Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler

Last week, I was in the mood for peach cobbler, so I asked my Facebook fans to tell me their favorite cooking blog or website. I wanted to find a recipe online that I could try because I’m all about making connections. One of my readers told me about the fabulous My Baking Addiction (thanks, Jessica!), and it just so happened that Jamie had made peach cobbler earlier this month.

The recipe calls for a 1.5-quart casserole. I had 1 quart, and I had 2.5 quart, but no 1.5 quart. Make less or make more? When in doubt, always make more.

My standard rule of thumb when it comes to peaches is to only buy them when I happen to smell them while walking through the store. I find that when they emit that lovely, peachy scent, they’re juicy and delicious. Otherwise, they’re likely to disappoint.

Sad to say, no scent. But I had already publicly committed to making the cobbler, and I could not back down.

Then it was time to peel, and I didn’t know the proper peach-peeling protocol. A potato peeler worked just fine, and I was off!

Simmering the peaches filled my house with the aroma of peachy goodness.

When it came time to spoon the peaches gently onto the batter, I was filled with angst. Was I gentle enough? I’m more of a “slap it down” kind of cook. “Gentle” doesn’t come naturally to me. Are they supposed to look like this?

I knew I would have to bake this longer because I had doubled the recipe, but I didn’t know how long. The recipe says the batter would rise to the top during baking, so I kept turning on the oven light to see whether the batter was at the top yet. I looked for a lovely golden brown crust.

Then I looked again. And again.

It never came. I don’t know what I was thinking. That the batter would sneak past the layer of peaches? What happened instead is that the batter firmed up beneath the peaches. From the top, it didn’t look much different than when I put it into the oven.

But ohhhh, did it taste like heaven!