Tag: Peach

Gluten Free Peach Cherry Crumble … buttery, wholesome, delicious

Gluten Free Peach Cherry Crumble … one of the simplest, quickest to make and satisfying desserts for summer, the stone fruit crumble always gets my vote! This peach cherry crumble is quite addictive with a burst of flavour and deliciousness, an almost guilt free dessert! It’s a quick wholesome dessert which is one of the best ways to use the bounty of summer brings.

I’ve been making crumbles forever. I think the first crumble I ever made was when a Daring Baker friend, Judy Chiapinni, mentioned years ago that it was the best way to use seasonal fruit that you had an abundance of, or if they were about to spoil. There’s been no looking back. For me, if everything else fails, CRUMBLE!

I think the day I made my maiden crumble, I was hit by a revelation, maybe two! The first thing that struck me was how simple a recipe could be and how easily anyone could rustle up a crumble. It’s so basic. At best, you need a bowl and a fork {or fingers} if you have a limited kitchen, and an ovenproof baking dish. The possibilities are endless…

Take a look at this beautiful Strawberry Chocolate Crumble. It’s a recipe you can find in my Chocolate Cookbook, a recipe by my sweet friend and uber talented chef Parul Pratap. I really enjoyed making the dessert, styling and shooting it ♥.

In my husbands kitchen in the UK where he’s currently working, a crumble is one of the first things I make when I’m visiting. I normally eyeball ingredients since his kitchen is really really basic, yet the crumble is always delicious! A crumble is quite a no brainer and there isn’t much that can go wrong …

Think apples and raspberries, blueberries, apple walnut, strawberries and apple with thyme, raspberries with pistachios, mangoes and peaches, sometimes a hint of ginger … any fruit I find in his fridge, any nuts in the pantry, I crumble. That said, my favourite season is when stone fruit appear at the local bazaar here in North India even though I do make quite a mean Apple Crumble all through winter!

Once summer is in full swing and stone fruits rule the roost, it’s quick crumbles for breakfast often. I play with the toppings depending on the ingredients I have on hand. Oats are usually always part of my crumble for the bite that they give. Otherwise a mix of wholewheat and all purpose flour, nuts definitely, raw sugar, clarified butter / ghee or salted butter … you get the drift!

I always find it fascinating how something so simple can be so so DELICIOUS! Dive into a warm, freshly baked crumble and you will know what I mean. It satisfies at so many levels. The bite of buttery oats and nuts on top, the baked fruit cooked down releasing their fruit juices underneath … all pure magic. Dive in just as is, drizzle some cold unsweetened cream over, else really enjoy it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Do tag me on Instagram at Passionate About Baking or share a comment here on the blog if you make this, or any other recipe from the blog. I’d love to see it!

Summer Recipes
Crumbles & Crisps
Stone Fruit Recipes
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Peach Cherry Crumble

Crumbles are the best way to easily use the bounty of stone fruit summer brings. This peach cherry crumble is most delicious with a burst of flavour and deliciousness, an almost guilt free dessert!
Course Appetiser, Breakfast, Dessert
Cuisine American, British
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 4 people

Ingredients

Oat topping

  • 100 g whole rolled oats
  • 50 g khaand / raw sugar
  • 25 g almonds
  • 50 g salted butter chilled , diced

Fruit filling

  • 6 peaches chopped
  • 150 g cherries pitted
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • 2-3 tbsp khaand / raw sugar
  • Juice of 1 lime

Instructions

Oat topping

  • Run the oats, almonds and khaand/raw sugar in a hand blender until ground to a fine meal. Add the butter and process to mix to a moist pea sized crumb.

Fruit filling

  • Stir together.
  • Preheat the oven to 170C.
  • Turn the fruit filling into a 7″ baking dish and level out.
  • Cover the filling completely with the oat topping, pressing gently into place.
  • Bake for 45-55 minutes until you see fruit juices oozing up the sides.
  • Serve warm or at room temperature.

