Peach Cobbler

I am a HUGE birthday person. It's just the way I am. I think they should be celebrated no matter if you're 1, 10 or 100. I guess it's in my blood because there isn't a holiday or birthday that goes uncelebrated on our dad's side of the family. We have never ever had a store-bought cake at parties because my mom always brought a homemade one. In the past few years, I have inherited that task and I love being the cake girl. I always try to make the birthday boy or girl's favorite cake no matter what. I even made an 11-layer cake a few months ago for a very special little boy!

Since coming to college I try to do the same thing for my friends for their birthdays. My friend Corey's birthday was a few weeks ago and with spring break, mid-terms and other things I haven't gotten around to making his birthday present for him until tonight! He requested peach cobbler instead of cake, with homemade "fluffy-whip." I have never heard it called fluffy whip but homemade whipped cream ain't nothin' but a thang. And of course I said yes to the peach cobbler!!

What you need:

Butter, peaches, lemon juice, sugar, salt, baking powder, flour, cinnamon, milk, vanilla extract and almond extract.

Start by exploding melting the butter in the dirty microwave. 

And pour it into a large casserole or 8x8 inch pan. I used a disposable cake pan since I'm taking it and leaving it somewhere and may never see my one good Pyrex cake pan ever again. (Not that that's happened or anything...)

This seems like a lot of butter, and thats because it is! Nothing wrong with a recipe starting out with a whole stick of butter before you even add anything else to the pan.

The original recipe calls for 4-5 peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced. Well, there is not a SINGLE peach on the shelves in the two grocery stores near my house. This is 2012, can't we grow something that looks and taste like a peach in a lab and call it good? Well, guess not. So, I used no sugar added jarred peaches from the refrigerated fruit section. Canned will work too, I just didn't feel like walking to that side of the store.

About 4-5 cups will do, I was right at four cups.

Add in lemon juice - again, not fresh, but it's what I had!

Stir.

And a few tablespoons of sugar.

Stir.

And dump right on top of that pool of butter!

Spread the peaches around until it's one even layer.

Now for the top crust-

I was out of cinnamon, but I had some mixed with Splenda I had made a while back for oatmeal and toast, so I just doubled up on the measurement of that.

Sugar,

salt,

baking powder,

and flour.

Whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, pour in some milk,

vanilla extract,

and almond extract.

 Add this mixture to the sugar/flour mixture..

and whisk to combine.

It will be more of a batter than a dough. Lots of cobbler recipes have a doughy/biscuity top but this is easier to spread and I think turns out great!

Carefully pour it all over the top as evenly as possible. It's okay if there are open spaces, cobbler is not meant to look perfect!

When it bakes, the batter will puff up and spread over the rest of the peaches.

Bake at 350º for about 45 minutes or until the cobbler is bubbly and the top is golden brown. 

Uhhh - yum. It was perfect. Crunchy top, not too bready; sweet gooey inside, not too runny. Delicious!

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream - or do like us and make homemade whipped cream - just whisk a cup of heavy cream with three tablespoons of sugar until it's the right consistency, or use a hand-mixer, just don't over-mix and turn it to butter!

Peach Cobbler

1/2 cup butter, melted
4-5 cups fresh peaches - peeled, pitted, and sliced – or two large jars
2 tsp. lemon juice
3 Tbs. sugar + 1 cup sugar, separated
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Pour butter in the
bottom of a large casserole or 8x8 inch pan. In a bowl, toss the
peaches with lemon juice. Add 3 tablespoons sugar and toss again
to coat. Pour into pan. In a mixing bowl, combine remaining
ingredients and stir gently. Spoon batter over the peaches. Bake
for 45 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the cobbler is bubbly
and the top is golden brown. Serve warm or cold.