Henri - Peaches

Peach cobbler – Mary Berry’s Complete Cookbook, Good Housekeeping, New Zealand ‘Edmond’s Cookbook

Picking the first ingredient!  What a challenge! So when Lauren and I made a trip to Whole Foods the other day (and what can I say, it was heaven and I aspire to shop there on a regular basis) I was in awe of the fresh fruit and vegetables piled high in mountains.  I can only pray it all gets bought otherwise it would be sacrilege! What caught my eye were the flat peaches; I had never seen them before and immediately wanted to try them, and so comes my desire to cook something with peaches. You’ll come to learn that Lauren is the baker, and I the cook; that’s not to say I don’t enjoy baking, but personally I find it a little finicky whilst savoury cooking allows for a bit more lenience and slap-hazard ingredient adding.  But alas, I chose peaches so it had to be that I chose a pudding – note I chose pudding not dessert since puddings to me are more traditional and can thus be a little less prim and proper and little more rustic looking! There’s no real reason I opted for a cobbler, it just popped into my head and I went with it.  I used a selection of recipes, but basically followed Mary Berry’s blackberry and apple cobbler and adapted it.  The New Zealand cookbook came in handy because I am yet to invest in any scales, (though since now starting a cooking blog I think it may be time, and they give conversions into cups which is particularly rustic I feel).

Ingredients

8 large peaches

60g (2oz) caster sugar

Cinnamon stick

Cobbler topping

250g (8oz) self-raising flour

60g (2oz) butter – cubed

90g (3oz) caster sugar

90ml buttermilk, plus extra for glazing (I used buttermilk because it gives a little extra richness)

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 220˚c (200˚c fan, gas mark 7). 

Core and cut the peaches into eighths, but size is of personal preference.  Put the peaches into a saucepan with a cup or two of water, to create the juice of the cobbler, and the sugar.  This is where my mum said own initiative and personal taste comes in; add as much sugar as is desired for your own level of sweetness. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the peaches are tender.

  

Making the cobbler topping was the best bit, and I have a couple of tips from my grandma from when she taught me to cook as a little girl – you should have cold hands when making pastry, and when making the texture of breadcrumbs only use your fingertips and never allow your palms to get flour on them.  Anyway, sieve the flour into a bowl, add the cubes of butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Add in the sugar, buttermilk and mix to a soft dough. 

Roll out the dough on to a lightly floured surface to the thickness of 1cm.  Cut out as many shapes as you desire to cover the fruit in – here I had to use a glass as a rolling pin and the rim of the glass as a cutter (another investment needed).

 

Transfer the fruit to an ovenproof dish and place the cobbles on top, brushing them with buttermilk to glaze. 

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes until the cobbler topping is golden brown.  Bon appetite!