Summertime means swimming, grilling, and of course, taking advantage of all the great fresh fruit in season. I love a good cobbler, and after fiddling with this recipe, I can say this is just the most insanely delicious, sweet-salty-tart, crunchy-gooey cobbler I've ever had. Be sure to choose peaches (or nectarines) that are really ripe, just not to the point of mushy. A hard peach without a lot of juice will be more difficult to slice and will result in a more tart cobbler. Otherwise, this is a very simple recipe, even if you don't bake! I hope you try it and let me know how it is.
Filling:
2 tbsp butter
8 fresh ripe peaches, pitted and sliced
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp ground cinnamon
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice, plus zest
3 tbsp tapioca
3 Tbsp cornstarch
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
6 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup boiling water
Topping:
5 tablespoons turbinado sugar (AKA chunky, "sugar in the raw" style sugar).
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 F. Use 2 tbsp butter to grease a 2 quart baking dish. In a large bowl, combine sliced peaches, white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, lemon zest, lemon juice, tapioca and cornstarch.
Toss together until evenly coated. Bake peach mixture in buttered baking dish for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, begin preparing the crust. In another large bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, white sugar, baking powder and salt together.
Next, add the chilled butter pieces.
Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, quickly cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles thick sand with no large lumps of butter.
Stir in boiling water and mix until combined, being careful not to over-mix.
Remove the baking dish from the oven and cover the peaches with spoonfuls of the dough.
Combine cinnamon and turbinado sugar.
Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar generously all over the top of the cobbler, then bake for another 35-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Let sit for at least 1 hour before serving warm with whipped cream or ice cream!
