TWD: Mixed Berry Cobbler... Goes Peach

This week's recipe, chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life was the Mixed Berry Cobbler. As you can see, there are no berries to be found here.

I have been planning on how I was going to make this cobbler all week. I really wanted to get my hands on some blackberries, blueberries and raspberries and try this recipe without fiddling for once, but, alas (yes, I just said "alas" - I'm a dork, what can you do?) I couldn't scrape together extra grocery money at any point to buy all those berries. You see, while berries are in season here for one small pint it is still $4 each so added altogether would be a killer. I didn't want to miss out this week though, and since I really prefer peach cobbler over any other baked or cooked fruit, well - today, you have peach cobbler from me.

Now, peaches aren't actually in season yet, but this is where my bottling excursion last summer comes in. I have been bottling (canning) peaches for the past couple of years and I like to use them in my peach cobbler even when peaches are in season because it just saves some work and I get to bake them for a shorter amount of time.

So, I used Dorie's biscuit top recipe, with the addition of a bit of extra sugar in the dough and some raw sugar on top (when is more sugar ever really bad after all?). I also decided to bake them in the emptied peach bottles because I really, really hate doing the dishes. I used the jar ring lids to cut out the top so they were the perfect size and I just cut a small vent circle out of the center.

I actually have a really, really favorite peach cobbler recipe that I've been stuck on for years now, but I wanted to really give Dorie's cobbler topping a try - especially with all the debate surrounding it amongst the other TWDers. The biggest complaint I was hearing from everyone was that the crust didn't have enough flavor. Well, it is just my opinion here, but it basically is just supposed to be a lightly sweet biscuit - so other than to increase the sugar just a bit (let's face it, when have I made anything "lightly" sweet) I didn't make any changes to the dough.

Now, though we aren't posting Dorie's recipes anymore I usually try to search and see if the week's recipe can be found online already and - even more fun this week - this one is online - but even better it has a recorded interview with Dorie! How cool is that! Anyway, Dorie even mentions that you could make this with peaches in the interview so that made me feel a little better about being berry-less.

My thoughts on the great crust debate? I really liked the crust and thought it was absolutely delicious. If I was making it with a sweet berry filling I'm not sure if I would add more sugar or not (other than the raw sugar on top). The crust baked up very nicely and was a snap to make. The proof? I didn't get around to starting to make my cobbler until about 9 pm tonight and it was all done in just about an hour (start, make, bake, cool a bit and eat).

Don't forget to see how the rest of the TWDers did on this one - it should be interesting with the great debate that was going on this week!

So, here is my peach "filling" recipe, which is adapted from my favorite peach cobbler recipe. If you have fresh peaches, just adapt that recipe a bit to add whatever spice you like.

Peach Cobbler Filling
2 pints bottled peaches, drained and cut into small chunks (approximately equal to 6 peaches)
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons corn starch
1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (to taste)
pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Combine all the ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and stir gently. Put into buttered dish and top with the crust. (The mini's baked each at 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes - til golden).

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