Early summer brings a bounty of fresh fruit, especially Georgia peaches. While there are many wonderful recipes for these orbs of juicy delight, nothing speaks more comfort than a good peach cobbler. Unfortunately there is a lot of bad peach cobbler. Many recipes do not compensate for the juice of the fruit – many times ending up with a soggy, soupy dessert. There is a time and place for fruit soup (we don’t know exactly when), but not with a dough the is suppose to provide a texture contrast. Then there are issues with the dough – if you’re not careful with mixing, it is easy to make rocks instead of a flaky topping.
Our resident kitchen scientist has coupled together the techniques from several other recipes, and we now have a wonderful fool-proof, easy way to make peach cobbler. We like to use yogurt instead of buttermilk, as we find the consistency of the biscuit more tender and flaky with the yogurt. You can use low fat or non-fat plain yogurt in place of the whole milk yogurt, giving a slightly less rich biscuit. Also, if you live in an arid climate, you will need an additional tablespoon of yogurt, or milk, to form a cohesive dough.
Fresh Peach Cobbler – From The Serious Foodie Recipe Files
Ingredients for Filling:
- 8-10 ripe peaches
- 3 tablespoons almond liqueur
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- Pinch of salt
Ingredients for Biscuit:
- 1 cup flour (5 ounces)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp backing powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- 1/3 cup plain whole milk yogurt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Directions
- Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees
- Peel peaches, then cut into ¼ inch wedges. Gently toss peaches and sugars together into a large bowl; let stand for 30 minutes, tossing several times.
- Drain peaches, and save liquid. Whisk the strained juice with cornstarch, lemon juice, and salt in a small pan. Toss peaches with this juice mixture, then transfer into a 9×9 deep glass baking dish. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes.
- While the peaches are baking, make the biscuit by combining the flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a food processor. Pulse 5 times to mix. Scatter butter over the mixture, then pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 pulses. Transfer to a medium bowl, add yogurt, then toss with spatula until a cohesive dough forms – Do not over mix.
- Form 6 pieces of dough, then place on top of the peaches. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon sugar onto the dough. Place into oven, and cook until the the top is golden brown, about 35 minutes.