GF Peach Cherry Quinoa Crumbles … how my quinoa crumbled!

“The best we can do, to paraphrase Pollan, is to eat whole foods, mostly plants, and not too much.”
A. J. Jacobs

Peach Cherry Quinoa Crumbles​…. that’s how my quinoa crumbled and we loved it! With peaches and cherries falling off carts this year, and my quinoa obsession, the options are unlimited!​ Honestly, this was my best crumble to date! Gluten free, wholegrain and addictive good! Also a great way to use whole foods, something that fits in with my current obsession #makehalfyourgrainswholeSummer only means exciting times. This year even more exciting as stone fruit are falling off carts. This year the crop seems to have been particularly good. The season began quite early since summer came early. I also have this strange obsession and cannot stop myself from buying the fruit each time I go to the market, which basically means I am constantly thinking of new ways to use them. And then there’s my new wholegrain obsession with quinoa. It began a while ago when a friend got me some organic quinoa from the US. It wasn’t a lot but it was enough to get me going. Find a Whole Foods near you, grab some quinoa and try something new today. A friend, Dolphia,  just commented on my Instagram handle @passionateaboutbaking … ‘Quinoa – I never thought I could use that in dessert.’

I’ve done loads with quinoa of late. Interestingly, the more I do, the more I want to do.  This time I decided to experiment with a crumble. To have a crisp crumble, the topping has to be dryish or rather dehydrated to begin with, made crisp with cut in butter. I didn’t have quinoa flour, and making flour from scratch is a bit cumbersome. Besides, I had a small portion of cooked quinoa waiting for somewhere to go…And here’s where it went, to top these crumbles. I have to say I make crumbles every year, and these were my best to date. The good thing is that they are wholegrain, gluten free and ever so delicious. Healthy of course. What else would fruit and wholegrain be? What’s your favourite way with quinoa?

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Peach Cherry Quinoa Crumbles

GF Peach Cherry Quinoa Crumbles​…. that’s how my quinoa crumbled and we loved it! With peaches and cherries falling off carts this year, and my quinoa obsession, the options are unlimited!​ Honestly, this was my best crumble to date! Gluten free, wholegrain and addictive good! Also a great way to use whole foods, something that fits in with my current obsession #makehalfyourgrainswhole
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 6 people

Ingredients

Stone Fruit Mix

  • 6-8 peaches pitted, diced
  • 2 cups cherries pitted, halved
  • 2 tsp cornflour
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • Few drops almond extract

Quinoa Oat Crumble Topping

  • 1 cup cooked quinoa dehydrated {note below}
  • 1/2 cup walnuts finely chopped
  • 1/3 cup quick cooking oats
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup chilled butter grated

Instructions

Stone Fruit Mix

  • Preheat oven to 180C.
  • In a large bowl, toss all the ingredients for the fruit mix well to coat.

Assemble

  • Divide the fruit mix into 6-8 ovenproof ramekins, including the liquid if any.
  • Divide the crumble mix equally over each, pressing down gently to make sure the top is well covered and sealed.
  • Bake in a hot oven for 35-40 minutes until the top is crisp to touch, and maybe the juices are bubbling out.
  • Serve warm {or chilled as we like it} with a serving of unsweetened single cream!

Notes

Note : Dehydrated cooked quinoa. I spread the cooked quinoa on a oven proof platter and microwaved it for 6 minutes, a minute at a time, since I was experimenting. I think next time I will put it on an oven tray and leave in a low oven for about an hour.

Dark Chocolate Mousse, Peach Lime Cooler & Stone Fruit Salad … Summer!

