Fruit and white chocolate combine for a yummy cobbler

I can tell you that this cobbler was just about the best Easter dessert ever. The base of the cobbler was mixed berries; its topping was white chocolate chips combined with a cake-mix layer. I never had seen a fruit cobbler that featured white chocolate and thought this sounded plenty Easter-y. It was!

The fruit that went into it was mostly fresh peaches (frozen from our yield this past year. How excited we are to see the fruit trees in our garden start to bud with the promise of a wonderful crop this summer!) I added to the peaches some frozen mixed fruit from a bag I had in the deepfreeze. (My recipe said you can use whatever fresh or frozen fruit you want as long as it measures 2 cups.)

With the slow-cooker sprayed with nonstick spray, first went in the fruit layer, with vanilla and brown sugar on top. A box of yellow cake mix, melted butter, and white chocolate chips were stirred together and crumbled on top of the fruit layer. The mixture cooked on high for three hours—totally a fix-it, forget-it operation that yielded a moist, delicious delight.

So glad to have the reminder of a promising peach season contained in this gem of a dish.

White Chocolate/Mixed Berry Cobbler

1 package yellow (or white) cake mix

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

2 cups fresh or frozen mixed berries

3 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 to 1/2 cup brown sugar

non-stick cooking spray

whipped topping, optional (I used sugar-free)

Spray the inside of the slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Into the bottom of the slow cooker pour the mixed berries (or whatever fruit you use). Pour the vanilla and brown sugar on top of the berries. Add water. In a bowl mix the cake mix and butter until mixture looks crumbly. Mix in the chocolate chips. Pour the cake mixture over the mixed berries layer in the slow cooker. Cook on high for 3 hours. Makes 8 servings. (Source: www.slowcookeradventures.com)

The essence of summer: homemade Peach Cobbler

When I want to find the best of the best in terms of recipes, I have an inviolable source: the cookbook produced by my former compadre, Ann Criswell, the revered longtime food editor of the Houston Chronicle.

For several years I was privileged to work in an adjacent office cubby with Ann, so she was always available to answer my food questions and more than willing to share recipes. 

I have about three of hers that are absolute favorites; when peach cobblers are concerned, I head straight to her cookbook, The Food Chronicles, which features her most stellar recipes of 30 years in the business. She ran this one in her weekly food section in 1986.

This cobbler meets all the requirements: flaky, tender crust and sweet filling stuffed with chunky, delicious peaches—in this case, the produce of our trees, which just keep churnin’ ’em out.

Hill Country Peach Cobbler

2 - 2 1/2 cups sugar (or sugar substitute)

1/3 cup cornstarch

8 cups sliced fresh or frozen peaches

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/4 cup melted butter

purchased crust or your favorite recipe for a 2-crust pie

In a large bowl combine sugar and cornstarch. Add peaches; toss to coat. Stir in extract and butter. Pour filling into a buttered 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish. (I divided mine into two square baking dishes.) Cut dough for crust into strips. Crisscross dough strips over filling. Brush pastry with melted butter; sprinkle with sugar. Bake in 400-dgree oven 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Makes 10 to 12 servings.
(Source: Candy Wagner, author of Cooking Texas Style, with recipe appearing in the Houston Chronicle 8/13/1986).

Birthday cobbler even better gift since berries, peaches all from garden

"You fixed that last year,” Hubby instructed as I informed him that his birthday dessert for this year would be a Peach-Blackberry Cobbler.

He wasn't complaining; he just wanted to be sure I didn’t repeat a blog post in the process. He knew that would irk me.

I was happy to (cheerfully) prove him mistaken. He had been thinking of last year ’s Peach-BLUEberry Cobbler, which I didn’t even bake until well after his birthday. While a wonderful dish, it wouldn’t begin to compare with what I had planned for today—the anniversary of his birth. After all, every morsel of fresh peach and every plump fresh BLACKberry would spring from our trees and our vines in our own garden. What a gift!

Peaches are an annual thing for us (some years more than others), but this year's vines absolutely covered in blackberries are wonders of the world! The berries are almost two-inches long and so chubby, you can hardly get one in your mouth. I’ve never seen any growing thing so beautiful. Their juicy taste is beyond delicious. The green of the vines is almost obliterated by the purple of the berries, they are so profuse.

Stirring two cups of them up with chunks of peaches fresh from our trees (in our first peach dish of the season) was nothing short of heaven. An online recipe from foodnetwork.com helped me out with this mixture. A rolled topping that included brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg spread out on top of everything, and I was in business. The Birthday Boy would be lucky indeed!

Peach-Blackberry Cobbler

8 to 12 peaches, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1-inch chunks

2 tablespoons cornstarch or flour

5 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

pinch salt (or salt substitute)

2 cups blackberries

topping (recipe follows)

Topping:

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon dried ginger

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2 pinches mace or nutmeg

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon sugar (or sugar substitute)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine the peaches, cornstarch or flour, brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt. Toss gently. Carefully fold in the blackberries; transfer the mixture to a greased 8-cup baking dish. Set aside. For topping, mix the flour, salt, brown sugar, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and mace or nutmeg. Add the butter; mix until coarse and crumbly. Add 3/4 cup milk; mix just until combined. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface; knead a few times to smooth it out. Form into a ball; roll out into the shape and size of the baking dish—about 1/2-inch thick. Place the dough on top of the prepared fruit. Brush the top of the dough with the remaining tablespoon of milk; sprinkle with the granulated sugar. Place the cobbler on a sheet-pan to catch any juices that might boil over. Bake until the top is golden brown and juices are bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving. Makes 8 to 10 servings. (Source: www.footnetwork.com) 

Good dish of Peach Cobbler cures all ills, even the wipe-out feeling of returning from a holiday weekend

Another peach tree—number four in our garden—has surrendered its yield—a guarantee that in the near future more peach recipes are sure to find their way into this blog. Today’s is a tried-and-true love that every summer I yearn to put on the table—a very simple but wonderful Peach Cobbler. If you want to cut to the chase and get a peach dessert whipped up lightning-fast, here’s your ticket.

