Peach Skillet Cobbler

Usually I would practice this a couple more times before I posted it but 1) I had to finish the binding on a quilt that was for a gift for a friend who was retiring last Friday, 2) I was in Anchorage on Saturday and Sunday morning for my niece's wedding, 3) We had friends over for the Super Bowl (which sucked, even if you were a Seattle fan, there really wasn't a game) 4) I have to start work full time this week and it is 10 minutes before 7 and I have to get ready.

So, I'll tell you how I would do it differently next time and if you try it, let me know how it worked for you....

I have been craving peaches.  Crazy since it is the middle of winter and the only way to get peaches is to buy frozen ones.  Well my favorite store does not have a large variety of frozen peaches so I bought what they had...

I wanted something peachy, saucy, cakey...so I made a peach and blueberry skillet cake.  The taste was delicious, the texture needed some work.

I served it after a dinner of fried turkey and ham sandwiches, a selection of salads, and lots of wine so no one really cared that it wasn't perfect.  I'll try again with the noted adjustments and see if it helps me get to the end of February without buying any fresh strawberries.

Peach and Blueberry Skillet Cake

1/4 cup butter
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 Tbsp. orange zest
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1-16 oz pkg. of frozen peaches
1/2 cup blueberries
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk or almond milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Place cast iron skillet in oven with butter.

Let butter melt completely.  Take skillet out of oven and mix in brown sugar,orange zest, orange juice, and cinnamon.  Sprinkle 1/4 cup blueberries over bottom of pan, arrange peach slices on bottom in a single layer, sprinkle rest of blueberries over peaches.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar in a medium bowl.  Mix egg, milk and vanilla in a small bowl.  Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients.  Pour over the top of the peaches and blueberries, spreading to the edges of the skillet.

Bake 20-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Cool 10-20 minutes.  Serve with ice cream or whipped cream, scooping sauce over ice cream and cake.

Again, it was tasty, BUT here are the changes I will try tonight.
Use more peaches, I really wanted this to be a peach dessert, but it was a saucy dessert.
Omit the orange juice, just use the orange zest (less saucy that way).
Add more liquid to the cake batter, 1/2 cup made it very thick and I wanted something thinner.
Bake the peaches for 15 minutes before adding the cake topping, the peaches were still a little hard, probably because they were not ripe when they were frozen and needed more time with the heat to soften...also the middle of my cake was not completely cooked, a little doughy, so adding the cake to hot fruit instead of frozen fruit will help with that.

Let me know if you try this and what changes you make.

1 year ago:   Chocolate Mint Martini
2 years ago:  Cioppino

February 3, 2014   Daylight 7 hrs. 11 min. 44 secs   Temp. H 13/ L -2°F