“Anything is good if it’s made of chocolate.”
Jo Brand

My love for individual desserts in glasses knows no end, and I loved these glasses from Urban Dazzle the minute I saw them. Stunning and a million ways to use them, my first thought was dessert, maybe chocolate. Soon I proudly strutted Dark Chocolate Mousse with Balsamic Cherry Sauce in these beauties! They complimented each other beautifully … I think it was meant to be!Nice wine glasses said Mr PAB! Do you remember the Urban Dazzle goodies I received a while ago? I was lucky enough to get another lot of glassware to get creative with. This gorgeous set of glasses, goblet like, was something I’d never seen before, yet something I would instantly pick – pretty, versatile, stand out design, good quality glass, fabulous ridge and ever so attractive!I have a ‘thing’ for stem glass. I am also very skewed towards traditional glasses, crockery, cutlery etc. Modern design doesn’t normally catch my eye but these Alternato A.P tumblers were different. Functional and neat, appealing too, these are easily my favourite already. Despite being wine glasses, so much versatility!Thoughts flew through my head when I unpacked them {received them via courier, well packed indeed}. Tiger Shrimp Gamba like from the Leonardo day out at Olive recently! Ooh they would look great! Or a gazpacho … stunning red shining through?

I did a set of coolers as well, inspired too by the Luigi Bormioli Michelangelo Masterpiece Jug that was part of the parcel. Made a refreshing, full of flavour Peach Lime Cooler adapted from What Megan’s Making. I love the spout and the curves of the pitcher! The crystal clear glass shows off vibrant colours beautifully!Very artistic! It would look great on a picnic table with  a vibrant punch, ice tea, cooler, or sangria. A true masterpiece of Italian make, this belly pitcher from Luigi Bormiolo is a chic addition to any serving set or barware. I also did a Wild Indian Java Plum Juice with all its purple goodness, and Raw Mango Panna too. The latter neither beautiful nor vibrant to look at, packs a punch in summer! I have begun using natural raw sugar {khand / bura in India}, palm sugar {gur} or honey for my coolers.I went on to make a Stone Fruit Summer Salad which was as refreshing as can be. The dieting diva immediately declared that I must make some everyday … I could see myself peeling peaches, plums and mangoes till kingdom came!! The salad – peeled and cut peaches, plums and mangoes tossed in a sugar lime syrup {about 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 5-6 limes} and left to mature for half an hour …nice!The cherry on the cake was this Dark Chocolate Mousse with a Balsamic Cherry Topping that got made by default thanks to the power grid failure. My frozen cherries needed to get out of the freezer and be made into something! This was it!I had a cherry sorbet, pink and vibrant in mind for these glasses. But fate had other plans, and nothing frozen was going to happen in a while. My next best bet was dark chocolate which really pairs well with cherries. I used a similar mousse recipe from the Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake I made in June.

So tell me dear readers, what would you use these glasses for, other than wine of course! 

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Recipe: Dark Chocolate Chili Mousse

Summary: A smooth as silk dark chocolate mousse topped with a balsamic cherry sauce. Seductive make ahead dessert. {Serves 6}

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:

  • Dark chocolate mousse
    {adapted from the Thermomix cookbook}
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • Pinch of cream of tartar
  • 70gm powdered sugar, divided
  • 1/2 vanilla bean scraped
  • 1/2 t vanilla bean powder {or paste}
  • 1 tsp chocolate chili powder {0r 1/2-1/2tsp chili powder} optional
  • 50g unsalted butter
  • 40g low fat cream, room temperature
  • 170g dark chocolate, chopped
  • 200ml low fat cream, chilled, beaten to medium peaks
  • 5g {1t} gelatin powder dissolved in 1 1/2 tbsp of water
  • Balsamic Cherry Topping
  • 500g cherries, stoned {net weight}
  • 2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 3-4 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1/2 vanilla bean shell from above

Method:

