Recipe from Edna Lewis
Adapted by Kim Severson
- Total Time
- 1 hour 45 minutes, plus 2 hours’ chilling
- Rating
- 4(989)
- Notes
- Read community notes
This delicious cobbler, which features pie crust instead of a biscuit or cake topping, is designed to let the incandescent flavor of summer peaches shine, and it’s best made when they are in season. Edna Lewis, the cookbook author and chef from Virginia whose books are considered definitive in the Southern culinary canon, often suggested a lattice top for it, with bits of raw dough tucked into the filling before baking. Those bits cook into tender dumplings while thickening the fruit juice. Serve the result warm with ice cream or whipped cream, or all by itself. —Kim Severson
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 3cups sifted all-purpose flour (345 grams)
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt
- 1teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and frozen for 10 minutes
- 2tablespoons lard or vegetable shortening, frozen for 10 minutes and cut into small pieces
- 1 to 2teaspoons granulated sugar, for sprinkling on top crust, optional
- 8cups firm but ripe peeled, sliced peaches
- ¾cup granulated sugar
- 2tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ¼teaspoon salt
- ½teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 4tablespoons (½ stick) butter, thinly sliced
For the Pastry
For the Filling
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
585 calories; 33 grams fat; 19 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 69 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 33 grams sugars; 6 grams protein; 431 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Make the pastry: Set aside a small bowl of ice water. On a work surface, mound flour, salt and sugar, and mix to blend. Top with frozen butter and lard or shortening, and use a pastry cutter or your fingers to mix until it resembles coarse meal; some large pieces of the fats should still be visible.
Step
2
Quickly form a mound and, with your finger, draw a trench down the center. Sprinkle trench with 1 tablespoon ice water and fluff flour so it absorbs the water. Repeat three times, drawing trenches and sprinkling each with 1 tablespoon ice water, so 4 tablespoons of water have been incorporated. The dough should be starting to clump in large pieces. If necessary, add water by droplets until dough begins to form a mass.
Step
3
Gather dough with a pastry scraper. Working quickly, use the heel of your hand to smear an egg-size piece of dough by pushing it away from you. Continue with remaining dough (about 6 smears total), then gather dough again and repeat the process. Shape into 2 flat disks, and cover each in a double-thickness of plastic wrap, pressing wrapped disks to further shape and bind them. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Step
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Roll out one chilled disk to ⅛-inch thickness, large enough to line and slightly overhang an 8-inch-square 2-inch-deep baking dish, or other shallow 2-quart pan. Trim to leave ½ inch of pastry above rim, refrigerating both pan and trimmings. Roll out remaining dough to about ⅛-inch thickness, to cover top of cobbler, again trimming and refrigerating excess dough. Slide top crust onto a plate, and refrigerate.
Step
5
Make the filling: Heat oven to 425 degrees. In a mixing bowl, toss together peaches, sugar, flour, salt and nutmeg. Place mixture in the crust-lined baking dish, and tuck chilled trimmings into the center and sides of the filling, scattering them throughout. Top with butter slices. Moisten rim of dough with water and slide flat pastry crust on top. Press edges of dough to seal, and cut a few 1-inch slits in top crust. If desired, sprinkle with sugar.
Step
6
Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 degrees, and continue to bake until crust is deep golden brown and filling begins to bubble through slits, 30 to 40 more minutes. Cool cobbler on a rack until warm. If desired, serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream or ice cream.
Ratings
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out of 5
989
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Cooking Notes
MelissaJane
How is this not a pie?
John Golden
What makes this dessert a cobbler and not a pie is that it relies on an old southern method of cobbler making. Line a baking dish with dough and the trimmings are saved to put on top of the filling, little pieces of it. This will help thicken the mixture. Then the top crust is added. Other versions call for laying strips over dough under the filling (without using a bottom crust) and then covering it either with a lattice top or a top with big slits for steam to escape.
Anita
Very good, though not what I call a cobbler. We have a pile on the counter of the last peaches from a dedicated little tree so I tried this recipe.
I omitted the bottom crust, though, since I never like a crust that isn't at least parbaked in fruit pie. The bits of dough tucked into the filling surprised me: tiny dumplings might be the best description.
