A lovely peach cobbler

Apple Crisp? Rhubarb Crumble? Peach Cobbler? These type of puddings were all unknown to me until I moved to Edinburgh and shared my kitchen with postgrads from all over the world, including lots of Canadian girls doing diplomas in education. Whereas I was baking Canadian apple cakes, they were throwing together apple crumbles and crisps in no time whatsoever. I was hooked. I mean, I still make MY CAKE regularly, but sometimes you just want something even easier. There are differences between all those puddings (if you cannot tell your crisp, betty, cobbler, crumble, buckle, pandowdy and grunt apart, then read this definitive guide by Martha Stewart); this particular cobbler was inspired by a recipe and picture seen over at eGullet.

I've reduced the quantities a little, as well as replaced the self-rising flour with plain flour. Using demerara sugar gave a delicious hint of caramel to the finished dish, and we devoured it with some fresh vanilla custard.

Peach cobbler
(Virsikuvormi retsept)
Adapted from Food Network
Serves 4-6



Peach compote:
6 large peaches, stoned and sliced
150 ml demerara sugar
75 ml water

To the tin:
100 grams butter

Batter:
300 ml plain flour
a pinch of salt
2 tsp baking powder
200 ml sugar
300 ml milk

Put sliced peaches, sugar and water into a saucepan, shake to combine, and bring to the boil. Simmer on a low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring gently every now and then. Remove from the heat.

Take a medium-sized oven dish, put the butter into the dish and place into a 200 C oven to melt.

For the batter, mix sugar, flour, baking powder and a pinch of salt. Mix in the milk, little by little. Pour the batter onto the melted butter - do not mix!

Spoon the peach compote onto the batter, drizzle the sweet liquid on top.
Bake at 180 C for 30-45 minutes, until the cobbler is golden brown.

Serve with whipped cream, vanilla custard or vanilla ice cream.

UPDATE 18.8.2006
Sam included this post in her BlogHer entry "Once More Unto The Peach" - thank you, Sam!

UPDATE 21.8.2006
I made this cobbler again last night. My friend George came over to cook his famous lemon chicken in my kitchen for a mixed bunch of friends (George - a Greek/South African currently residing in the US, our friend Paul and his girlfriend Anjie - both English and studying/working in Edinburgh, and my Romanian friend Ruxandra who was visiting from England). I replaced about a fifth of the flour with wholemeal flour (simply because I ran out of plain flour), and scattered few handfuls of blackcurrants on top of the cobbler. Again, very tasty, the wholemeal flour making it somewhat more earthy and, well, wholesome, in flavour.