Stephen's Peach Cobbler - The Pastry Variation

Well I managed to get off my bum and into the kitchen before we left for the birthday party yesterday! It felt good and WOW did my kitchen smell wonderful during the baking of this "cobbler".. so good, in fact, that the scent still lingered 5 hours later when we got home. Gawd, I spend hundreds of dollars a year on Wallflowers from Bath and Body Works when all I really need to do is bake this cobbler every day! hehee I've never in my life had cobbler. Can you believe it? My mother never made it and when we'd go out to dinner, if we ever had room for dessert, I always choose something chocolate. Imagine that. But when reading Stephen Cooks - What's for Dinner? one day, I came upon his post about his pastry version of a peach cobbler. The description and picture had me drooling (as all his posts do) and thinking to myself that when peach season arrives, I really need to try this. Not ever having cobbler I didn't really have anything to compare Stephen's recipe to, but Hubbs has had traditional cobbler before so I knew he could let me know how this recipe compared. So after we got home and relaxed for a while, I cut into this heavenly smelling dessert, warmed up the slices and added a scoop of Haagen Dazs' Dulce de leche ice cream on top. Hubbs devoured his generous slice in mere minutes and said that although it didn't have the traditional crumb topping that he was use to, it was so good that he wanted a 2nd slice. He never goes for a 2nd slice. =) I thought it tasted as good, if not better, than what it smelled like. The seasonings really came through and the peaches with the added sugar were both tart and sweet - the perfect combination of both. The pastry inside was delicate and rich and the crunchy latticed pastry on top was just as delicate and added the perfect texture balance to the soft fruit below. I only made one change, an addition of a tsp. of freshly grated ginger to the mix.. I couldn't really taste it though. Next time I'll up that measurement as one of my most favorite flavor combos is ginger-peach. It is with a great big THANK YOU! to Stephen for a delectable recipe that I will make again and again.. I can't wait to try it with apples this fall! Yum! Stephen's Peach Cobbler - The Pastry Variation Courtesy of Stephen Smith of Stephen Cooks - What's for Dinner? The following recipe is written verbatim from Stephen's website. 6 - 8 modest servings Pastry: 1-1/2 C flour 6 T butter 3 T shortening 1/2 tsp salt 3 T ice water 1/4 C sugar Fruit: 4 C peaches, peeled and sliced 3/4 C sugar 2 T flour 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 3 T melted butter To make the pastry, place the flour, butter, shortening, salt and sugar in the processor bowl with the steel blade. Pulse a few times until the mixture is like cornmeal. Add the ice water and pulse a few times, just enough to mix the water into the other ingredients. Turn the mixture out into a plastic food storage bag (it will be crumbly, not yet like dough) and quickly knead it through the bag a few strokes, till it just starts to hold together. Refrigerate for an hour or more. Meanwhile, combine the peaches, sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a cold saucepan. Stir well and then heat slowly to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat and simmer about five minutes. Remove from heat. Taste and correct seasoning and sugar content. Stir in the melted butter. Reserve and keep cold 1/3 of the dough. Roll out the rest to the approximate shape of your dish. (I used a 5" x 9" oval baking dish about an inch and a half deep; a 6" square dish or 7" round would also work). Butter the baking dish and spoon in half of the fruit mixture. Lay the pastry sheet over the fruit. Bake about 12 minutes in a preheated 475º oven, until the pastry is just starting to brown. Spoon in the rest of the fruit mixture. Roll out the reserved dough, cut in strips and lay in a lattice pattern over the fruit. Sprinkle with sugar and bake about 15 minutes more, until the fruit is bubbling and the lattice is browned. Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream. *Note: I did not include any changes or differences in the way the recipe was originally written from the way I made Stephen's cobbler, as I do not want to take any credit in any way, shape or form from Stephen for such a beautiful dessert. =)