Still channelling peaches, Nigel investigates the differences between three popular toppings, especially good for those who are intimidated by making pastry for a pie.

I mentioned peach cobbler a few weeks ago, as one of the favourite desserts on offer at the long closed Underground Railroad restaurant in Toronto. I was going to add a link to the recipe, when I discovered to my amazement that it was not to be found in any of my three cookbooks or any of the past decade’s more than 350 blogs. I had vague memories of how to assemble it and eventually found a very stained recipe card in the back of one of my reference books. But I had not made the dish for many years, so it was time to try again. The result at a cosy weekend dinner, if you follow the cleaned-up recipe below, was simply delicious, made better with the addition of a scoop of vanilla ice cream. There was enough left over to serve it again, warmed up, at a delightful lunch the next day, and it was, if anything is possible, even better. Perhaps the two bottles of Crémant de Loire rosé we consumed helped it go down.

‘Cobbler’ intrigued me and I had no idea where it came from. We may recall that cobbler is an old name for a shoemaker. In Barbados, we got married at Cobblers Cove, but that’s what locals call a native seabird. ‘A load of cobblers’ is Cockney rhyming slang for nonsense. There are all sorts of theories for the dish’s name. Given that the dish was first recorded in the old south in 1859. That was a time when the settlers in America were migrating west and putting together meals on the road made from anything they could lay their hands on, or could be stored and brought along, or literally ‘cobbled together,’ I prefer that explanation to others.

It has subsequently become a signature dish in Georgia, the peach tree state.

Cobbler is a dessert consisting of a fruit filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a batter, biscuit dough or in England, a dumpling or scone mix. Some cobbler recipes, especially in the American South, resemble a thick-crusted, deep-dish pie with both a top and bottom crust. So even though I had never heard of a cobbler in England and did not discover it until the 70s in Canada, it is clearly part of the cuisine of several countries.

It’s not to be confused with crumble and crisp, which just vary with their toppings, the former made with flour and the latter with oatmeal. In my cobbler recipe, the fruit goes on top of the batter, which creeps up around the luscious filling as it cooks and puffs up around it. If it were a savoury dish, you might compare it with TOAD-IN-THE-HOLE. Although my COBBLER, CRUMBLE and CRISP are all made with peaches, apples, apricots, berries, cherries, nectarines and plums all work equally well.

PEACH COBBLER

• Servings: 4
• Print

Shopping list

• 8 peaches, peeled, cored and sliced (about 4 cups)
• ½ lemon, juiced
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¼ tsp salt

Batter

• 4 TBSP unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup milk

Topping

• 3 TBSP brown sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preparation and cooking

1. In a pan mix lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt. Add the sliced fresh peaches and stir to combine.
2. Cook on medium heat for a few minutes, until the sugar is dissolved. Set aside.
3. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F. Slice butter into pieces and add to a 9 x 13 in baking dish. Place the dish in the oven while it preheats, to allow the butter to melt. Once melted, remove the pan from the oven.
4. In a large bowl make a batter: mix together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in milk, until combined. Pour the mixture into the pan, over the melted butter and smooth it into an even layer.
5. Spoon the peaches and juice over the batter without mixing: the batter will rise through the fruit as it cooks. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mixture generously over the top.
6. Bake for about 40 mins. Serve warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Shopping list

Filling

• 450 g/ 1 lb sliced peaches, fresh or bottled, skins and pits removed
• ¼ cup white granulated sugar
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar

Topping

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed down
• ½ cup butter, chilled but not frozen
• ½ tsp vanilla essence
• ½ tsp cinnamon

Preparation and cooking

1. Prep peaches by dropping whole into a pot of boiling water. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drop into a bowl of iced water. The skins should slip right off. OPTION: To substitute canned or bottled peaches, use 950 mL / 1 quart with their juice.
2. In a bowl, mix all the dry filling ingredients. Add the prepared peaches and lemon juice and mix together.
3. Spray the inside of the baking dish with vegetable spray and pour in the fruit mixture.
4. Meanwhile, make the topping. Mix the flour and sugar in a bowl, add the chilled chopped chunks of butter and mix in well until it has the texture of sand. Add a pinch of salt and mix in well.
5. Beginning at the outer edges, to prevent the juice rising up the sides, spoon the topping evenly over the filling. Press it down with the back of the spoon and then make a cross hatch of lines with a large fork. This helps make the top crisp.
6. Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top is crisp and golden brown. Serve hot or cold, with fresh whipped cream, crème anglaise or a scoop of ice cream.

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