Cobblers, crumbles, crisps. I love them all. I can almost guarantee you that on any New England restaurant’s dessert menu, there’s at least one of these. With so much fresh fruit available – like peaches and apples this time of year – what’s better than layering them with butter, sugar, and crispy topping?
A cobbler is basically a baked fruit dessert with a biscuit-like topping. It’s like a denser, doughier pie. My peach cobbler layers juicy, brown butter and sugar-coated peaches. The filling isn’t too sweet yet it’s so richly caramelized and buttery. All topped with the best part – the soft yet slightly crispy biscuit topping – that sops up all that buttery, peachy goodness.
I suggest getting out the spoons and the vanilla Häagen-Dazs pint now.
Makes: 10-inch cobbler for roughly 4 people
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
The Ingredients
For the topping:
1 cup flour
4 tablespoons cold salted butter
¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup whole milk (+1-2 tablespoons if too dry)
½ tablespoon real vanilla extract
Optional: turbinado sugar, to sprinkle (adds nice texture!)
For the filling:
8 medium ripe peaches, cored and cut into small wedges
6 tablespoons salted butter
1 tablespoon light brown sugar, packed
½ tablespoon real vanilla extract
Optional: ½ tablespoon cinnamon (I don’t personally add cinnamon)
The Steps
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a well-seasoned 10-inch cast iron skillet, add peaches. To make sure your cobbler doesn’t taste metallic from the cast iron, you may want to rub skillet with butter or spray with oil. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, use a large oven-safe pan. Differences in pan size or material may change the cooking time by 5 minutes or so!
For the peach filling: in a separate small pan, add 6 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Let butter melt, start to bubble, and then brown, a process that takes about 4-8 minutes. Once the butter begins to brown, turn heat to low and shake pan slightly to move butter around for even browning. Let butter turn nut, mahogany brown (may take another 2-4 minutes). Turn heat off. Add 1 tablespoon light brown sugar and ½ tablespoons vanilla (and cinnamon, if preferred). When you add the vanilla, the butter will start bubbling and spattering so be careful! Stir mixture well, and pour over peaches in skillet. Use a spoon to gently mix peaches with butter mixture. Spread peaches out evenly in skillet.
For the topping: In a large bowl, add flour, remaining brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a whisk to combine. Add butter and cut into the flour mixture with a fork or pastry cutter. Mixture should resemble a coarse crumble with small chunks of butter.
Add remaining vanilla and ¼ cup milk. Use a spoon to combine and form into a ball of dough. If mixture is too dry and won’t form into a ball, add a tablespoon or two more of milk. Don’t add too much all at once as dough will quickly become too sticky!
Use hands to pinch off small portions of dough, dropping them on top of the peach mixture in the skillet. I like to spread the dough out evenly around the skillet until all dough is used. There should be small pockets of the skillet that still have exposed peaches. It should look super rustic! Sprinkle turbinado sugar on the top of the dough (about a ½ tablespoon or so in total).
To bake: Bake cobbler in the oven for 23-28 minutes, until the topping is light golden and peach mixture is bubbling. Let cool for 15 minutes before enjoying as-is, with vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream.
The Steps with Video & Pictures
Preheat oven to 375. In a well-seasoned 10-inch cast iron skillet, add peaches. To make sure your cobbler doesn’t taste metallic from the cast iron, you may want to rub skillet with butter or spray with oil. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, use a large oven-safe pan. Differences in pan size or material may change the cooking time by 5 minutes or so!
For the peach filling: in a separate small pan, add 6 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Let butter melt, start to bubble, and then brown, a process that takes about 6-8 minutes. Once the butter begins to brown, turn heat to low and shake pan slightly to move butter around for even browning. Let butter turn nut, mahogany brown (may take another 2-4 minutes). Turn heat off. Add 1 tablespoon light brown sugar and ½ tablespoons vanilla (and cinnamon, if preferred). When you add the vanilla, the butter will start bubbling and spattering so be careful! Stir mixture well, and pour over peaches in skillet. Use a spoon to gently mix peaches with butter mixture. Spread peaches out evenly in skillet.
For the topping: In a large bowl, add flour, remaining brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Use a whisk to combine. Add butter and cut into the flour mixture with a fork or pastry cutter. Mixture should resemble a coarse crumble with small chunks of butter.
Add remaining vanilla and ¼ cup milk. Use a spoon to combine and form into a ball of dough. If mixture is too dry and won’t form into a ball, add a tablespoon or two more of milk. Don’t add too much all at once as dough will quickly become too sticky!
Use hands to pinch off small portions of dough, dropping them on top of the peach mixture in the skillet. I like to spread the dough out evenly around the skillet until all dough is used. There should be small pockets of the skillet that still have exposed peaches. It should look super rustic! Sprinkle turbinado sugar on the top of the dough (about a ½ tablespoon or so of sugar in total).
To bake: Bake cobbler in the oven for 23-28 minutes, until the topping is light golden and peach mixture is bubbling. Let cool for 15 minutes before enjoying as-is, with vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream.
