Peach Cobbler

 

My husband loves cobbler.  I have made a bunch of variations, but he loves them all.  This fall I bought a box of Paliside peaches and used this in this recipe.  At the height of sweetness, you can use less sugar since the peaches can hold their own.  The biscuit from this recipe is based off of Whole Grain Morning by Megan Gordon.  We did indeed eat this cobbler for breakfast...and then snacked on it the rest of the day until it was gone.  You can use any combination of fruit to make cobbler.  I want to try it with blueberries and peaches.  It would be great as well with apples.  The possibilities are endless.  Use what is in season for best results, though I think frozen berries would also work well.

Peach Cobbler
Filling:
2 pounds peaches, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1 -2 2 tablespoons lemon juice
lemon zest from half a lemon
3 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cornmeal Biscuits:
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup corn meal (fine ground)
3 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
1/2 cup plain unsweetened yogurt
1/2 cup buttermilk

Method: Preheat oven to 375 F.  Lightly butter a 9 inch pie plate.  In a bowl mix together peach slices, sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest.  Let sit for at least 10 minutes to allow time for sugar to dissolve.  After the sugar has dissolved add the flour and salt to the peaches.  Make the dough by sifting the flours together in a separate bowl.  Add cornmeal, sugar baking powder and salt.  Add the butter and mix into dough until it is pea sized or smaller.  Add the yogurt and buttermilk.  Stir until the dough just comes together.  Pour the peaches into the pie plate.  Drop little pieces of dough until all the dough is gone.  Bake until the biscuit are golden brown and the peach juices are bubbling which should be about 35 minutes.  Remove from oven and cool at least 15 minutes before eating.  You can also wait and serve this at room temperature.

Chicken Pot Pie Version 2

I have long been obsessed with a good chicken pot pie.  On this site I offer two...this one I am now writing about and another which I recently published (http://invitedtodinner.blogspot.com/2013/12/chicken-pot-pie.html).  These are two very different pot pies.  This one is not your regular, traditional pot pie.  First, it is topped with a biscuit crust instead of a traditional pastry topping.  Second, the meat portion of this pie is the main ingredient.  It also has a lovely cream sherry sauce which is added to the chicken so the flavor is unbelievable, but again not your traditional sauce.  I will have to make this a few more times to get used to the not your regular pot pie flavor.  Plus, I added a bit too much chicken so the portion was off a bit.  Another great thing about this is the it reheats well and the flavors continue to come together.  The biscuit is also very good and I really like the toasty crunchy bits.  This recipe is adapted from Pam Anderson's Perfect One Dish Dinners.

Chicken Pot Pie
1 cup chicken broth
1 can evaporated milk (you will use 6 oz.)
4 tablespoons butter, unsalted
2 large leeks, chopped as far up as the stalk isn't too firm (mainly the white and light green parts)
1 medium granny smith apple thinly sliced
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 cup cream sherry
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley

Biscuit Dough
1 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
4 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Heat chicken broth and evaporated milk for about 3 minutes in the microwave.  Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add leaks and apples and cook until tender.  Remove from heat and set aside in a bowl with the shredded chicken.  Heat additional 2 tablespoons butter in the skillet.  Whisk in flour and sage.  Mix and then add the heated chicken broth and evaporated milk mixture.  Once the sauce thickens, turn off the heat and add the cream sherry and season with salt and pepper.  Stir this mixture and parsley into the chicken and leek mixture.  Adjust seasonings.  Pour mixture into a 9 inch pie plate.

For the biscuits mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cheddar cheese.  Mix in cold butter until small crumbs of butter appear. (I use my fingers.)  Mix buttermilk into dry ingredients until the dough just comes together.  Place biscuit dough over the chicken mixture in the pie plate.  It is sticky so I pulled it out in small bunches.  Bake until the biscuits are golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 30-40 minutes.  Serve hot.

Serves 4-6

Gooey Cinnamon Breakfast Biscuit

When I was young my grandma would bake every Saturday.  Fortunately, since I live just up the block, I was able to "help" her bake often.  She would bake beautiful dinner rolls and these wonderful beautiful tasting cinnamon rolls.  While I love those rolls, I don't always want to start my morning with the whole process in order to several hours later eat those wonderful rolls.  So when I saw this recipe which is very quick to throw together because of the nature of the biscuit dough instead of the traditional bread dough, I thought I had to try it.  Plus, as there are only four of them it is just the right size for my husband and I to eat and not watch the rest of them go stale.


Gooey Cinnamon Biscuits
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups heaving whipping cream
2 tablespoons cinnamon
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 425 F.  Grease and line with parchment paper and 8 inch by 8 inch pan.  Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Pour 1 1/2 cups of the whipping cream into the dry mixture and mix until just combined.  Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface.  Pat into a rectangle.  Slice into 8 squares and lay half of them into the prepared pan.  Sprinkle cinnamon over the squares (add a little sugar if desired but really more sugar is not needed).  Cover each square with a second square and press together to seal.  Top with additional cinnamon (or cinnamon and sugar mixture).  Bake for about 15 minutes until golden brown.  Whisk together remaining 1/2 cup cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. Drizzle with glaze once biscuits have been removed from the oven.  Serves about 4.