Florence's Peach Cobbler To Go

Clay and I went to an outdoor concert with dear friends Friday night. After a delicious supper from Yats, we took our dessert, coffee and kahlua (thanks, Lori!) to the Nickel Plate Amphitheater in Fishers to hear one of our favorites, Carrie Newcomer.  (That retreat I wrote about yesterday?  Her song Leaves Don't Drop was the theme song, and my introduction to this awesome Hoosier singer/songwriter.   There is a video at the bottom of this post of  Lori's favorite song -- one of my favorites, too.)

Since I've been all about canning jars for the past few weeks (more on that soon), I decided to make a dessert in them. And since peaches are showing up in the markets around here, it's time to make Florence's Famous Peach Cobbler.


At least it's famous around here.  Every time I take a peach cobbler somewhere, everyone wants the recipe, and it's a easy as pie.  A lot easier, actually.

Way back when (1991 -- sheesh!), I was on a fundraising committee at our little school, and we decided to put together a cookbook.  It was great fun, the cookbook sold out (we did another one a few years later), and I use it all the time (can you tell from the spatters on this page?)  Florence is also responsible for a pretty awesome ice cream recipe I'll share soon. 

This is how the cobbler usually looks when I bake it in my paella dish (which has never once been used for paella):

I thought the recipe just might work in jars.  It does.  

Preheat the oven to 350 and start with 5-6 peaches. (If the peaches you find are a little hard, just put them in a brown paper sack for a day or two -- they'll ripen up nicely, but be sure to check them every day, as it's a quick trip from ripe peaches to rotten peaches.)   

Peel them, slice them, toss them in 1/2 to 3/4 cup of sugar, and set aside for awhile.  

Divide 3/4 of a stick of butter into eight pieces and put in 8-ounce canning jars.  Put the jars on a cookie sheet and put the sheet in the oven for the butter to melt.

Meanwhile, stir together 3/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup milk, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of vanilla or almond flavoring.  Use a whisk to get rid of any lumps. 

Take the jars from the oven, and pour the batter over the butter in each jar.  Don't stir.  (It comes out to just a smidge over 1/4 cup of batter in each jar.)

Then, spoon the peaches over the batter, dividing them evenly.  Again, don't stir.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the tops of the cobblers are nice and brown.

 

As they cool, they'll shrink a bit:

Put on the lids and take to a picnic or a concert.  Or, just eat the cobbler while sitting on the couch and watching Last Tango in Halifax.  It's pretty good there, too.  

(In the interest of complete disclosure, the first time I tried this, I divided the recipe into 6 jars instead of 8.  Don't do that.  You're welcome.)






Peaches, coffee, friends and Carrie Newcomer.  It was a pretty perfect Friday evening.

Peace.