Leah’s Peach and Raspberry Cobbler

Developed by our resident cobbler expert, this recipe works with about 6 cups of almost any ripe, seasonal fruit--apples, cherries, blueberries, peaches, blackberries, or raspberries. Or try a combo of sweet and tart fruits like peaches and raspberries. The best thing about cobbler is it’s all about the quality of the fruit you put into it and other than that, it’s pretty hard to screw up. So have fun and don’t be afraid to experiment by playing with fruit combinations and adding complimentary spices and liqueurs.

Serves 8 to 12

Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 egg
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter + extra for greasing baking dish
1 cup whole milk, in a large glass measuring cup

Fruit:
4 cups peeled and sliced peaches
2 cups raspberries
1/2 cup sugar, to taste
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Zest of 1 medium orange
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 to 3 tablespoons rum
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. If your oven tends to run low, set it for 400 degrees F.

For the Batter: In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

Crack the egg into a separate small bowl and whisk to combine yolk and white.

Add the stick of butter to the measuring cup of milk and heat in the microwave just until the butter is melted and the milk is very warm. Whisk thoroughly.

To temper the egg, slowly add some of the warm milk/butter mixture into the egg while constantly whisking. Then add egg mixture back into milk/butter mixture and whisk thoroughly.

To complete the batter, add the egg/milk/butter mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk gently to combine.

For the Fruit: In a large bowl, combine the fruit with 1/4 cup of the sugar, flour, citrus zests, citrus juices, rum, and salt. Taste and add up to 1/4 cup more sugar. Usually the fruit mixture does need the whole 1/2 cup sugar, but you never want to make the fruit mixture too sweet.

Grease a large, rectangular baking dish with butter. Pour the batter into the dish. Spoon the fruit mixture evenly over the top of the batter, but do not stir. The batter will rise around the fruit as the cobbler bakes.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until top of crust is golden brown and cobbler is thick and bubbly. If necessary, put cobbler under broiler to brown crust. The cobbler is best served without ice cream or whipped cream because dairy products tend to coat the tongue and mute the fruit flavors.