Cardamom-Ginger Peach Cobbler

Late summer is perfect for peaches in New England. With the peaches purchased earlier this week from Cider Hill Farm I decided to make a cobbler. We all have our way of cooking; some people wing it completely, some follow a tried and true recipe to the letter. I usually work somewhere in the middle by reading up on the experiences and recipes of others and then incorporating my own experiences and flavor palate. This particular recipe is still a work in progress but as I write there are some fantastic scents coming from my oven. Here is the process in pictures:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

The first step to any peach cobbler recipe is to peel and slice the peaches. Because peach skin is so thin I find it easier to use a paring knife rather than a vegetable peeler for this task. There are two ways to do this. For bruised peaches start directly over the bruise and make a small cut to expose the brown spot.

 Often the skin is loose around a bruise and you can easily begin to peel back the skin. 

 Once the flesh is exposed the bruise may be much smaller than it first appeared. No sense throwing out a perfectly good peach for a small spot. Instead, cut out the spot and discard it and continue using the rest of the peach.

For firm peaches whose skin is holding tight to the flesh it is much harder to peel them without running the risk of cutting out slices of peach flesh along with the skin. Although it requires more steps it is worthwhile to use boiling water followed by an ice water bath to loosen the skin. To do this, start by scoring an X in the bottom of the peach.

 Place the peach in boiling water for about 1-2 minutes.

 Remove the peach and place it immediately into a bowl of ice water to stop it from cooking in its skin from the heat.

 Next, take the tip of your paring knife and slip it under the now-loosened skin where you made the X.

 Holding the skin to the blade with your thumb begin to slowly peel back the skin.

You can use the above process for any hard to peel thin skinned fruit including tomatoes. Tomatoes are often so delicate however that only 30 seconds or so is required in the boiling water.

Now that the peach is completely peeled begin to slice it into your mixing bowl.

 I used 4 cups of mixed variety peaches combined with 2T sugar, 1/4t cardamom and 2T flour.

 For the biscuit dough I used 1C AP flour, 1T baking powder, 1/2t cinnamon, 1/4t cardamom, 1/4t salt, 1/2 stick butter in pieces and 1/2C whole milk.

 Combine the dry ingredients. Add chopped butter and combine with fingertips. Add milk and gently toss together.

I also added about 1/3C chopped candied ginger. 

 Meanwhile, the other 1/2 stick of butter was melted in the bottom of the baking dish and the peaches were poured on top.

The biscuit dough was spooned on next.

 The cobbler is baked for at 425 for 15 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees F and continue baking for another 30 minutes.

 This is what my cobbler looks like about 1/3 of the way through cooking.