Sunday, July 26, 2015

Ripe Peaches? .... Cobbler is born.....

Bought some peaches at my local Mexican Market (3 lbs for $1) but they were hard as rocks, so we leave them out on the fruit bowl to ripen and if you know fruit, that could be right away, take a long time or never happen..... In this case got home from work today and TA DA! Peaches are ripe and we better use them AT THIS VERY MOMENT or they won't be the same.....

Too pretty to waste, luscious and meaty, sweet and perfect. Decided to go on a nostalgic trip with these and make a great Peach Cobbler like the one we used to serve in our restaurants, with the exception that in our Las Vegas place "Quinta Belina" it was Mango Cobbler served with my homemade Mango Ice Cream and it was amazing! Once we were not able to get fresh mangos (even imported ones) and decided to use canned and it worked out, but fresh is always best, ok? In a pinch, even canned fruit cocktail would work. Always drain canned fruit really well and do not add extra sugar to toss with, they'll be sweet enough.

This is the easiest, quickest cobbler recipe I've come across and if you've had any professional experience you know that simple yet consistent is best. I've simplified the recipe to the bare bones without sacrificing any flavor and it always comes out excellently. Plus, it's very flexible and let's you change out the fruit or combination of fruits, you can make it full of spices or with a mild flavor, serve with ice cream or just whipped cream.... it's all your choice.

I also made a large cobbler since I had 6 very large peaches and they yielded about 6 cups of fruit. I'll give the recipe to use a 9 x 13 baking pan so if you want to make a 4 cup size and use a 8 x 8 or 3 Qt baking pan you can cut the ingredients in half.


PEACH COBBLER:  

For the fruit:
6 cups fresh, cut up fruit
1 cup sugar
1 Tbl ground cinnamon

For the pan:

8 - 10 tbl of butter cut in squares.

Put the fruit in a large bowl, add the sugar and cinnamon and toss really well. Let rest while you make the batter and get the pan ready.

Oven at 350F. Cover your pan with some non-stick spray or spread some butter or coconut oil all over to prevent sticking.

For the Batter:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3 tsp Baking Powder            *NOTE: Or you can use 2 cups self rising flour and
1 tsp Salt                                                omit the Baking Powder and Salt
2 cups milk
1/2 Nutmeg nut grated on Microplane or 1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground


How to put it together: 

You can use a mixer or a hand held mixer. In a large bowl put the flour, sugar, Baking Powder, Salt and combine well. Add the nutmeg. Add the milk and blend well so no lumps can be seen.

Put the butter into the baking pan, place in pre-heated oven and allow to melt for about 3-4 minutes. Don't let it burn.

Once the butter is melted, take out of the oven and pour all of the batter on top of the melted butter. Yes, it is a lot of butter but never mind. Make sure it's even over all the Baking Pan. Now drop the fruit onto the batter making sure to evenly space it over the batter so that every inch of the cobbler will contain fruit when you serve it.

You can add additional cinnamon on top if you like. I tend to sprinkle some crystal sugar over top to make it sparkle.

Now place in the oven for about 45 min. but you will need to keep checking until a knife comes out clean. Every oven is different so it will take the time it will need, ok?

Allow to cool slightly, I like it hot especially if being served with ice cream, but you can whip up some whipped cream or stabilized whipped cream or whatever you like, it'll be great!

Hope you enjoy an old favorite and make it for your family. Start a tradition of your own!  This is also amazing with Blackberries, Blueberries, Mixed Berries, Plums, Apricots, Strawberry and Rhubarb, Pineapple, Mango.... the list can go on and on....

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