Late summer color

I feel like I've totally missed the window on posting about peach cobbler since it's October for crying out loud. But if you're a good girl like me and froze you some, you can still make this with fresh(ish) peaches. Or you can make the recipe with frozen peaches from the store, too. I've done that and it's very nearly just as tasty.

So yeah, these are the peaches I was obsessed with from the Farmer's Market. Did I mention those? No, that was the okra, these are the peaches. This was the real reason I was there three weekends in a row. I hit the same booth every time. If I remember correctly, the sign says they were grown in Canton. They were a bit small (always a good sign I think) and were sweet as sugar and I was like a crack addict coming back for more. Yum.



My mom made peach cobbler a lot when I was growing up. And it was served with a blop of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla on top. Always, always. Oh yum. Usually I'm all for reinventing recipes from scratch, a la banana pudding, but there are some things you don't mess with. Banana nut bread is one of them. And peach cobbler is another. So I make it, as my mother did, with Bisquick. Don't knock it.

Take about four cups of sliced peaches. I peel the skins off too. Toss them in a pot with a wee bit of water and some sugar if you need it (if your peaches are super-sweet, you might not) and put it on low heat. Plus I like to pile in some cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. No idea how much - do it to your taste. The original well-weathered recipe from my mom's cookbook called for a #2 can of peaches, though mom usually made this with fresh. So when I make that peach mixture, I'm aiming to heat it just long enough to get the same amount of peach-to-syrup ratio as that fabled #2 can of peaches.

Set your oven to 350 degrees (or whatever setting achieves this temperature, as is the case with my crap-box). Then mix 1 cup of Bisquick (fo sho), 1/2 cup of sugar, and 3/4 cup of milk. Meanwhile, toss 3/4 of a stick of butter into a casserole dish and pop it into the pre-heating oven until it melts. Don't let it burn!



The next part is key. Pour the batter in first, then add your peaches and syrup, spooned in delicately on top. Now, as the batter bakes and rises, it's going to soak up a lot of that yummy peach syrup. Oh yeah, and the gobs of butter. It goes in looking like a hot mess, but comes out like this after about 40-45 minutes:



Serve with ice cream if you please. In fact, I'd highly recommend it, because if you don't, you might be insulting its southern sensibility. Heaven forbid.