Trees overflowing with peaches: tangy yellow and sophisticated white, luscious and juicy. Once they appear, they seem to ripen all at once. What to do with all those beautiful gems? Time for peach everything!!! Ice cream, jam… but of course, peach cobbler. Alice Waters has a classic recipe in her Art of Simple Food cookbook; Ina Garten combines peaches and raspberries for a delicious crisp.
But here’s a new twist, taken from an old Junior League recipe appearing in the Los Angeles Times: make the batter and put it in your pan, THEN add the macerated peaches and cook. As it bakes, the fruit will rise to the top, the dough will sink down and puff up along the sides, and the aroma in your kitchen will waft throughout the house and into the street! Just be sure to use very ripe peaches — we prefer yellow ones for this.
It’s a showstopper, and sweet as a summer night.
- Biscuit Topping
- ¼ cup butter at room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup milk
- Fruit Filling
- 3 cups peeled and quartered peaches
- ½ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1½ cups water
- Can serve alone or with a scoop of vanilla or butter pecan ice cream.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- To make the biscuit topping
- Cream butter and sugar together. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder. Add to butter alternately with milk. Pour into shallow greased 2-quart baking dish.
- To make the filling:
- Spoon 3 cups peaches over Biscuit Topping batter. Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon, and water. (Yes, it's counter-intuitive, but do it! It will work!) Bake until set and light brown on top, about 45 to 50 minutes. Fruit will sink, we promise!
No peaches in FL…will this work with mango?
Msgr, Yes, I don’t see why that wouldn’t work; I would also try it with berries. It will be heavenly.
Ohhh YUMMMM!
Little known fact: in 1986, I won a blue ribbon at the Nevada County Fair for my peach pie! Last week, I made it again for my friends on the 4th of July and my recipe rang true 26 years later – It was a hit!
Wow, that’s fantastic! Will you share your recipe with us?!?
Can this work with plums? Jacquie’s yard is full of them and they are delicious..would love to use them for this recipe????
I Love “Food and Friendship”!
Hi Nancy — The recipe would work with plums too, but you might vary the amount of sugar, depending on how tart the fruit is. A yard full of plums, wow! They would be great in jam, or a crumble, crisp, or tatin… we’ll try to have a post on that soon! Thanks so much for your comment; glad you’re enjoying the blog!