There are many things I love about the summertime: more daylight hours, blueberry picking, the smell of sunscreen, and peach season to name a few. Peach cobbler has always felt like summertime in a bowl to me. Maybe it’s the bright color or the mix of the jelly-like texture of the peaches, with the pillowy-bread top, or the fact that it tastes like sunshine personified? I always knew it was the start of summer when my mom made a peach cobbler on Memorial Day Weekend, and then through out each holiday in the summer, made from peaches that we usually pick up from a peach orchard not far from our family’s farm in East Texas. The cool thing about cobblers is that is feels like everyone’s family has their own recipe and I love seeing how everyone puts their own spin on things—keeping the family traditions alive. I love the fact that this is the recipe my grandmother made, my mother makes, and my sister and I will continue to make. Each adding our own touches to make it our own. My mom doubles the recipes to make it thicker and cooks it longer, my sister makes her gluten free, and I macerate my peaches (which means nothing more than letting sugar break down fruit) and added the ice cream touch to make it a little extra special!

This is our family’s peach cobbler recipe and it reads a little like Miss Truvy’s “Cuppa-Cuppa-Cuppa” recipe from Steel Magnolias. I added the Salted Vanilla Ice Cream because the salt brings out the natural sweetness from the peaches, as well as cuts through the syrup-y sweet taste.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

Ingredients:

-1 cup of flour

-1 1/2 cups of sugar

-1/4 tsp of cinnamon

-1 cup of milk

-2 tsp baking powder

-1 stick of butter

-12 overly ripe peaches (you can leave them in the window sill to help them ripen!)

Method

1. Peel peaches and cut into 1/2 in. size, sprinkle with half a cup of sugar and cinnamon. Set aside to macerate for 10-15 minutes.

2. Mix together flour, sugar, milk, and baking powder to make a paste.

3. Pour paste into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

4. Cube one stick of butter of the paste.

5. Pour peaches over the butter.

6. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until it bubbles all around sides and in the center and browned.

Salted Vanilla Ice Cream

Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

Ingredients:

-2 cups of whole milk

-2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

-1 cup of sugar

-1 tbs. of kosher salt (I use Diamond)

-2 tsp. of vanilla extract

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, salt. Stir (do not whisk) together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

3. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

4. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

5. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

6. Or enjoy immediately over your freshly made peach cobbler and sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon!