Grandma's Peach Cobbler

Never trust a peach cobbler recipe that has the phrases, "4-ingredient" or "super easy" or "quick and fast" in it!  If you want a high quality cobbler that the neighborhood ladies auxiliary is quietly very jealous of... then settle down, take a deep breath, clean your kitchen, get your tools, and prepare to slay some dragons (and some peaches)!  Let's do this...

You Will Need:

• 8 peaches, peeled, pitted, and sliced (7.5 Cups or so)
  
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the batter:

• 1 Stick Butter
  
• 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup whole milk

For the Topping:

• 1 Cup of all-purpose flour
• 1 Cup brown sugar
• 1 stick butter, melted but not "hot"

For the End:

• 1 Tsp Ground cinnamon
• 1 Tsp Ground nutmeg
• 2 Tbsp granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Gird your loins, this is a big one!  You may need an adult beverage and some great background music as you work through this one.  It would also help if you had a minion or two help clean the kitchen when you're done, because it will be sticky.

Get 8 sweet and delicious peaches.  Taste one first, to be sure... I used Palisade Peaches locally sourced here in Colorado... YUMMY!  Peel them, pit them, and slice them.  I wish I had a shortcut for this, I truly do.  I've tried them all and there's just not a fast way to do it.  Knuckle down, get it done.  

Add the sliced peaches, sugar and salt to a saucepan and stir to combine.  Cook and stir them over medium heat for just 5 minutes or so.  The sugar will dissolve and the peaches will let some of their juice go.  You'll be left with some warm peaches in their own syrup.  YUM!  Do not eat them  Yet... Just set them on a back burner for now.
    

Slice the butter into 8 pieces and distribute them around the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Place the pan in the oven while it preheats, to allow the butter to melt. AS SOON AS the butter is melted, remove the pan from the oven!  Swirl it around to make sure you've got complete coverage.
    

Now, in a large bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients for the batter, then pour in the milk and stir quickly until you have a nice uniform batter.  Pour the mixture into the pan, over the melted butter and smooth it into an even layer.
 

Grab your pot full of peaches and scoop the peaches and their juicy syrup in an even layer all over the top of the batter. Use a spoon to move the peaches around until you have a nice even layer.

Now for my favorite part!  Mix the brown sugar and flour together for the topping.  Stir with a fork and use your fingers to break up any brown sugar lumps.  The result should look like fine beach sand.  Pour the melted butter in and gently stir and mix by hand, with a fork, until you have a crumbly brown delicious goodness.  Sprinkle this goodness all over the cobbler.

 

 

 

CAREFULLY slide the pan into the oven.  I say "Carefully" because it's still mostly a liquid.  With the crumble on top, it doesn't LOOK like a liquid but; think of it as a juicy delicious peachy quicksand.  Don't let it slosh over!  Bake it at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.  During this time, mix together the nutmeg, cinnamon, and sugar.  Swirl it around in a cup to get it all mixed evenly together.

During this 45 minutes, amazing and miraculous things will happen!  The whole cobbler will turn itself upside down!!  Yep, the batter will slowly leach up to the top and take over.  You can watch this happen with your very eyes.  After 45 minutes the batter should have taken over.  Slide it out quickly, and sprinkle the nutmeg/cinnamon/sugar mixture on top.  Slid it back into the oven and watch it for another 20-30 minutes until the top of the batter has a nice light brown color.

Let it rest and cool for about an hour, then apply a scoop of Bluebell's "Peaches and homemade vanilla" ice-cream to the top and put your feet up...