Phyllis
I made this yesterday. It is ridiculously tasty. My crust was not pretty when I finally got it into the pan. I thought the pastry directions were over-fiddley. But, the the final result was superb! I made it with local peaches. I think the key to this turning out so nicely was real butter and lard and fresh peaches and grated nutmeg. WORTH the effort. Stuffing bits of left over crust into the peach mixture was genius!
Beth H
My husband found great S. Carolina peaches at our local fruit stand. Used nine. FYI -- to peel easily, remember you can dip them in boiling water, then the skins slip off. Glad I found this recipe, whichreally highlights the peaches. I'm really not into sweet these days, and this is just perfect. Loved that the crust is not too bread-like. Yes, it's a bit like a peach pie -- but so much peachier and fruit forward.
A keeper.
Betsy
Could use a video for this one.
Betty
This was delicious—the peach cobbler of my childhood, made the way my Southern mama and grandma made it. They didn’t use a bottom crust because they were thrifty but they did tuck the trimmings into the fruit. Yum! You may prefer a biscuit dough with cornmeal on your cobbler but that doesn’t make it the best. Your best is whatever you like most. This is my best cobbler.
Becky Swaffield
The best cobbler recipe is from Cooks Illustrated. It features a drop biscuit with a little cornmeal in it. The original recipe is a blueberry cobbler but obviously you can substitute any fruit. You won't look for another recipe once you try it.
The one change I make is heating/cooking the fruit, prior to baking. I do it on the stovetop rather than in the oven. Much quicker.
Anna
I LOVED this, but also found the instructions a little convoluted. Nevertheless, it turned out great on the first try.I pre-baked the bottom shell at 425 for about 10 minutes before adding the filling and crust. I really dislike chewy crusts and this made the bottom crust come out properly baked. I also drained away a little of the juice from the peaches.Since I knew I'd be serving it with ice cream, I reduced the sugar down to a heaping half cup. I wouldn't have wanted it sweeter.
Genie
As others have said, this is how cobbler is made in much of the South (and we know our peaches!). I was shocked and disappointed the first time I was served "cobbler" with no bottom crust. My favorite old recipe has strips of crust in the middle of the fruit, much like this one. This crust technique also works well with other fruits such as blackberries.
Bonnie
I made this today, using the exact ingredients called for. My husband and I both thought it was the best cobbler that we ever had. I served it with vanilla ice cream. However I didn’t follow all those involved directions for making the crust. I just made it the way I always make pie crust. I didn’t do all those hours of chilling the dough and freezing the butter. Too time consuming and I don’t know how it could have tasted any better.
S. Talarico
I also used the Cook's Illustrated method of using ice cold vodka with the water in the crust. Vodka adds moisture, but doesn't form glutens like water. The crust stays flaky and the alcohol burns off.
Sherry
My grandmother was from the South and this is how she made cobbler. I was surprised when I encountered cobbler made with a biscuit dough, I thought that wasn't "real" cobbler.
PER
Made it almost exactly as written and was honestly the best peach cobbler I've tasted. The crust was beautifully flaky and buttery, but I did blind-bake the bottom crust & the little dough bits before adding the filling to make sure they didn't get soggy - was definitely worth the extra time to do so. The nutmeg really took the cobbler to the next level, and I think because the recipe is so simple, using whole nutmeg instead of pre-ground is the best way to do it.
Brenda
I’m still looking in my house for her cookbook that has this recipeI remember my grandmother and my mother making peach cobbler the same as this recipeMy mother’s family is from Dillon County which is near the coast of northeast South CarolinaSince this the close of summer and the very last fresh peaches are hanging I will make one more cobbler and of course use the recipe
Laurie A.
I don’t care what it’s called (but for the record, it should be pie) IT IS DELICIOUS. A bit intense for a crust recipe but color this southern girl impressed! I’ve made it several times and I must say I’m already panicked that peach season is ending here in the Rocky Mountains (you can take a girl out of the south…)
KM
This is the kind of cobbler recipe I search for. In my life the women where I’m from (black and Mississippi) this is how we do cobbler. That biscuit like topping is not what we call cobbler.
bluerroses
Forgive me Edna, I used two good quality pre-made pie shells in place of the homemade pie dough. Used scraps of dough on the top, to make a "patchwork quilt" effect. Otherwise made as written. Heavenly! Really everybody--it's ok to have lots of different versions of recipes. My own grandmother made cobbler another way--with fruit and butter on top of the dough, which rises around it. No need to correct Edna, or my grandmother or anyone else. It's a big world, with room for all kinds of diversity
Judy
The absolute best peach cobbler like I remember having as a child, and not too sweet, just right! Whipped cream or ice cream makes it stellar! I love this recipe.
