Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Peach Raspberry Cobbler


As with most recipes, I ended up combining techniques from Ina Garten’s Peach and Blueberry crumbles and the Deen Brother’s Peach Cobbler. This recipe is great for summer, and the good news is you don’t have to wait for peaches to be in season since they cook anyway. I experimented and made the cobbler ahead of time and then baked it off hours later. The cobbler was delicious and is really good for a make ahead dessert. If you don’t like raspberries you can substitute a pint of blueberries.

**A big thanks goes to some of my favorite relatives Mim and Bill for an awesome graduation gift! The casserole dish was perfect for this dessert and I couldn't have made it without the dish. Thanks!!**

Raspberry Peach Cobbler

For the filling:
·      6 small/medium size peaches
·      1 pint raspberries
·      ½ cup sugar
·      ¼ cup Jello© instant tapioca pudding mix
·      1 tsp cinnamon
·      juice of ½ lemon
·      1/8 tsp salt

For the cobbler:
·      1 2/3 cup flour
·      3 ½ Tbsp sugar
·      1 ½ Tbsp baking powder
·      1/8 tsp salt
·      6 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
·      2/3 heavy cream

Butter a 1 ½ or 2 ½ quart baking dish; set aside. Prepare a large bowl with cold water and ice cubes; set aside. In a large pot of boiling water, add peaches whole. Boil for 60 seconds then quickly remove the peaches and add to the cold ice water. One at a time, peel each peach, remove the core, and slice into ¼ inch slices. (**If the peaches are under ripe, this process takes a bit more time, but I found boiling the peaches for 2 minutes makes it easier.) In a large bowl, add the peaches, sugar, tapioca, salt, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Stir, then gently fold in the raspberries. Add the filling to the buttered dish.

In another large bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir gently. Add the cold small cubes of butter and with clean hands, mix the butter into the flour until the butter is mixed in and it has the texture of sand. (*You can also use a food processor for this.) Slowly add the heavy cream, stirring each time until the mixture just barely comes together. It will appear too dry, but if you take a chunk of dough and squeeze it gently in your hand and it comes together, it is perfect.  Dump the dough onto a floured surface, and gently form it into a disc. Shape the dough into 2 inch balls, and gently flatten so the balls more oval shaped. Add each on top of the fruit filling. Any extra dough that is left can be sprinkled over the entire dish. 



At this point you can either bake it at 350° for 45-60minutes uncovered or refrigerate and bake off later. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.