Easy peach cobbler

I was excited to participate in Sarah's Blogger's Choice Swap again this month and got assigned Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations. Mary Ellen has a ton of great recipes for family meals and focuses on savory dishes. When I run out of ideas for dinners, I'll head over to her blog to see what ideas I can borrow.

For this month's recipe, I wanted to make something that I don't normally bake at home. I've already done cookies, cakes, pies, muffins and bars - all the typical things you'd think of when it comes to baking. One thing I haven't tried yet is cobbler.

I have had cobbler a few times in restaurants and at potlucks or parties, but I've never attempted a cobbler on my own. Mary Ellen's version looked simple enough so I decided to choose this for my baking challenge. Because we normally have an abundance of desserts at my house, I chose to halve the recipe (changes not reflected below). I wanted to get a taste of the cobbler but not have a ton left over.

Although I halved the recipe below, I forgot to adjust my baking times. Oops! As you can see, the cobbler got dark brown on top, but it did provide a nice crunchy texture! I still enjoyed this recipe and would make it again - perhaps with other types of fruits next time for some variation. I did find the cobbler to be slightly sweet for my tastes, but it was probably because the peaches I used were already ripe. I'd cut down on the sugar a bit for ripe peaches but would keep the measurements the same for unripened fruit.

Thanks for this recipe, Mary Ellen!

Ingredients

For the peaches:

• 8 peaches, pitted and sliced (the original recipe notes that the peaches should be peeled, but I got lazy and didn't)
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice (I omitted)
• 2 tsp cornstarch

For the crust:

• 1 c flour
• 1/4 c white sugar
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
• 1/4 c boiling water
• 3 tbsp white sugar mixed with 1 tsp ground cinnamon (I used Penzey's cinnamon sugar)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients for the peaches. Toss to coat, then pour into a baking dish. Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine some of the ingredients for the crust: flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Finally, stir in the water until just combined.

Remove the peaches from the oven and drop spoonfulls of the crust mixture over the top. Sprinkle the entire cobbler with the sugar/cinnamon mixture and bake for 30 minutes until bubbly.

Yield: 4 servings (according to Allrecipes.com). My halved recipe could easily serve 4-6 people, so I don't know what types of portion sizes Allrecipes was using!

Source: Mary Ellen's Cooking Creations; originally from Allrecipes.com