Courtney
Is this supposed to be a soupy filling? Because with only 2 tablespoons of flour I don’t see how it could turn out any other way. The flavor was good, but if I make it again I will add at least 1/4 cup of flour to the filling or maybe opt for cornstarch instead.
Sharon
This recipe turned out perfectly delicious, and is very traditional similar to what my 85 year-old mother told me she grew up eating in the Tidewater region of Virginia near Fredericksburg. This is not like a pie, because the crust was crumblier than a regular pie crust. Don’t add too much water when you make the dough. That permits it to melt in your mouth as you eat the wonderfully nutmeg-y peach filling. I served it with plain yogurt on the side instead of vanilla ice cream. Still wonderful!
pattis
Again, I'll make the comment I always make: You don't need sugar when making cobblers or other summer fruit desserts! Or at least cut it down by half or more. Unlike cake dough, where sugar is essential for aerating the batter and creating the texture you need, the sugar in these kinds of recipes serves no purpose. I'd use the term 'gilding the lilly,' but it's more like tarnishing it.
Susan P.
Disagree; depends on sweetness of the fruit, but even a little sugar (and acid) amplifies the flavor (like salt in savories)
Clare
So, so good. I forgot the slices of butter, but didn’t miss them. Also didn’t bother peeling the peaches because I like their flavor. Texturally, they were barely noticeable in the final product. It brought me back to family reunions in Texas.
RvG
Yes! This is true old-fashioned and absolutely delicious peach cobbler. I haven't heard of lining the pan with the "bottom crust" instead the second round of dough was placed in between layers of the peaches to make that "dumpling" that is called for here using the crust trimmings. Essentially - it does the same thing - it makes a lovely moist dumpling inside the cobbler. I've never enjoyed the biscuit or cakey cobblers - this one is the cobbler I remember so fondly from childhood!
Suzanna
Why couldn’t you make this with just a top crust like a true cobbler?
Nercon5
The dough is finicky, and the filling is liquidy, but sweet shawarma of god the cobbler is good. 2.5 lbs of peaches is about right, could even go 3; also no need to skin! Peaches are each a kiss from heaven
MP
I live at high altitude (7800 ft) and the crust became so crumbly that I couldn't roll it out. Ideas for high altitude?
William Wroblicka
I don't think altitude had anything to do with your problem. My guess is you needed to add more water to make a workable dough. IMO, most recipes for pie crust (which is what this is) are too stingy in the amount of water they call for out of a dubious fear that a dough that incorporates enough water to make it easy to roll out will be "tough." Humbug, I say. But if you're still hygrophobic, you could try the NY Times recipe for "foolproof pie crust."
S Harrell
Absolutely delicious! I made the filling ahead of time so I wouldn’t have to haul fresh peaches to our beach rental - put the filling in a ziploc bag and stored it in the freezer overnight. Took it out while I was making the crust, which turned out very well even though I had to use an empty champagne bottle to roll it out because no rolling pin in rental. Also no measuring spoons or dry measuring cups in the rental, so I had to estimate the crust measurements. Very flexible recipe!
S. Talarico
More like 8-10 Tablespoons of ice water in the crust.
EBMN
The trick here is to not add more than one extra tablespoon of ice water. Yes, the mound of dough will be crumbly, but if you follow the instructions to take a small portion and smear it on the counter, you will find that the dough begins to adhere very quickly. Repeat this process with six small portions of the crumbly dough mix, and you will have a nice, firm ball of dough to pat into a disk.
susan
This was fantastic. Made the dough in a food processor and added just a pinch of cinnamon to the filling. Otherwise, followed exactly. All the other recipes I read for peach cobbler had lots of spices. Love the simplicity of this one- especially with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. New family favorite.
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