  1. Recipe is for the Thermomix. I reckon it can be adapted with the same proportions for regular top of the stove cooking, like a creme patisserie.
  2. Heat empty TM bowl for 2 minutes at 50C, speed 2.
    Insert Butterfly. Place egg whites in TM bowl with cream of tartar and beat for 4 minutes on speed 4 with MC off.
  3. Through hole in the lid, add half the sugar, 1 tsp at a time during the last minute. Set aside in a large bowl. remove butterfly.
  4. Without cleaning, place yolks, remaining sugar, vanilla bean powder and scraped seeds, butter, 40g cream and chocolate into TM bowl. Cook for 4 minutes at 70C on speed 3.
  5. Add a third of the beaten egg whites back into the bowl and stir for 10 seconds on reverse + speed 3. Add to the remaining whites.
  6. Fold everything gently together, including gelatin. Divide between glasses and chill for about an hour until slightly set.
  7. Balsamic Cherry Topping
  8. Place all ingredients in a non reactive pan and simmer for 3-5 minutes until the cherries soften and give up their juice. Make sure you don’t overcook the cherries, else they wont hold shape.
  9. Drain the cherries and reserve in a bowl. Return the syrup back to the pan and reduce until thick and syrupy. Pour back over the reserved cherries, cool and then chill. can be made a day or two ahead. It will thicken slightly in the fridge.

Recipe: Peach Lime Cooler

Summary: A great way to use up the bounty of summer fruit. Refreshing and ‘peachy’, this is a great summer cooler. Adapted from What Megan’s Making. Serves 6-8

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

  • 500g peaches, peeled and chopped
  • 100g raw sugar {or honey; adjust according to sweetness of fruit}
  • 1 cup fresh lime juice (about 12 limes)
  • 5 cups water {or soda}

Method:

  1. In a sauce pan bring to a boil the peaches, sugar and water. Reduce heat, and simmer until the sugar is fully dissolved, about 10 minutes.
  2. Using an immersion blender (or a regular blender), puree the peach mixture until smooth. Pour through a strainer, and press through to get out all of the juice. Cool completely.
  3. Once cool, in a pitcher combine the peach mixture with the lemon juice, stir until well combined. Serve chilled over ice.

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Macaron à la Peaches et Crème … Vacation Macs!

“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.”
Robert Orben

It’s been literally a mac-vacation for me, a vacation I dislike as it keeps me away from a challenge I love with a vengeance. I’m back on board to get in with the fun and beautiful Mac Attack Jamie and I host each month. This time our call was for Vacation Macs … and how better could I get there with my mac-a-vacations … Macaron à la Peaches et Crème {pardon my French please}The flavours are reminiscent of one of the best vacations we enjoyed a few years ago in the Himalayas. We’ve had some other fabulous ones include Goa, Sydney, Hong Kong, Gangtok … but the one the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible just turned 13‘ teen remembers every single day is this one at Ramgarh. Nothing like the serenity of the Himalayas to unwind!

That vacation filled in perfectly with our call this month. Our best macarons reminiscent of that ideal vacation or that perfect holiday spot. Mountains, seaside, tiny hamlet lost in the countryside, large, bustling city teeming with restaurants and museums, these are our inspiration. With the best vacation that comes to mind, from that thought, memory or distant dream, create a fabulous Vacation Macaron!

We stayed at a beautiful heritage cottage surrounded by peach trees and since it was peak summer, we walked by peach trees plucking fresh, juicy fruit right off the tree. This is where my lad became a peach monster and developed a deep love for the fruit.Summer is for stone fruit is my chant. I just cannot have enough of these delicious fruit that are reaching us in the foothills of the Himalayas; better quality and quantity every year! This summer I have had a field day with stone fruit…… Apricot Peach Sorbet, Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake, Mini Quark Vanilla Cheesecakes with Balsamic Cherries, Black Forest Cake, Oatmeal Peach Apricot Mango Smoothie {yet to post}, Dark Chocolate Cherry Wholewheat Cakelets {yet to post} … and my fridge is full of cherries, peaches, mangoes and apricots!I have also been developing some food recipes for Del Monte for their website World Foody. The peach ice cream above is one I made last week from their canned peaches, beautiful cling peaches with a fabulous deep flavour. Will let you know when the recipe is up on the website; until then it’s Macaron à la Peaches et Crème!The macaron shells were going to be perfect, something deep within me said to me when I was done folding the macaronage. BUT … in my hurry to beat the power cut, I switched on the upper element instead of the lower one, so my feet popped out with the thermal shock and the skins developed a ‘peach‘ blush. It was too late to salvage the batch, and the little macronage left proved my feeling right! Aaaargh! And did I tell you that at 45C ice-cream melts SO FAST? I was RACING!I used the several times tried and tested David Lebovitz recipe that lives in my head. It never goes wrong if you mix the macronage correctly and let it rest! However, a little more advice follows …

