Peach Biscuit Cobbler

I've been talking about doing another peach dish for a while now. What has changed is that we have started getting a basket of fresh produce from a local farm each week. It is part of a Community Supported Agriculture program. It also forces us to eat produce that we may not typically grab. Last week's basket came with lots of beautiful peaches. So over the weekend I finally made Paula Deen's Peach Biscuit Cobbler.

I had planned to make it before but it took me a while to track down tapioca starch. My local grocer didn't carry it. We don't have a WholeFoods (yet) around here so I finally found it at EarthFare. I could have used a different starchy thickener... but 1.) I follow recipes and 2.) the tapioca gives the filling a shiny gloss that cornstarch (a traditional thickener) or xanthum gum (a low carb thickener) doesn't.

Instead of sprinkling a granular sugar on top of the biscuits as the recipe called for I used a sugar cinnamon mixture. 

Peach Biscuit Cobbler, from Paula Deen's Southern Bible (page 335)

The recipe comes together rather quickly. The most time consuming part was peeling and slicing the peaches. Of course the trick to peeling peaches is to dump them in boiling water for about 30 seconds and then submerge in an ice bath. That makes the peeling a breeze... but it still takes a while.

Freshly peeled peaches

What I learned: 1 pound of peaches = about 2-3 medium peaches (the recipe calls for 3 pounds)

Another thing I learned: I need to make better homemade biscuits. My biscuits didn't rise as much as I'd like. The flavor was good, but I suspect they should have been a little more airy. I've already determined that I need to perfect biscuit making as a personal goal. One of Husband's signature breakfasts is biscuits and country sausage gravy. While his gravy is from scratch he gets the biscuit part of that dish from a tin of Grands. I've always thought that it would be a nice complement to his breakfast if I made the biscuits while he's doing the sausage & gravy.

Cobbler filling before biscuit top added

Did I like it yes... and no. It was way too sweet for me. Next time I think I'll cut down on the brown sugar. I could probably add more peaches. And perhaps if I can figure out how to make proper biscuits that will help too. I will definitely try this recipe again.

It would also go great with vanilla ice cream.

Have a great July 4th Holiday!