This recipe is courtesy www.pickyourown.com and is so easy, I could make it in my sleep (and just about did. Why is the first work day after returning from a holiday always such a wipe-out?) But a good steamy dish of peach cobbler cures all ills!

Peach Cobbler

3 pounds fresh ripe peaches, sliced (about 6 cups when peaches are sliced)

1/2 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

2 tablespoons butter or margarine, cut into tiny pieces

Topping

1 cup all-purpose four

1 cup sugar (or sugar substitute)

1 teaspoon baking power

1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt substitute)

4 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened

2 eggs slightly beaten (or 1/2 cup egg substitute)

Put into a large bowl fresh peaches, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, lemon juice, vanilla and almond extracts, cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add 1/4 cup water. With a wooden spoon mix peach mixture gently and then transfer to an 8-inch-by-8-inch-by-2-inch baking dish. Dot with 2 tablespoons butter. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. To prepare topping, in a small bowl put 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 4 tablespoons softened butter, and eggs. With a wooden spoon beat until topping is smooth. With back of spoon spread topping over peach filling. Try to space topping evenly. Place cobbler on center rack in preheated oven. Bake for 50 minutes or until peaches are tender and the crust is a light golden brown. Remove from oven to wire rack and let stand for about 30 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.

Remaining peaches once again provide a dessert marking a "new-beginnings" occasion

In the end I didn't have to use much discernment at all. The choice was a very natural one.

The remaining peaches from our most prolific peach tree--all peeled and chopped, with their slices filling a nice-sized bowl--measured only five cups: no more. I knew I could get only one ample peach dish from the batch awaiting me in my refrigerator. I had to make it count.

The crop from our next tree wasn't ripe yet, so this current supply would have to get a big bang for its buck. (My June 7 blog, "When crop is smaller than expected, selective use can still impress the taste buds", mentioned this dilemma.)

It wasn't enough for peach jam or peach preserves, which were high on my wish-list for this summer but certainly not possible with only five cups of peaches at the ready.

I leafed through the peach section of my recipe album. What called for five cups? A fajita cookout in our back yard the next day needed a dessert prepared by me. Our garden's peach tree that would be responsible for this yield could entertain compliments with guests dining only a stone's throw away on the deck. What food item would be just perfect for our meal?

Then it hit me. Our Sunday event was to be held to celebrate new beginnings. Two young people--Ishmael and Crystal--were being baptized during Sunday church. We had invited their family to the cookout afterward in honor of this special occasion--a very key decision to trust Christ as Savior that Ishmael had made in 2008 and his sister, Crystal, had made just a few weeks ago. Both testified they were ready for a fresh start as they had asked Jesus into their hearts and lives.

Last summer we celebrated new beginnings as well--as our cousin Lynda and her fiance George tied the knot after an extended courtship. One Sunday afternoon both of them, who as single parents separately had been rearing children alone, had visited our home to ask Louis to perform their wedding ceremony and unite their families. During their visit I served everyone "Quick Peach Cobbler" to acclaim the first peaches from our new trees since our entire peach orchard had been wiped out in the deluge of May 2007. It marked new beginnings for our peach grove, also.

"Quick Peach Cobbler" called for five cups of peeled peaches--the exact amount that I had on hand this time, too. My new-beginnings recipe would serve its purpose once again. The dish lives up to its name--quick to prepare, especially considering the outrageously tasty results. And the aroma in my kitchen as the bubbling peach dish materialized in the oven . . . it was my Aunt Bonnie's kitchen all over again from summers of my childhood when I would visit her on the farm and help her peel that week's yield of her peach trees.

"Quick Peach Cobbler", featured in my new cookbook, Way Back in the Country Garden in a chapter called "To Love, Honor, and Surprise" about Lynda and George's wedding, turned out to be a wonderful addition to yesterday afternoon's victory celebration in our back yard. Crystal and Ishmael were brimming with joy after being buried with Christ in baptism and raised to walk in newness of life. In front of their family members, some of whom were just starting to contemplate whether they might need to make commitments to Christ, this brother and sister were bold in their newfound faith and had no regrets.

Members of the church choir, on learning of Crystal and Ishmael's decisions, taken a special interest in them, prayed for them, and graciously sent along some desserts to accompany our fajita dinner. The choristers had furnished two chocolate sheet cakes, a plate of brownies, a pecan pie, and a lemon poppyseed Bundt--but no peach cobbler, so my "new-beginnings" dessert settled into a place of honor on the table. And when one guest asked me, "Did you say the peaches for this were picked from that tree just a few days ago?", I made sure I said "yes" loud enough for the parent tree to overhear. It had done itself proud.

Quick Peach Cobbler

cinnamon

nutmeg

sugar (we used sugar substitute)

5 cups sliced and peeled peaches

1 cup self-rising flour

1 cup sugar (w used sugar substitute)

1 large egg, beaten (we used egg substitute)

1/2 cup butter (we used unsalted butter)

ice cream or whipped topping (we used no-sugar added topping)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl place sliced peaces. Sprinkle sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg on top of sliced peaches. Toss to mix. Place mixture in greased 9-by-9-inch baking dish. Mix 1 cup self-rising flour, 1 cup sugar, and egg to a crumb-like texture. Pour over layer of peaches in baking dish Melt butter and drizzle over crumb topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until top turns brown and crusty. Serve hot or cold, plain or with ice cream or whipped topping Serves 6-8.