Do you want to join us making MACARONS?

If you do, you are most welcome to join us  for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!

… these cookies are fiddly creatures and are dependent on way too many things. egg whites {aged or not}, almond meal,oven temperature, room temperature, humidity levels, the hand that mixes them, the way you pipe them out … and above all, lady luck!

Before I get onto the recipe, I’d like to thank Chillibreeze for interviewing me. You can read it here if you like.I’d also like to thank the Financial Times, Times of India, for including me so generously in their feature ‘Gurgaon is Blogging & How‘ on Business Street, 21st June, 2012. Last but not the least, thank you Javelin Warrior for adding my Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake in your delicious Friday Food Fetish.

Thank you all! I feel really honoured.

Monthly Mingle is the brainchild of the lovely Meeta @ Whats For Lunch Honey, and this month it celebrates Barbara’s spirit at the wonderful Jeanne @ Cook Sister with a Taste of Yellow. I am sending this to the MM for July 2012.

[print_this]Recipe: Macaron à la Peaches et Crème

Summary: Vanilla macarons sandwiched with a home made low fat peach & cream ice cream. Perfect for those hot summer days!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes {plus resting time}
Ingredients:

  • Vanilla Macarons
  • {recipe adapted from David Lebovitz}
  • 1 egg white {35gm} {I didn’t age mine}
  • 2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar {I used granulated vanilla sugar}
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup almond meal
  • 1/4 tsp egg white powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder
  • Peach ice cream for filling

Method:

  1. Run the powdered sugar, almond meal, vanilla bean powder and egg white powder in blender until well blended. Sift into a bowl.
  2. Beat the egg white until foamy, then add the granulated sugar and beat for approximately 2 minutes until stiff peaks form.
  3. Fold in 1/4 of the dry mix until no streaks remain, then add the remainder of the dry mix and gently fold in until you get a lava like batter. {Donot overfold}
  4. Place into a piping bag and pipe circles onto parchment paper.
  5. Tap the trays sharply to get rid of air bubbles and allow to rest for 30-45 minutes.
  6. Bake in double trays at 140C for 12-15 minutes, until the shells are firm and no longer jiggly. {My oven uses just the lower element for baking, so I place the double trays towards the top of the oven}
  7. Cool and sandwich with softened ice cream. Store in freezer and serve directly from there.

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{No Bake/Frozen} PEACH-GINGER & PLUM-VANILLA GRANITA … bidding adieu to stone fruit

Worldly things were of little meaning. She lived for hamburgers, ice cream, pencil and paper. 
Carol Adams
I’m really really gutted and you might wonder why. I feel as if I lost the first prize and walked away with the consolation prize. At the heart of my misery is my rather late discovery of the granita. Have actually contemplated making it quite often, but never with such a sense of urgency until I saw this post on House of Annie. I was generally googling for something fun and refreshing to do with the last plums and peaches of the season, and this particular post had me gaping! Annie had made peach and plum granita and I just knew what my next sweet stone thing was going to be!
Annie made both granitas but her recommendation on the peach flavours were far more exciting – Peach & Ginger? Yes please! I had the sugar syrup and ginger simmering in no time. Her feedback on the plum granita wasn’t too good, and sent me looking for another. I settled for a Bon Apetit recipe I found on Epicurious. The vanilla bean had my attention, and I am really glad I tried this one.
Both the flavours turned out over the top fantastic which is why I was so cheesed off. Oh to have discovered something so good at the very end of the season! I know how my next stone season  looks  …  a fridge full of granitas for sure! And before I forget, I read somewhere that you scrape the granita with the fork every 30 minutes to keep the ice crystals small! They taste so good once they reach freezing point, that it’s difficult to keep away from stealing a bite. The son ran out of ‘scraping with the fork’ patience, “It’s OK Mama, we can eat it like this!”, while Mr PAB grabbed the fork and said “WTH is this? It’s fab“!

