Peach Cobbler – Georgia

Jayne: I found some bright, colorful peaches from the summer in my freezer – just waiting for our Georgia food stop. Peaches for Georgia is a no-brainer. It’s the official state fruit, after-all.

A few interesting facts about Georgia and it’s peaches…(1) the peach is a member of the rose family, (2) they originally came from China, and (3) the world’s largest peach cobbler is made each year at the Georgia Peach Festival in Fort Valley. “The enormously tasty creation is 11 x 5 feet and about 8 inches deep. Tasting the cobbler is free”, according to www.exploregeorgia.org.

What a coincidence – MY favorite way to enjoy summer peaches is a simple cobbler – served warm from the oven, crispy and gooey, with a sprinling of cinnamon – topped by a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

• 1 1/2 cup self-rising flour
• 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 cups sugar, divided
• 4+ cups peeled and sliced peaches
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• Ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place butter in baking dish and place in oven to melt.
2. Meanwhile, combine the peaches, 1/2 cup water and 1 cup sugar in a saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. If you use canned peaches, dump out the syrup that came with the peaches and make this new syrup.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the remaining cup of sugar with the self-rising flour and add the milk slowly to prevent it from clumping.
4. Once the butter is melted, carefully remove the dish from the oven (it’s hot) and pour the flour mixture over it carefully. Do not stir!
5. Next, spoon the fruit over the butter/flour mixture and then carefully pour the syrup over it all. Do not stir!
6. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake for about 40 minutes or until light golden brown.
7. Serve warm with ice cream!

Special thanks to the dessert queen of Savanna, GA, Paula Deen, for this tasty and simple recipe.