Who mixes fruit like this? I dunno. The same person who is thoroughly enjoying them both and think they would make a great marriage?

Every year I indulge in fresh cherries from the local grocery store. Cherries do not grow anywhere near here. In fact, I have never seen cherries on a tree, unless you count the Hi Ho! Cherry-O game. Apparently they still make and sell this game. Although I’m a bit confused with the modern version. Red, green, blue and yellow cherries? Give me the old-fashioned accurate version of red (plastic) cherries. 🙂

Living in the Peach State, such as I do, we have access to delicious peaches, although they are grown several hours from here. I used to live close to peach orchards and back then we could pick our own. And we (mostly my brother and his friends) would put the really ripe and mushy ones under the tires of the van to make us spin out (hopefully). You haven’t truly eaten a ripe peach if the juices haven’t run down your arms when you peeled and sliced them.

[Enter] Fresh Peach Cherry Cobbler

I’ve seen the cuppa, cuppa, cuppa recipes as well as others. I’m not a fan of gummy cobblers. This one is more cakey, even muffiny. My sister and nephew were sure that there bananas in it. I assured them it wasn’t but the consistency is terribly far from a nut bread.

My fruit was tired, wrinkly and ready to be used. This makes the dessert even better, in my opinion. I kept thinking of the Statue of Liberty when I’m handling these things. You know, “Give me your tired, your poor….” Immigration is another topic, a big one, that I won’t tackle today.

Peel and slice the peaches.

Add the brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and cornstarch.

Stir together. The juicier the better. Spread out in ungreased 9×13 pan.

Last summer I bought a cherry pitter. It is the ticket to using cherries for anything but eating fresh and spitting out pits. I tried the chopstick and bottle trick but it is slow and messy.

Pit and slice the cherries in half. If you don’t have fresh cherries, you can eliminate them and no one will be the wiser. I think it gives it a rich flavor and certainly a rich color.

Place the cherries on top of the peaches and stir slightly. Bake for 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, white sugar, baking powder & salt.

In the meantime, cut up cold butter into the flour

Use a pastry cutter or 2 knives in a criss-cross action to cut the butter into the flour mixture until it’s the size of small pebbles.

If you’re going to use pecans, add them now. My brother would say it’s not worth eating if it doesn’t have nuts in it. He says that about pretty much any dessert.

Add the hot water first, stirring slightly. Then add the milk and stir until combined.

It will be a wet batter. Drop it onto the fruit layer and spread as best you can. Combine the topping of cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the top. Don’t be like me and forget it.

Doesn’t that look delicious^^ ? No, actually it doesn’t. I looks like hamburger gravy with black olives. Yuck. Maybe the cinnamon/sugar mixture would have helped. But never fear, this is one of those desserts that tastes better than it looks.

Serve warm with a scoop of ice cream. We also like ours with a little milk poured over it in lieu of ice cream. Whipped cream would be good as well!

If you would prefer a lighter colored batter, swap out the brown sugar for white. I like the brown sugar because it adds some caramelly flavor and makes the cake part a little more moist.

If you make it, let me know what you think! 🙂

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PRINTABLE COPY

 

Fresh Peach Cherry Cobbler

For the filling:
8 large fresh peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced (add more fruit if you want!)
1 cup pitted, halved fresh cherries
⅓ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup white sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp corn starch
¼ tsp cinnamon

For the topping:
1½ cups all purpose flour
⅓ cup brown sugar
⅓ cup white sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ c. cold butter, cut into small pieces
½ chopped pecans, optional
½ cup boiling water
⅓ cup milk

Additional topping:
4 tsp white sugar
1½ tsp cinnamon

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425°
Peel, remove pits and slice peaches. Add to large mixing bowl.
Sprinkle brown sugar, sugar, cinnamon, corn starch and lemon juice over peaches.
Stir until peaches are coated.
Pour into an ungreased 9 x 13 baking dish. Add pitted, halved cherries. Stir slightly.
Bake for 10 minutes, then remove from oven.
In a medium mixing bowl, whisk flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and salt together.
Using a pastry blender, mix butter into flour mixture and blend until mixture becomes crumbly. Add pecan pieces.
Pour in boiling water and stir slightly. Add milk and stir until combined. Mixture will be fairly runny.
Spoon mixture over peaches and spread gently making sure to cover the fruit.
In a small bowl, mix organic sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle on top of the cobbler.
Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until topping is golden brown.

Serve warm, topped with vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, or milk.