THE LADY & SONS' PEACH COBBLER

Last year when we traveled to Hilton Head, SC, we drove over to Savannah twice. Both times we stopped in at Paula Deen's The Lady & Sons restaurant. The first time we just had dessert...peach cobbler and pecan pie. The second time we ate lunch. Janice and I had pumpkin gooey cake and Leon had peach cobbler again. My husband passed on dessert the second time. You can read about our experience there in this post. 

I saw this cookbook The Lady & Sons Just Dessert at an estate sale last week and knew I had to get it. For this recipe, Paula writes, "It was an instant hit on the first day we offered this dessert at The Lady & Sons, and remains so today. This delicious cobbler can be found on our dessert trays at both lunch and dinnertime. It's so easy to make you won't believe it!" 

Well, this is one of those desserts that you just wish you could eat the whole thing. I did reduce the sugar in their recipe by using stevia with the water to cook the peaches and make some syrup. I also used a sugar/stevia baking blend for the batter. This way I reduced the sugar calories by half in the batter. I like to use the stevia with fruit so that the flavor of the fruit comes through. If you want to use sugar, of course you can. My version was plenty sweet. Also as I said below, the recipe calls for canned peaches. I wrote the recipe using fresh or frozen peaches. If you don't have access to fresh or frozen peaches, I would certainly use the canned peaches. I am sure it will taste delicious. (In fact, they probably use canned peaches at the restaurant.) We just feel like the bestest taste will come from using fresh peaches.

THE LADY & SONS' PEACH COBBLER

1/2       cup (1 stick) butter
1           cup sugar (I used 1/2 cup truvia - sugar/stevia blend)
3/4       cup self-rising flour*
3/4       cup milk (I used skim milk)
2           cups fresh peach slices (Can use frozen peach slices, too)**
cinnamon for sprinkling 

Peel and slice fresh peach slices; (While I was preparing the peaches, I soaked them in lemon water - 4 cups water + 3 tablespoons lemon juice and then drained them to mix them with the sugar water.) mix peaches with one cup sugar (I used stevia) and 1 cup water in saucepan. Stir water and sugar or stevia to dissolve. Add peaches and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.(If you are using frozen sliced peaches, follow the same instructions.) Check out my post on quickly peeling fresh peaches here. You won't waste any of the fresh peach and it is faster too when you are doing several peaches for a recipe.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

While oven is preheating, cut up butter in 2 - quart baking dish and place in oven while it preheats to melt.

Stir sugar and flour together and mix well.

Slowly add milk and

continue to stir to

prevent the batter from lumping.

(I used a whisk at the end to make sure there were no lumps.)

Carefully remove baking dish from oven when the oven has reached its temperature and butter has melted.

Pour batter directly over the butter in the baking dish. (DO NOT STIR).

Using a slotted spoon so the cooked peaches can drain,

spoon fruit

on top of the batter,

then gently pour syrup on top.

(DO NOT STIR).

Sprinkle with cinnamon.







(The most important part of this dish is not stirring the mixture.)

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. (I baked mine the full 45 minutes so it would be golden brown.)

The batter will rise above the fruit, producing the most wonderful of crusts. 

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

*If you do not have self-rising flour, you can use 3/4 cup all-purpose flour + 1 teaspoon baking powder + 1/4 teaspoon salt.

**The recipe actually calls for one 28-ounce can sliced peaches in heavy syrup, undrained. If that is all you have, by all means, use it. BUT my husband and I think there is no comparison to using fresh peaches.