Peach Cobbler

Peaches are on sale for 49 cents per pound through August 8th at both Sprouts and Sunflower Farmer's Markets (same company). I went out today and bought 31.4 pounds of peaches for less than $16.00!! That's 80 peaches people! I visited two different Sprouts, to not monopolize other peach lovers. However, I will admit to shooting some nasty glares at a young boy who kept getting in the way at the second stop.

The next question is what to do with all these peaches?!? I have considered attempting canning for the first time, but I didn't have the energy for it tonight, so I settled on making peach cobbler. I found an easy recipe here. The one listed below is my version of the recipe, which smells delicious, might I add.

Crust

• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup applesauce

Peach Filling

• 5 large peaches, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flour 

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

I started by washing the peaches, using a technique I have seen on Pinterest a lot lately. I soaked the peaches in a 1:4 ration of white vinegar to water for 30 minutes. I'm not sure yet if my fruit will last longer, but I can tell already that the skin of the peaches was smoother and didn't have such a wax-y feeling.

In order to make the peaches easier to peel, I boiled them for 3 minutes in a large pot. Riper peaches would take significantly less time to boil. After they boiled, using a slotted spoon, I transferred the peaches to a bowl of ice water.

While the peaches boiled I began mixing the crust. I doubled the recipe from the original, because I like a lot of crust on my cobbler. I don't like to cook with a lot of butter, so I opted out half of the butter for applesauce. It doesn't allow the crust to have a "cornmeal like" texture as described in the original recipe, but it will keep the crust moist.

After the peaches had boiled and iced, I peeled and diced them. This process was a lot more tedious than I expected. In a large bowl, I tossed the peaches in flour and sugar. If you notice from the original recipe, I didn't add the lemon juice or lemon peel. That's because I forgot. Oops. I'm crossing my fingers that the applesauce in the crust will make up for that.

In a lightly greased square pan, layer the peach filling topped with the crust. Bake covered with tin foil for 15 minutes and then uncovered for 40 minutes, until golden brown.

Before baking:

After baking: