I’m not a huge dessert person – I would much rather spend my calories on an array of spicy and salty charcuterie, delicious cheeses and a glass (or two) of wine! Throw in some fresh bread with a touch of butter to that mix and I’m in heaven – chocolate cake need not apply!! I don’t know if that’s because growing up if we had dessert, it was something simple like chocolate pudding, fresh fruit or jell-o…or the dreaded fruit inside the jell-o (cringe)… it was the 70’s …anyone? Anyone?
My kids and husband however love them a little something sweet after dinner from time to time. On one particular Saturday night, everyone was in agreement that dessert sounded like a great idea! I had just put my “fat pants” and t-shirt on, and wasn’t about to change so that I could make a trip to the grocery store for dessert. After looking in my freezer and seeing a couple of bags of frozen peaches, I remembered tabbing a recipe a while back for ‘Sweet Peach Cobbler’.
I was thrilled when looking at the list of ingredients, that I had everything on hand! I’ve since made this dessert MANY times! If you’re a fan of peaches, this is the dessert for you and so perfect for summer! It’s light, fresh tasting and SOOO delicious served over a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice-cream or frozen yogurt. Speaking of yogurt, leftovers are SOOO yummy poured over some Greek yogurt! It’s crazy easy to make, and BONUS, considering I got the recipe from one of my old standby cookbooks, ‘Cook Yourself Sexy’ this is one dessert you can feel good about eating!
Let’s get those ingredients ready:
Peach Filling: Frozen Peaches (unsweetened), fresh Lemon Juice, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg and granulated sugar. Oat Topping: all-purpose flour, baking SODA, baking POWDER, salt, butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla extract, water and rolled oats*
To defrost the peaches, I just threw the bags into the sink and let them hang out a room temp when I decided I was going to make it. Then I poured out the peaches into a colander and let it hangout in the sink while I got everything else ready.
In a large saucepan, combine thawed peaches, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice, stirring well so that the peaches are evenly coated.
The book says to “Cook the peach filling over med heat, stirring constantly until the mixture begins to thicken.” I (being an impatient cook and not a baker) always just cook it for about 5 minutes to take the rest of the chill off and melt the sugar, and sometimes I’ll add a touch of cornstarch to help thicken it up. Why? Because I just don’t have the time (ok fine, patience) to stand at the stove stirring waiting for it to thicken up…but by all means, if you do, go for it! 🙂
Pour the peach filling into an ungreased 8” x 8” baking dish and set aside. I have to tell you, my daughter and I could stop at this point, and just pour this oh so scrumptious peach mixture over some frozen yogurt and just go to town!! We love this stuff!!
My kids and I have made this so many times, that they could probably make this one by themselves at this point (it’s so easy!). For the topping, in a small bowl just whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, whisk the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla. Once it’s well blended, add the water and whisk well until the color slightly lightens (like the color of peanut butter).
Whisk the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until there aren’t any lumps, and then switch to a spatula and stir in the oats until incorporated. My son loves whisking and stirring, so he mixes it until it looks kind of like oatmeal instead of stopping when it’s “just incorporated”, so our topping is never über lumpy like typical cobblers but more cakey (if that makes sense?) ** We love cinnamon, so we also sprinkle some into this mixture.
Using a large spoon, drop the oat mixture onto the peach mixture. My daughter loves doing this part, and she kind of spreads the whole thing on top, covering all of the peaches.
Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the topping is a darker golden brown. ** I use my convection oven, so mine is ready in about 25-30 minutes. I put in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn it, and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes keeping an eye on it the last couple of minutes to see when it’s ready.
Let cook for about 20 minutes or so before serving to give the juices a chance to thicken up a bit. Or, if you’re like us, you wait about 5 minutes and scoop it right on out! Enjoy Xoxo
Sweet Peach Cobbler
Original Recipe by Candace Kumai
***Original measurements in black and my adjustments in parentheses
Peach Filling:
– ½ C granulated sugar (I use more like ½ C PLUS a couple of tablespoons 🙂 )
– ¼ tsp cinnamon (I use a ‘healthy’ ½ tsp!)
– ¼ tsp ground nutmeg (I grate my own nutmeg on a microplane for like 5 to 7 seconds. Since nutmeg is super strong, if I were using ground it would only use more like a pinch)
– 5 to 6 C fresh or frozen and thawed, peeled, pitted and sliced peaches (I use two bags of whole foods 365 brand – it’s my favorite)
– 2 TBS fresh lemon juice (I just juice one large lemon – it’s usually about 2 TBS)
Oat Topping:
– ½ C all-purpose flour
– ½ tsp baking soda
– ½ tsp baking powder
– ¼ tsp sea salt (I just use a pinch of kosher salt – and we also like to add another sprinkle of cinnamon)
– 2 TBS butter, softened (I melt mine in microwave for 11 seconds since we whisk it by hand and not with a mixer)
– ½ C brown sugar, firmly packed (I pack the HECK out of mine…and add another TBS)
– 1 egg
– 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
– ¼ C water
– 1 ½ C rolled oats (the last time I made this, I only had like a scant C of rolled oats, SO I used a little over ½ C of quick cooking oats to complete the 1 ½ C – it turned out a little more “cakey” but still so good!)
