Peach Cobbler

A luscious and juicy Peach Cobbler with a delicious scone topping that makes for the perfect summer dessert! Recipe with step-by-step photos.

Peach Cobbler

As soon as summer rolls around, I get excited about all of the stone fruit that will soon be in abundance at the farmers markets and grocery stores. I even have a special basket for buying stone fruit so that they do not become bruised or crushed on the trip home!

Although I think fruit is generally best eaten raw and in their natural state, I make exceptions for fruit which are a bit past their prime. And this Peach Cobbler is a delicious way to make use of seasonal, fresh peaches.

What is a Peach Cobbler?

A Peach Cobbler is a dessert of baked peach slices with a cake topping. As the peaches cook, they create a syrupy sauce which is delicious served with the topping.

Against the soft and tender baked peaches, I like my cobbler topping to offer a contrast in texture with the addition of crunchy demerera sugar. Served with cold vanilla ice-cream, this Peach Cobbler is a heavenly summer dessert.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

Many recipes for Peach Cobbler use a cake-like topping which is spread over the whole dish, which I often find becomes soft and mushy against the peaches. I prefer a cobbler topping which is a bit more robust.

My recipe for Peach Cobbler is adapted from my recipe for Strawberry Cobbler where I use scones for the cobbler topping. I like how the scones keep their shape and contrast nicely with the soft, baked peaches.

This Peach Cobbler intended to be a low-key affair where all of the cooking is done in the oven, so that all of the juices and flavour from the peaches remain in the same dish. Once you have made it once or twice, you will find many excuses over the summer to make it again and again!

What Type of Peaches to Use

For a Peach Cobbler, I like to use yellow peaches because they have a stronger peach flavour as compared to white peaches which have a more subtle – although more fragrant – flavour.

I also like to keep the skin on the peaches, because it is the skin which gives the syrup that beautiful pinky-red hue.

It is important that the peaches are ripe, or even overripe. That is, if the peaches are soft enough to eat, they are also ready to cook. If the peaches are a bit past their best for eating, they should be perfect for cooking 🙂

I would not attempt this recipe with under-ripe peaches; the peaches will not break down upon cooking, nor will the peaches have enough juice to create the luscious syrup that you need for this dessert. The same can be said for floury peaches.

Although we rarely have overripe peaches, or enough of them to make a Peach Cobbler, I do buy them a few days in advance for the special purpose of making this recipe.

If you ever find yourself with an abundance of ripe peaches which you want to save for another occasion, you can slice the peaches and store them in ziplock freezer bags, ready to cook from frozen at a later date.

And it goes without saying that you can make this Peach Cobbler with frozen peaches; simply bake the peaches from frozen, but watch the water level in case they release a lot of liquid upon defrosting in the oven.

How to Make Peach Cobbler

Step 1

Halve the peaches and remove the stones. Cut the peaches into thick slices, and place them into a baking dish with a capacity of 1 litre/4 cups. You need enough peaches to cover the dish in one layer, plus a bit more on top. As the peaches cook, they will shrink a little in size.

Step 2

Sprinkle the sugar and cornflour (US: cornstarch) over the peaches, then pour over the lemon juice and water. Use a spoon to mix everything together, making sure all of the peaches are well-coated.

Step 3

Bake the peaches for 15 minutes. Use a spoon to give everything a gentle stir.

If there is too little sauce, which can happen if the peaches are not juicy or not ripe enough, add some more water as necessary. Ideally, you want enough syrup to come halfway up the peaches. During baking, the syrup will bubble and simmer and cover the peaches completely. You can see from the photo below how the syrup has coated the sides of the baking dish while it was in the oven, but that it settles down once it is out of the oven.

Bake the peaches for a further 10-15 minutes, or until the peaches have started to soften and the sauce is thick and syrupy. The baking time will vary depending on how ripe the peaches are. Keep in mind that you will continue to bake the peaches once the cobbler topping is added later.

Step 4

While the peaches are baking, make the scone topping.

Place the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and butter into the bowl of a stand mixer. Use a flat paddle attachment to light beat the mixture until it resembles wet sand. Alternatively, you can do this by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips.

Slowly add the milk, adding just enough until the mixture comes together into a ball of dough. You may not need all of the milk.

Remove the dough to a floured surface, and pat it or roll it gently until it is about 1.5 cm/0.5 inches thick. Use a round cutter to cut the dough into small circles.

Step 5

Arrange the rounds of dough on top of the baked peaches, making sure to leave some gaps so that the peaches can continue to bake underneath.

Brush the dough with some milk, and generously sprinkle the dough with demerera sugar.

Step 6

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the scone topping is lightly golden and the syrup underneath is bubbling. Serve immediately or warm.

Tips for Making Peach Cobbler

1. Use ripe peaches. The success of this dish will depend on the peaches. Use ripe to overripe yellow peaches for the best flavour. A mix of peach varieties will work too.
2. Add water as needed. Depending on how juicy the peaches are, you might need to add more water to create the sauce underneath.
3. Do not completely cover the peaches. Leave some gaps in the cobbler topping to allow the peaches to continue baking underneath, and also to allow the sauce to thicken.

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