Peach Cobbler for a Crowd

We had the pleasure of spending several days at the ranch last week. 

The flood waters have finally subsided, leaving the lakes full and the vegetation lush.

But this is Texas and it is June, that means it's also hot.
So while we're fishing, our beloved Dixie decided to go for a dip.

That crazy dog swam back and forth for a good fifteen minutes.
Can't say I blame her, though. I was half tempted to jump in myself.

This time of year in Texas also means, peaches. And peach cobbler.
 Normally, I use fresh peaches, but the grocery store I went to only had California peaches and they were hard as rock. Not good for cobbler.
So, realizing I didn't have time to run by the market that had local peaches, I opted to go with frozen peaches. I'll discuss the results later.

Okay, let's get started by preheating the oven to 400 degrees.

While the oven is heating, to 3 - 16oz bags of peaches (that would equate to 6-8 cups of sliced fresh peaches) I added:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
If I were using fresh peaches, I would have also added a couple teaspoons of lemon juice, but the frozen variety already have ascorbic acid to prevent browning.

The butter decided to photo bomb the other ingredients.

Pour the dry ingredients over the peaches and toss until the peaches are coated.

Since the peaches were frozen, much of the dry stuff sifted to the bottom, but that's only.

Now pour the peach mixture into a buttered baking dish and set aside while you make the topping.

Mix together:

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 Tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

Then cut in 2/3 cup COLD unsalted butter that's been cubed.

It should look like course meal.

Now add 5-6 tablespoons milk and combine until everything comes together.

Because there's so much butter in this dough, the easiest way to roll it out is between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. 

You simply peel off the top sheet, lay the dough atop the peach mixture, then peel off the other sheet.

Why do I have two separate sheets of dough?
Because while I doubled my recipe for the peaches, I forgot to do it for my dough and had to make a second batch.
The ingredients I listed above are for a double batch.

What I did here is a very rustic version. But you could cut the dough into strips and do a lattice top or, say for the 4th of July, you could use a star-shaped cookie cutter and line the top with stars.

For this version, I cut a few slits in the top, then baked for 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden and the peaches are bubbling.

 Served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is darn near perfection.

 Now, about those frozen peaches. Passable, but not near as good as fresh. While most of the slices were tender, some weren't ripe to begin with and were still hard, even after baking.
That said, I didn't hear any complaints from those who partook in this seasonal treat. Matter of fact, most of them went back for seconds.

Bottom line, fresh is always best, but frozen works, too.

One last shot of Walnut Hill lake, one of our favorite spots.

Believe it or not, that downed tree is partially submerged, but the reflection makes it look as though it's hovering above the water.
Nature at it's best.