky enough to be in Texas during peach season.

Texas Peach Cobbler

Ingredients

Filling

6            cups        peaches, sliced
3            Tbs          unbleached A.P. flour
1/3         cup          sugar
1/8         tsp           cinnamon
                             pinch of salt

Topping

1 1/2            cup        unbleached A.P. flour
1/4               tsp         salt
1                  Tbs        baking powder
2                  Tbs        sugar (plus more to sprinkle on top)
4                  Tbs        unsalted butter, cubed and kept cold
1                  cup        heavy cream
                                 sugar for sprinkling                        


Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 for convection oven, or 375 for regular oven.  
2. Combine all the filling ingredients, mix well, and put into 8" pyrex baking dish.  Or, use individual ramekins to make individual cobblers (these are perfect for dinner parties if you're so inclined).
3. Make topping.  First, combine all dry ingredients.  Then cut in the butter to resemble coarse meal using your fingers or a fork.
4. Add cream and mix until uniformly moist.  Spoon out on top of filling.  It should be plopped on in clumps.  You don't want a perfectly smooth topping.  Sprinkle the biscuit generously with granulated sugar.
5. Bake in oven until top is golden brown, about 40 minutes.  If you used a glass pyrex, you will also see the fruit bubbling.  
6. Serve warm topped with clotted cream, whipped cream or ice cream.
7. Leftovers refrigerate and re-heat well.

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