Peach Cobbler

I finally peeled myself from the radio show and Slim's Big Adventure blog and just in time, Spring has sprung folks. It's has been gorgeous outside this week; the sun is bright and cheery, the sky is blue and the birds are back and chirping.

I think of many things when Spring comes around, like when will I ask my mom to come out and plant/landscape (I kill everything I touch), Easter; will I host an 'eggstravaganza' (maybe next year), summer is around the corner (yikes bikini's) but mostly I look forward to the abundance of fresh produce and farmer's markets.

I couldn't wait for fresh peaches and I had a bag already in my freezer so I decided to make do with what I had. There just isn't anything like cobbler, fresh from the oven--hands down beats out most sugary desserts. Oh who the heck am I kidding....I could eat and LOVE anything that contains sugar!!

Ingredients:
15 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
1 cup of sugar
4 Tbsp of flour
2 Tsp of cinnamon
4 Tbsp of butter, cubed into pieces

    Pastry-
2 cups of flour
2/3 cup of shortening
1/2 Tsp of salt
6-7 Tbsp of water

First prepare the pastry dough; In a bowl, blend flour, shortening and salt by hand to a cornmeal consistency.

Add the water, one tablespoon as a time, until it is totally incorporated.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness (I eyeball this and mine turns out more 'rustic') and cut into long 1 inch wide strips. Be sure to flour your rolling surface and rolling pin so the dough doesn't stick and tear as you prepare it.

Place 4 or 5 strips across the bottom of a 3 quart baking dish. I cut mine in half because I was going to use a pie dish for the cobbler and I like the proportions to contain more filling. Just cut the strips to size for whatever dish you will be using and it will not matter.

I put sugar on these strips too to taste

Please note that the cobbler will be way too doughy if it has a solid bottom. Set aside the extra strips for the top of the cobbler.

Prepare peach filling by combining the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Toss thoroughly.

Pour the filling into the cobbler dish and top with a lattice-like work of the remaining pastry strips. If I really want to be fancy I will weave the strips in and out of each other but I was feeling especially rushed last night, afterall I had to get back to stalking. :)

Brush the top of the cobbleer with milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 for about 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly in the center.

YUM!

This is so incredibly delicious and easy; anybody can pull this off. And just think of how proud you (or your spouse) will be that you made your own pastry! I about fell over the first time I tried this and it worked. I would have never been brave enough to make my own "crust", no way-no how but again super super easy! Now to conclude I must apologize to my co-workers; I had every intention of bring this scrumptious treat into work today but neglected to grab it. Sorry! Oh well, one person's loss is another's gain; I'm thinking of taking the leftovers (oh yah did I forget to mention I already helped myself to a "sample") to the in-laws.