For me, the hard work was the pushing the pulp through the sieve. It took forever, or like forever. Also, my granitas took a whole day before reaching freezing point. Maybe I need a new fridge, maybe… I adjusted the sugar in the plum granita because the plums were quite sour. I also added 2 drops of red food colour as the plums weren’t the dark red ones. You can skip that, but I let them be to give me colour contrast with the peach. Oh yes, one more thing … once out of the freezer, granita melts really fast!

I’ve learnt since that running the plums through a blender is MUCH better than using a processor. Managed to achieve the other thing I had bookmarked and that was this delicious to the last drop plum lemonade, posted here. My last lot of plums were squishily sitting in the fridge till day before, and  now I have them blended. One more thing  on my list to do using plums before we are done with the season, a plum fro yo. Mmmm …

Plum Vanilla Granita

Adapted minimally from Epicurious {Bon Appétit}
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 1/2 pounds plums, pitted, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
Method:
Combine water, sugar and cinnamon in heavy small saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is reduced to 3/4 cup, about 2 minutes. Cool syrup completely.
Puree the plums in processor. Press enough puree through sieve to measure 1 1/2 cups. Strain syrup into puree and blend well. Transfer mixture to a shallow 9 X 5 loaf tin. Freeze plum mixture until flaky crystals form, stirring every 30 minutes, about 4 hours. After it hardens, use a fork to scrape it up into coarse granules. {Can be made 1 week ahead. Cover; keep frozen}

Peach Granita

From the House of Annie
1″ piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
7-8 large peaches, stoned
Method:
Slice the ginger into slivers and boil them along with the cup of sugar and cup of water
Cut up the peaches and blend along with the slivers of ginger from the syrup. Then strain the puree through a sieve. To the puree add the juice of one lime, and then the ginger sugar syrup. Pour into a shallow dish and place in freezer. After it hardens, use a fork to scrape it up into coarse granules.
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Posted by Deeba @ PAB

{Baking} CORNMEAL DROP BISCUIT PEACH COBBLER … for times when the mason doesn’t show up!

“There’s your karma ripe as peaches.”
Jack Kerouac

Even while the hammers rain blows down, and the kitchen is in shambles, I have a list of things to do. A cobbler was on my must bake list before the stone fruit season bid us adieu. It’s been bookmarked ever since I saw it on Leites Culinaria when I stopped by attempting to try and bake a recipe off the site for a photography competition. This cobbler was high on my list, until Monsieur Lebovitz’s Absolute Best Brownies knocked me off my perch!

Not one to stay knocked off for so long, I was soon winging my way back to my must bake list. We’ve had some minor issues while the kitchen renovation goes on … stuff like minor flooding {never touch the plumbing if it works fine!!}, and then a day with minimal work done when the mason took a rainy day off! For me, minimal work being done was a golden opportunity to get down to baking. If the mason doesn’t show up, it’s cobbler time!

