Biscuits are delicious. Peaches are delicious. So why, when you combine them, is the sum of the parts less than the whole?
SERVES 2
TIME 55 minutes, plus 20 minutes cooling
To prevent soggy biscuits and a runny filling in our peach cobbler, we cook the peaches to concentrate the juices into a syrup. Caramelizing them in butter and brown sugar adds flavor at the same time. We found that a little bit of thickener helped tighten up the peach juices exuded during baking, and flour is our go-to choice. Lemon juice and vanilla round out the filling, and for convenience, we bake our cobbler right in the skillet. For the topping, a traditional buttermilk biscuit is our favorite. Dropping the biscuits on top while the filling is hot jump-starts the cooking, and a final sprinkling of sugar before it goes in the oven creates a crispy, craggy, golden-brown top.
If you use frozen peaches, don’t thaw them, but do increase their cooking time in step 1 to about 7 minutes. A serrated peeler makes quick work of peeling fresh peaches. If you don’t have buttermilk, combine ¼ cup of milk with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice and let the mixture sit for 10 minutes before proceeding with step 2 of the recipe.
Ingredients
FILLING
3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
⅛ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 ¼ pounds (567 grams) fresh peaches 1 1/4 pounds (567 grams) fresh peach , peeled, halved, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch wedges, or 1 pound (454 grams) frozen sliced peaches
1 tablespoon water
1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
TOPPING
½ cup (2 1/2 ounces/71 grams) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Instructions:
FOR THE FILLING: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine sugar, butter, salt, and cinnamon in 8-inch ovensafe skillet over medium-high heat. Cook until sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Add peaches and cook, covered, until peaches release their juice, about 5 minutes. Whisk water, lemon juice, and flour together in bowl and stir into peaches. Off heat, stir in vanilla. Cover and set aside.
FOR THE TOPPING: Whisk flour, 2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in bowl. Add buttermilk and butter and stir until dough forms.
Using spoon, drop 1-inch pieces of dough evenly over hot peach mixture in skillet. Sprinkle with remaining 1 teaspoon sugar and bake until topping is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool on wire rack for 20 minutes. Serve.