Celebration Peach Cobbler

This recipe comes from two sources – the fruit portion is from a Crisco flyer, American Pie Celebration, and the cobbler topping is my favorite from Farm Journal’s Complete Pie Cookbook.  The Farm Journal stresses dropping the cobbler dough onto piping hot fruit.

CELEBRATION PEACH COBBLER

Fruit Mixture

• 4 cups sliced fresh peaches
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 T cornstarch
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon
• Dash of nutmeg

Cobbler Topping:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tblsp. granulated sugar
• 1-½ tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
• ½ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
Have a 9-inch square baking pan or 2-quart baking dish at hand.

To Make Fruit Mixture:
In a large saucepan, combine peaches, sugar, water and cornstarch.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and continue to cook, stirring constantly for one minute.  Stir in cinnamon and nutmeg.  Pour into a 9-inch square baking dish or a 2-quart baking dish.

To Make Cobbler Topping:
Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Blend in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal.  Stir in the milk to make a soft dough.

Drop tablespoons of cobbler topping over surface of piping hot fruit mixture.

Bake @ 400 degrees F for 20-30 minutes until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown.

6 servings.  Serve in bowls with cobbler juices.

This is a wonderful cobbler served warm.  I try to time it so it’s coming from the oven  to  cool for 20 minutes or so while we’re eating dinner.  It’s a lovely dessert  plain or topped with a little cream or whipped topping.

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Missouri Peach Preserves

My son and his family live in a suburb of St. Louis.  A Christmas gift they sent me one year was a copy of their church’s cookbook which contained a recipe for peach preserves.  This is my adaptation which I named Missouri Peach Preserves in honor of its city of origin.

MISSOURI PEACH PRESERVES

• 4 cups fresh peaches *
• 4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 Tblsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract

*I used 6 medium size freestone peaches

Measure sugar into a bowl and lemon juice into a cup and have on the stove, ready to use.

For easy peeling of peaches, immerse peaches in a pan of simmering water for about 30 seconds, drain, and peel will slide off easily.  Remove pits, slice peaches and place in a large heavy pot or Dutch oven.  Over medium heat, cook peaches, stirring occasionally, until they start to bubble.

Add the lemon juice and sugar, stirring over medium heat until sugar dissolves.

Bring mixture to a full boil and then cook at medium heat for approximately 10 to 15 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.  Peaches should be soft but not gummy and syrup should be starting to thicken.  Stir in almond extract.

Pour into a crock or heavy bowl (not metal) and let stand overnight.

The next morning, reheat the preserves to boiling.  Remove from heat and immediately pour into sterilized canning jars**.

Seal with lids/caps and process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes, counting after the water has started to boil again.  For a small number of jars, I like to use an asparagus steamer for processing.

Carefully remove the processed jars to a wire rack to cool.

From this batch, I got three half-pint jars and a half-cup bowl which was not processed and will be sampled first.

Note:  After sampling, I can report that the preserves turned out very well.  The consistency for spreading on hot toast or biscuits is just right straight from the refrigerator.

**Click here for a good website on canning and preserving food.

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Irish Lemon and Blackberry Sponge Pudding

My oldest daughter made several trips to Ireland and always brought back an Irish cookbook for me.   In May of 1987, she brought home a copy of Irish Country Kitchen and on June 17, I made this wonderful sponge pudding for the first time.  We were living then in rural Blue Jay, Ohio, on the Indiana border, and every day I went to our back yard and picked a big bucket of wild blackberries.  I made several kinds of pie, jam, jelly, preserves and was running out of ideas when I tried this recipe.  It took a little adapting because of conversions and size of baking pans, but became a favorite.

This is a simple, light dessert of blackberries with a light sponge cake on top – just right for a summertime meal.

IRISH LEMON AND BLACKBERRY SPONGE PUDDING

• 2 cups fresh blackberries*
• 2 Tblsp. butter, softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 1 Tblsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grated lemon peel
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven @ 350 degrees F

Have at hand 4 individual casserole dishes.  Mine measure 4-1/2″ diameter across the top and are 2″ deep.

Have a large pan with sides in which you can bake the 4 casseroles.