Cobbler is a traditional dish in both the United States and the United Kingdom, although the meaning of the term is quite different in each country. In the United States, it is usually a dessert consisting of a fruit filling poured into a large baking dish and covered with a rolled pastry dough, then baked in an oven. In the United Kingdom it is usually a savoury meat dish, typically a lamb casserole, which is covered with a savoury scone-like topping, each scone (or biscuit) forming a separable cobbler. Fruit-based versions are also increasingly popular in the United Kingdom, although they still retain the separate cobbler (or biscuit) topping of the meat version, and savoury or meat versions are not unknown in the United States. The Crisp or Crumble differ from the cobbler in that the cobbler’s top layer is more biscuit-like. Grunts, Pandowdy, and Slumps are a New England variety of cobbler, typically cooked on the stove-top or cooker in an iron skillet or pan with the dough on top in the shape of dumplings; they reportedly take their name from the grunting sound they make while cooking.
Jeanne @ Cooksister had an Apple Pecan Cobbler posted just recently, and I knew the time had come. for me to try the peach cobbler. This was one fruit dessert I hadn’t tried so far.  A fridge full of peaches, a few plums too, soon I had a pie dish full of fruit. I chopped the peaches instead of slicing them, all done in haste, but cobbler I made! It’s not a beautiful thing to photograph, but I took a shot. I love the rustic fruity look the cobbled top offered, somewhat like a mosaic, with colourful fruit and juices peeping through. I threw in some pistachio nuts in the biscuit topping, just to add to the taste and, maybe colour!
This particular recipe is from the cookbook The Lee Brothers Simple Fresh Southern by Mat & Ted Lee. Very ‘Simple, Fresh and Southern’ as the book title goes, it is a versatile one too. I added a few plums for colour with the peaches. I think like in most cobblers, apples, blackberries, blueberries etc  all work wonderfully under the drop biscuit crust. The fruit juices get cooked and combine with the sugar to form a thick syrup which rises above the biscuit edges to give a cobbled stone like appearance. The cobbler was rustic beautiful and moorish, and full of bursting good flavours.

I’m glad I made the cobbler. It was delicious and ever so fruity. Mr PAB said, ‘What is this ‘thing’ Deeba? It’s delicious!‘ The daughter said, “I love this mushy, ugly thing. Can I have some more?”, and the son loved it too, especially the biscuit crust {anything with butter is!}. I served it chilled because it’s still summer here and we’d rather have cold dessert than warm. Also, chilling it meant that all the fruit juices thickened up nicely and the flavours matured. Of course, it wasn’t very picture-worthy, but heck… My first cobbler was downright delicious, and is off to the Food Photo Competition @ Leite’s Culinaria!

Cornmeal Drop-Biscuit Peach Cobbler
Recipe from Matt and Ted Lees book, The Lee Brothers Simple Fresh Southern

Adapted minimally from recipe @ Leites Culinaria
For the peach filling
1 kg ripe peaches, stoned , chopped {or sliced}
3-4 plums, stoned, chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar {or more, depending on your peaches and your sweet tooth}
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
For the biscuit dough
3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup fine cornmeal
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup pistachio nuts, shelled
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon iodized salt or fine sea salt
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for the baking dish
1/2 cup cold buttermilk {I used low fat}
Method:
Preheat oven to 220C. Butter a 9″ pie dish
Place all filling ingredients in a large bowl, and toss to mix well. Allow to stand for ten minutes while you make the drop-biscuit dough
Drop-biscuit dough
Place the flour, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder, pistachio nuts and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse for a few seconds till the nuts are chopped fine, and the mixture blended. Add the butter and give 2-3 short pulses till the butter cuts through, and the mixture becomes like coarse meal with pea size bits of butter. Add the buttermilk and stir with a rubber spatula just until a tacky, wet dough comes together, which should take no more than a few seconds.
Gently plop spoonfuls of the biscuit dough on top of the peach filling or, if the dough is too sticky to plop, simply spread it unevenly. The dough should be patchy and should not cover the entire surface of the filling.
Bake until the cobbler’s syrup is bubbly and the biscuit top is alluringly browned, 20 to 25 minutes.
Scoop the warm cobbler into small dessert bowls, ramekins, even cocktail glasses. Serve warm.

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Posted by Deeba @ PAB
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