Peach & Blueberry Cornbread Cobbler

August is probably my favorite month of the year. The days are still long and sunny and warm, and the best produce of the year is at the farm stand. Peak tomato season means I could eat nothing but raw tomatoes for weeks on end, and the plethora of fruit available is sweet and delicious and amazing. Walking up to the farm stand last week the smell of peaches was intoxicating and of course that means I bought a whole basket. The fruit filling in this cobbler isn’t sweetened and this biscuit topping is barely sweet - so it could work easily well for dessert or brunch. The fruit cooks down to a sweet and jammy puddle covered in crown of tender fluffy biscuit which is basically perfect for any time. If you’re using out of season fruit you may want to add some sugar to the filling.

Ingredients:

Filling:

7 peaches

2 pints blueberries

3 generous tablespoons tapioca starch

juice of 1/2 a lemon

Biscuit Topping:

55 g sugar (3 tablespoons)

115 grams cold butter

1/2 tsp salt

150 grams all purpose flour

90 grams corn meal

1 tablespoon baking powder

1.5 cups buttermilk

9x13 casserole dish

Preheat the oven to 425F. Wash the fruit, and dice the peaches into bite sized chunks. Combine the blueberries and peaches in the baking dish.

Sprinkle the tapioca starch over the fruit, tossing to coat. The starch will thicken the fruit juices slightly, creating a beautiful syrupy texture in the finished cobbler. Squeeze the juice of half a lemon over the coated fruit.

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl until evenly distributed.

I like to rub the butter in with my fingers, pinching the cold butter between my fingers until the flour turns sandy. You can also cut the butter in with forks or a pastry cutter. You’re looking for a sandy texture with some small clumps of butter remaining.

Add the buttermilk, stirring until just barely combined. It is okay if there are still some dry bits - you want the biscuits to be nice and tender.

Quickly spoon the biscuit over the fruit topping, covering the majority of the pan with clumps of buttery biscuity goodness. Perfection and neatness are not the goals here - ‘rustic’ is a good look in a cobbler. Plop it on and don’t fuss too much - it will look lovely.

Bake for 15 minutes at 425, then turn it down to 375 and bake for another 35 minutes, until golden brown and bubbling. Let it cool so it isn’t boiling hot, but serve warm. Vanilla bean ice cream is great here - but you could also serve it with greek yogurt for breakfast/brunch. If eating it leftover - I recommend 30 seconds in the microwave to take the chill off - the biscuit just isn’t as good cold.