Today is National Cobbler Day. To celebrate I made an amazing bourbon peach cobbler that is both simple and delicious.
Peaches are a signature ingredient in lots of southern dishes, from salads to desserts. Any good contribution from a Georgia blog on National Cobbler Day is going to have peaches. And any good contribution from Chef Jack is going to have bourbon!
I adapted a traditional recipe that I like to use when making cobblers. Many cobblers use a very thin batter, almost like pancake batter, that you pour over the hot fruit and seeps down into the dish. Others use a thicker, more biscuit-like dough that spoons over the fruit. It spreads and creates a fluffy crust that bonds with the juices. Both are great but I’ve always been a fan of the second one. There’s just something very homestyle about it to me.
And it is simple, both in steps and in ingredients. All you need to make a great cobbler is:
- A worthy fruit. Firm fruits always make the best cobblers, which is why stone fruits like cherries and peaches, and apples are the most common cobblers.
- Sugar for sweetening.
- Cornstarch or arrowroot to thicken the juices as they cook.
- Seasonings. Cinnamon is common, but experiment with other spices like cardamom, coriander, nutmeg and mace.
- AP flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and butter all blended then mixed with milk or heavy cream to form a dough.
- Your favorite ice cream to finish
I took the process a little outside the lines by adding in some bourbon and Grand Marnier for a grown up undercurrent of flavor. In this recipe I used a bottle of Mitcher’s Small Batch Bourbon because of it’s somewhat sweet profile that includes hints of cinnamon and butterscotch. I used Grand Marnier to balance the sweetness and bring a bit of brightness that cuts through an otherwise overly sweet dish.
And when I say simple, I mean this dish took me about 15 minutes to prepare. You bake in the oven for up to 45 minutes and you don’t have to do a thing else to it, except get a spoon. And save some of that bourbon. Nothing makes National Cobbler Day feel more like a celebration than a plate of warm bourbon peach cobbler accompanied by an Old Fashioned.
