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–+ servings

Best Summer Southern Peach Cobbler

adapted from Scott Peacock
Classic summer dessert using fresh peaches.
5 from 1 vote
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Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Equipment

Ingredients
  

Pastry Dough

  • 1 1/2 cups unbleached all~purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon granulated flour
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter cut into 1/2~inch pieces and freeze 10 minutes
  • 2 tablespoons Crisco cut into 2 pieces and freeze 10 minutes
  • 4~6 tablespoons ice water

Cobbler Filling

  • 8 cups peeled, sliced peaches firm, but ripe
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons all~purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter thinly sliced

Instructions
 

Pastry Dough

  • Put the flour, salt and sugar in a large cutting board and mix them with your fingers to blend.
  • Put the frozen butter and Crisco on top of the flour mixture, and use a large kitchen knife or pastry scraper to cut the fats into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some butter and Crisco pieces still as large as 1/2~inch. Ideally, half the of the fat should be cut finely into the flour and the other half left in larger chunks.
  • Working quickly, gather the flour~fat mixture into a mound and, using your fingers, draw a trench lengthwise through the center. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of the ice water down the length of the trench, and with your fingers spread apart, fluff the flour so that it absorbs the water. Redraw the trench and continue incorporating the ice water by tablespoons in the same manner. After you have incorporated 4 tablespoons of the ice water, the dough should begin to clump together into large pieces. If there are any unmassed areas, sprinkle them lightly with droplets of water and mix as before.
  • Gather the dough into a mass with a pastry scraper and, again working quickly, with the heel of your hand, smear a lunk of dough roughly the size of an egg by pushing it away from you. Continue with pieces of dough until the entire mass has been processed this way.
  • When finished, gather all the dough together with a pastry scraper and repeat the process. Regather the dough, quickly shape it into a flat disk, and wrap it in a double thickness of plastic wrap. Use the palm of your hand to flatten the disk even more.
  • Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or overnight.
  • Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll out into a circle 1 1/2 inches larger than your pie plate. Line the pie plate with the dough and trim it to leave a 1/2~inch overhang of pastry dough. Fold the overhang under, forming a thick edge on the rim of the pan.
  • Reserve the extra dough for the cobbler topping.

Filling and Assembly of Cobbler

  • Preheat the oven to 425˚F.
  • Fill the pastry~lined pie plate with the peaches.
  • Mix the sugar, flour, salt and nutmeg in a small bowl and sprinkle over the peaches. Top with the butter slices.
  • With your fingers, roll pieces of the reserved dough into balls and flatten with your fingers. Place the pieces evenly over the top of the peaches and butter slices.
  • Place the pie plate on a half~sheet pan. Bake the cobbler for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375˚F. and bake for 30 ~ 40 minutes longer, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
  • Cool the cobbler on a rack until it is warm and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Notes

I assisted Scott Peacock when he came to Sur La Table to teach cooking lessons. Scott was a sweetheart. He worked for years with Edna Lewis, an icon in Southern Cooking. She was always referred to as Miss Lewis.
Keyword peach cobbler, peach dessert, peach pie, summer dessert
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