Perfect Peach Cobbler

Is there a more irresistible sign of summer than a farmer’s market full of stone fruits? They have such a short season that if you blink (or go on vacation at the wrong time), you’ll miss the best bites. So you have to make the most of the plums, peaches, apricot, and cherries while they’re available. And of course, that means dessert.

While there are any number of delicious ways to serve fresh, baked, or grilled peaches, I think the absolute classic is peach cobbler. I make a lot of cobblers over the summer, and a lot of crisps in the fall, as “healthy” desserts (I know, I know – but for me this is pretty close). But the tough thing about these fruit based desserts is that the texture varies considerably according to how ripe the fruit is, how juicy, how firm – all the things you really don’t know until they’ve cooked up. While most are still edible, they are unpredictable. But never fear – I found the answer.

Cook’s Illustrated (one of my favorites – the magazine equivalent of Alton Brown) published a peach cobbler recipe a few years back that I unearthed recently when cleaning out my cookbook shelves. They’ve managed, as usual, to take a classic recipe, deconstruct it, and re-assemble the ingredients with scientific accuracy and delicious results. Here, the peaches are coated in sugar and drained, ensuring you have just the right amount of liquid (texture is perfect). The biscuit dough uses yogurt to provide a hint of tanginess without sacrificing that cakey crumb. And the whole thing is easy to put together in an hour, while watching the Disney channel and talking on the phone with your buddy in New York (I checked). So here is there recipe, edited down but essentially unaltered, and may you enjoy your summer fruits while they last. Happy Fourth of July, folks!


Perfect Peach Cobbler
Edited from Cook’s Illustrated

Filling Ingredients:
2 ½ pounds fresh peaches (6-7 medium, organic if you can)
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. lemon juice (fresh squeezed is always best)

Biscuit Topping Ingredients:
1 c. all-purpose flour
3 T. sugar plus more for sprinkling
¾ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
5 T. cold butter, cut into ¼ inch cubes
1/3 cup whole milk yogurt (I used nonfat Greek, as usual)


Directions for Filling:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place rack in lower third of oven.
Peel peaches, halve and pit. * Note: peaches can be refrigerated overnight, and then peeled with a vegetable peeler. Alternatively, you may use the “blanch and shock” method. Remove hard or dark flesh from the area around the pit. Cut each half into 4 wedges (i.e., 8 wedges per peach). Toss with the ¼ cup sugar and let stand for 30 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes. Drain peaches, reserving liquid in a bowl. Whisk ¼ cup of liquid (discard remainder, or combine with rum as your cocktail) with cornstarch and lemon juice. Add peaches back and pour the lot into an 8 inch square glass baking dish. Bake in oven for 10 minutes, until peaches are just beginning to bubble around the edge.


Directions for Biscuit Topping:
While peaches are in the oven (so that dough doesn’t dry out), combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and 3 tablespoons sugar in a food processor. Pulse briefly. Add butter, pulse just until mixture forms a coarse meal. Transfer to a medium mixing bowl and add yogurt stirring until just combined (overmixed dough will make tough biscuits). Break dough into 6 portions of identical size, making them slightly flattened golf ball shapes.


Directions for Baking and Serving:
After peaches have baked 10 minutes, remove from oven and place biscuit mounds on top (see pattern – you don’t want them too close). Sprinkle dough lightly with sugar (cinnamon might not be bad either) and return to oven for another 15 minutes. The cobbler should be golden brown on top, with bubbling fruit beneath. Cool on a rack for 20 minutes, then serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Cobbler may be reheated at 350 degrees until heated through.

Sweet Cherry Pie

My mother doesn’t make pie. As a rule. The occasional apple crumb pie would make it onto our table, but even that was rare. She found crusts, filling consistency, and baking tricks to be way more trouble than it was worth. And for a mom who was already working full time, leading multiple Girl Scout troops, and making our Halloween costumes by hand, that seems plenty fair to me. Good thing I have more free time.

Several years back, my husband requested me to make a pie for Thanksgiving. In an effort to be super-girlfriend, I tried (and succeeded) in making my first-ever pie. My mother was shocked and amazed. Now I make it every year at Thanksgiving, and expanded my repertoire to include a decent mixed berry pie for the summer.

So this week, when I walked into the supermarket and found cherries for 99 cents a pound, I decided, why not? Despite the fact that I had never even tasted a cherry pie, it is after all an American summer tradition – I should at least give it a try. So I found some recipes, mashed them together, and produced a cherry pie that looked just like the pictures…sort of.

I came to the following conclusions, which may serve you well. A) Lattice crust tops are not worth it. They take down the crust to fruit ratio and never look as nice once they’ve been baked and gone all wonky (read: uneven). B) Use sour cherries. Mine were sweet, and with the added sugar, they were a little too much. Excellent for children and super sugar cravings…sober adults can cut it with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. C) Don’t overdo it with the sprinkling sugar…or you’ll do what I did, accidentally spilling it in a few spots with turn a lovely shade of black (teehee). However, the texture set up nicely (doesn’t it stand up well to photography?), I finally got to use the cherry pitter I got for my wedding nearly two years ago, and the pie certainly did make it feel like summer. Serve with lemonade and eat on your front porch, watching fireflies.


Sweet Cherry Pie
Adapted from
Classic Sour Cherry Pie with Lattice Crust, Bon Appétit, June 2008
and
Cherry Pie, Gourmet, July 2007

Ingredients
Crust:
1 tsp. almond extract
¾ c. butter, cut into half inch dice and chilled
1/3 c. shortening, cut into half inch dice and chilled
2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
Just enough ice water to hold dough together (5-7 T)

Filling:
2/3 c. sugar
6 cups whole pitted sweet cherries (about 2 pounds whole unpitted cherries – pitting will take 30-40 minutes)
5-6 T. cornstarch
1 T. orange zest
1 I. orange juice
1 teaspoon almond extract

Assembly:
Milk or egg wash (2 T)
Sprinkling sugar


Directions
Whisk flour and sugar in large bowl to blend. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until small pea-size clumps form. Add extract, then ice water a tablespoon at a time; mix lightly with fork or hands until dough holds together when squeezed, adding more water if dough is dry. Gather dough together; divide into 2 pieces. Form each piece into a 6 inch disk and wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes (can be made 2 days ahead – keep chilled). Let dough soften slightly, 10 minutes or so, before rolling out.


Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425 degrees. Whisk sugar and cornstarch in medium bowl to blend. Stir in almond extract and orange zest, then add cherries and mix well; set aside to rest for 30 minutes.

Roll out first dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim dough overhang to 1/2 inch. Roll out second dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round.


To Make Lattice Top:
Using large knife or pastry wheel with fluted edge, cut ten 3/4-inch-wide strips from dough round. Transfer filling to dough-lined dish, mounding slightly in center. Dot with butter. Arrange dough strips atop filling, forming lattice; trim dough strip overhang to 1/2 inch. ALTERNATIVE: Lay top crust over filling, cutting 3-4 steam vents in the middle.

Fold bottom crust up over ends of strips and crimp edges to seal (or take extra dough, trim, and roll into ropes – use these to form a faux crust to crimp). Brush lattice crust (NOT edges) with milk or egg wash. Sprinkle lattice with 1 tablespoon sugar (and no more!).


Place pie on rimmed baking sheet to catch drips and bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes, then another 50-60 minutes at 375degrees, until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, covering edges with foil collar or pie shield if browning too quickly. Let cool on rack 3-4 hours.

Don’t even think about serving this without vanilla ice cream.