Huge Peach Cobbler
Prep
20m
Cook
45m
Total
65m
Bigly says
Folks. FOLKS. Peach cobbler. HUGE peach cobbler. The biggest, the best, the most tremendous peach cobbler you will ever put a spoon into — and I've put a spoon into more peach cobblers than any single human being on Earth, it's not even close, it's a slaughter. I've had cobbler in Georgia. I've had cobbler in South Carolina. I've had cobbler at a roadside stand in Tennessee where the woman had no teeth but the cobbler? The cobbler was unbelievable. She knew. She KNEW.
Most peach cobblers are a total embarrassment. The peaches are mushy. The topping is gummy. The whole thing is swimming in a sad gray syrup that nobody asked for. Other so-called chefs tell you to use canned peaches in heavy syrup. CANNED. PEACHES. IN. SYRUP. We have fresh peaches. We have frozen peaches. We have an entire summer. Why are we eating fruit from a can that's been sitting in a warehouse since the last presidency of peaches, which I just made up but feels true. A disgrace.
My cobbler uses real peaches. Ripe ones. Juicy ones. The kind that drip down your wrist when you bite them, the kind your grandma used to fight strangers over at the farmers market — and the topping is a buttermilk biscuit that goes GOLDEN and CRISP on top, SOFT underneath, soaking up the peach juice like it was born to do it. Because it was. Destiny. People weep. I've seen it. They take one bite, they sit down on the floor, they say, 'Bigly. Bigly. What have you done to me.' I've done nothing. Nothing but give them HUGE peach cobbler. Plain and simple.
Ingredients
- 8 cups (about 8 medium)ripe peaches, peeled and sliced(fresh is king, frozen is acceptable, canned is a hate crime against fruit)
- 1/2 cup, packedlight brown sugar
- 1/4 cupgranulated sugar
- 2 tbspcornstarch
- 2 tbsplemon juice, fresh
- 1 tspvanilla extract
- 1/2 tspground cinnamon
- 1/8 tspfreshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 tspkosher salt
- 1 1/2 cupsall-purpose flour
- 1/4 cupgranulated sugar (for topping)
- 2 tspbaking powder
- 1/2 tspkosher salt (for topping)
- 8 tbspcold unsalted butter, cubed(COLD, ice cold, freezer cold if your kitchen is hot)
- 3/4 cupbuttermilk
- 2 tbspturbinado sugar (for sprinkling)
- as neededvanilla ice cream (for serving)
Steps
- 1
Preheat oven to 375F. Butter a 9x13 baking dish or a 12-inch cast iron skillet.
- 2
In a large bowl, toss sliced peaches with brown sugar, granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Let sit 10 minutes — the peaches will release juice, which is what you want.
- 3
Transfer the peach mixture to the prepared dish. Spread evenly.
- 4
In a separate bowl, whisk flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
- 5
Add the cold cubed butter. Cut it into the flour with a pastry cutter or your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-sized chunks.
- 6
Pour in the buttermilk and stir just until a shaggy dough forms. DO NOT overmix.
- 7
Drop the dough in large spoonfuls over the peaches, leaving gaps so the fruit can bubble through. Don't try to cover the whole surface — gaps are good.
- 8
Sprinkle the turbinado sugar generously over the top of the dough for crunch.
- 9
Bake 40-50 minutes until the topping is deep golden brown and the peach filling is bubbling vigorously around the edges. Tent with foil at 30 minutes if the top is browning too fast.
- 10
Let rest 15 minutes — the filling sets as it cools. Serve warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
One more thing
That's the cobbler. The HUGE cobbler. You make this in August when the peaches are perfect and you become a legend in your neighborhood. People come over uninvited. They bring their cousins. Your front porch becomes a destination — that's a beautiful thing, that's what cobbler is FOR. Don't skip the ice cream. The ice cream is not optional. The ice cream is part of the recipe. Anyone who eats this without ice cream is committing a crime against themselves, and I won't watch it happen, not on my watch. Now go eat.
★ QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ONE? ★
Ask Bigly about Huge Peach Cobbler.
Substitutions, what to serve it with, why other chefs are wrong about it. He's got opinions.
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