Name: Old-Fashioned Southern Peach Cobbler (Don't Stir It)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/2 cup unsalted butter (113g), 1 stick; 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 teaspoons baking powder; 1/4 teaspoon fine salt; 1 cup milk; 2 cans sliced peaches, 15 ounces each (425g each), drained, with 1/2 cup (120ml) of their syrup saved; 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon; 2 tablespoons granulated sugar; Vanilla ice cream or cold cream, to serve

In this article

Why this peach cobbler works
Ingredients
How to make peach cobbler
Tips that make the difference
Variations
Storage and make-ahead
Frequently asked questions

I once watched a grown man ruin a peach cobbler at my mother’s stove. She had poured the batter over the butter and spooned the peaches over the batter and stepped out to the porch, and he came in, saw the batter sitting there in a puddle of melted butter with the fruit floating on top, decided she had forgotten to mix it, and stirred it all together with a wooden spoon. He meant well. It came out of the oven as a sort of heavy peach cake, and my mother never let him forget it, and he never touched a cobbler again.

This is the old Southern cobbler, the one that looks wrong going into the oven. The butter melts in the hot pan first. The thin batter is poured over the butter and not stirred. The peaches and a little of their syrup are spooned over the batter and not stirred. In the oven the batter, which is lighter than the fruit and syrup, rises up through the peaches and around them, frying in the butter at the edges, and comes out a golden, crisp, buttery crust with pockets of soft fruit and syrup underneath. My mother used canned peaches from October to June and said anybody who called that cheating had never fed six people on a Tuesday.

Why this peach cobbler works

Butter melted in the pan. The batter cooks in hot butter, so the edges and bottom crisp and brown like a fritter.
Batter under the fruit. The batter rises up through the peaches as it bakes, making a crust on top without any rolling or cutting.
No stirring. Stirring mixes the butter into the batter and the fruit into everything, and the cobbler bakes into a dense cake.
A little of the syrup. Half a cup of the peach syrup makes the juices underneath without drowning the crust.

Ingredients

Makes one 9 by 13 inch cobbler, about 10 servings. The measurements are in US cups with grams in brackets.

For the batter

1/2 cup unsalted butter (113g), 1 stick
1 cup all-purpose flour (125g)
1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup milk (240ml)

For the fruit and top

2 cans sliced peaches, 15 ounces each (425g each), drained, with 1/2 cup (120ml) of their syrup saved
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Vanilla ice cream or cold cream, to serve

Peaches canned in light syrup or in juice both work. Use a 9 by 13 inch glass or ceramic baking dish; a thin metal pan can scorch the butter.

How to make peach cobbler

Put the butter in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish and set the dish in the oven while it heats to 350°F (175°C). Take it out as soon as the butter has melted, before it browns.
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the milk until the batter is smooth.
Pour the batter evenly over the melted butter in the dish. Do not stir. The butter will float up around the edges; that is right.
Spoon the drained peaches evenly over the batter, then spoon the 1/2 cup of saved syrup over them. Do not stir.

Batter poured over melted butter in a baking dish with peach slices spooned on top, unstirred

Mix the cinnamon with the 2 tablespoons sugar and sprinkle it over the top.

Bake at 350°F for 45 to 50 minutes, until the crust has risen up around the fruit, is deep golden brown, and the edges are bubbling.
Let the cobbler sit for 15 minutes before serving so the juices thicken a little. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or cold cream poured over.

A baked peach cobbler with a golden crust risen up around the peaches, bubbling at the edges

Tips that make the difference

Pull the dish out the moment the butter melts. Browned butter tastes good but scorches at the edges during the long bake.
Pour the batter gently and evenly, starting at the edges, so it covers the whole bottom.
Drain the peaches well. Too much syrup makes a soggy crust.
Bake it on a sheet pan if your dish is full to the brim. Cobblers bubble over.

Variations

Fresh peaches. Slice 4 cups of ripe peaches, toss them with 1/2 cup sugar and let them sit 20 minutes to make their own syrup, then spoon them on exactly the same way, syrup and all.
Blackberry. Use 4 cups of blackberries tossed with 1/2 cup sugar instead of the peaches.
Peach and blueberry. Add 1 cup of blueberries with the canned peaches.
Nutmeg. Use 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg in place of half the cinnamon, the way some old community cookbooks wrote it.

Storage and make-ahead

Cover leftover cobbler and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Reheat single servings in the microwave for 30 seconds, or the whole dish in a 325°F oven for 15 minutes, until warm through. The crust softens a little in the refrigerator and crisps again in the oven.

It is also good cold, straight from the dish, with a spoon, which is how most of it disappears in my house.

Frequently asked questions

Why shouldn’t I stir peach cobbler?

Because the batter has to rise up through the fruit on its own. Stirred, the butter, batter and fruit mix into one heavy batter, and you get a dense peach cake instead of a crisp crust with soft fruit under it.

Can I use canned peaches?

Yes. Two 15 ounce cans of sliced peaches, drained, with half a cup of their syrup, give a cobbler as good as summer fruit, any month of the year.

Why is the batter so thin?

It is meant to be. A thin batter floats and rises up through the fruit as it bakes. A thick batter would sit under the peaches like a cake.

How do I know when it is done?

The crust is deep golden brown all over, it has risen up around the fruit, and the edges are bubbling. Underbaked cobbler is pale and gummy in the middle.

Butter, batter, peaches, and then keep your spoon to yourself until it comes out of the oven. If anybody in your kitchen reaches for the wooden spoon, send him to the porch.

Recipe