Heat water for the pan in which casseroles are baked.

Place about 1/2 cup of blackberries on the bottom of each of four individual ungreased baking dishes and set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar.  Add the lemon juice and lemon peel, beating to blend.

In a small bowl, mix together the remaining 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar and the flour.  In another container, mix the two egg yolks and milk.

Add the dry ingredients to the lemon mixture alternately with the egg mixture, beginning and ending with the dry.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until stiff but not dry.  Fold into the batter.

Pour the batter over the berries (about 1/2 cup per serving).

Place the puddings in a flat pan with sides holding 1″ of hot water.  Bake the puddings @ 350 degrees F for approximately 30-35 minutes until tops are golden brown and gentle pressure with a finger tip leaves no impression.

Carefully remove pans from hot water and place on a rack to cool.

*I can’t say whether frozen blackberries would work in this dish or not.  The original recipe called for fresh and that’s all I’ve ever used.

We like this dessert slightly warm or at room temperature.

We used to love this as our dessert after having a supper of a serving of meat and multiple servings of vegetables fresh from the garden (like new potatoes, peas, tomatoes, zucchini, green onions, leaf lettuce, radishes, etc.).

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Blueberry Cobbler

I adapted this recipe from one I had posted last summer for a mixed fruit cobbler.  It turned out very well, with a lot of flavorful juice.  The procedure for making cobbler comes from an old cookbook, The Farm Journal Pie Cookbook, and stresses the importance of placing the dough on piping hot fruit.

FRESH BLUEBERRY COBBLER

For the fruit:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tblsp. cornstarch
• 1 cup boiling water
• 4 cups fresh blueberries
• 1 Tblsp. butter
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

For the dough:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tblsp. granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

To prepare the fruit:

In a medium saucepan, mix 3/4 cup sugar, cornstarch and boiling water.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture comes to a boil.  Continue cooking and stirring for one more minute.

Remove pan from heat and gently stir in the fresh blueberries.  Pour the fruit mixture into a 1-1/2 quart casserole dish.  Dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon.

To make the dough:

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  With your hands or a pastry blender, mix in the shortening.  Stir in the milk.  Drop dough by spoonsful onto the hot berry mixture.

Place casserole on a flat pan to catch spills and bake @ 400 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.  Best served warm with whipped cream/topping, cream or ice cream.

Servings:  6

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A Good Way to Process Lemons

Whenever I find a good buy on lemons in bulk – such as a bag I bought at Sam’s – I process them immediately for the freezer.  I had read that freezing whole lemons was a good idea, but it didn’t work out for me.  I prefer to wash and dry the lemons, then grate all of the peel to be placed in small containers for the freezer.

Then, I juice the lemons, strain out the seeds and pour into a container for the freezer.

From today’s lemons, I got two small containers of peel and a pint of lemon juice.

A few minutes on the kitchen counter will thaw the peel enough to get a teaspoon or two and a minute or two in the microwave thaws the juice enough to measure.  There doesn’t seem to be a problem with re-freezing.

I like to use fresh lemon juice in my cooking and I haven’t been able to notice a difference when using the frozen.  It’s handy when cooking just for my daughter and myself every day or for fixing meals for guests on holidays and weekends.

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Old Fashioned Plum Streusel Pie

Purple plums are readily available and make a delicious pie.  Since the plums only need to have the pits removed and don’t have to be peeled, they are an easy fruit to work with and produce outstanding results.  This was our dessert today for Sunday dinner.

PLUM STREUSEL PIE

• 4 cups sliced, unpeeled purple plums
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grated lemon peel
• One 9 inch unbaked pie shell

Topping:

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 3 Tblsp. cold butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

In a large bowl combine the plums, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, salt, 1/4 tsp cinnamon, lemon juice and lemon peel.  Toss to mix and let stand for a few minutes to blend.

Place the fruit in an unbaked 9″ pie shell.  Mix the topping ingredients together, cutting in the butter/margarine, and sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the top of the fruit.

Place the pie on a large flat pan or cookie sheet to catch spills and bake @ 375 degrees F for approximately 45 minutes.  Cool on a rack.

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