Peach Cobbler

It's not Summertime officially for me until I bake the first peach cobbler. Yesterday was the day! This one will take a little bit of time to assemble but it is well worth the effort.

You'll need pastry for four 9 inch pies; I used Pillsbury brand and cut to fit.

For the filling:

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 t. ground cinnamon

1/2 t. ground nutmeg

1/2 t. salt

9 cups (about 3 1/2 pounds) peeled and chopped fresh or frozen peaches cut into large chunks

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup water

1 egg

sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Use two of the pie crusts to line a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Carefully tuck the dough into the corners and up the sides of the dish. Press gently to seal up any seams.

Prepare the filling by combing the sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl. Add the chopped peaches and gently stir and toss together until the peaches are evenly coated with the sugar mixture. Pour the filling into the pan and spread it out in an even layer. Pour the butter and water evenly over the peaches.

With the remaining pie crusts, you can either simply place over the filling and make a few slits in the dough with a sharp knife.

If you want to make the lattice topping, here's what you do.

Cut the remaining pie crusts so you have six 14 inch long strips and twelve 10 inch long strips. Don't worry about perfection, you can piece the strips together if you need to. 

Carefully arrange the six longer pieces on top of the peach filling, placing them evenly along the length of the pan so that the filling shows through. Place the twelve shorter pieces at right angles to the long strips, arranging them along the width of the pan to make a crisscross pattern.

Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush it evenly over the crust and sprinkle sugar evenly over the top.

Place in the oven for 10 minutes then lower the heat to 350 degrees. Bake until the crust is browned and the filling is bubbling up through the crust about 40 minutes longer. If the crust begins to brown too much, lay strips of foil over those spots.

Serve warm with ice cream or at room temperature.

This recipe is from my all time favorite pie cookbook, Southern Pies by Nanci McDermott.