TFF: Bourbon Peach Cobbler
See that steam? That’s one hot cobbler, baby.
Last weekend was the local Peach Festival around here. It’s a pretty big draw every year, there’s never any place to park and the line of cars waiting to get in usually stretches about three miles. All of us want the same thing… to sample peach cobblers, pies, ice cream, salsa, and even slushies. The boyfriend and I always leave completely peached out, but still take home a huge bag wondering what we’re going to do with them all.
I was craving more cobbler after a few days passed by and I’ve had Tyler’s Bourbon Peach Cobbler recipe bookmarked forever. It was the perfect time to test it out.
I’ve still been out of the baking loop (and down a little over ten pounds now to show for it) and I felt really rusty being in the kitchen again. I was somehow tripling certain ingredients instead of cutting them in half (?) and rummaging around the cabinets not remembering my organized chaos ingredient placements. However, this was a good recipe to sort of get me back in the swing of things. It’s fast, easy and I could make it in just a few pans and bowls using basic kitchen utensils and my hands.
This cobbler is full of fresh peaches, has a thick sauce with a background note of bourbon and just the right sweetness and spice. The biscuits on top are brushed with heavy cream and sugar before baking and are perfect – crunchy on top, moist underneath. I’m telling you, you won’t even need ice cream to go on top of this (although I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt!). I didn’t use any simply because I didn’t have any in the house. The biscuit layers aren’t that overly sweet though, so be aware if you like things a little more sugary that you might want to add a little extra sugar to the dough or make sure you do have ice cream.
The only change I made was to adding a little vanilla to the peach filling. It seemed strange to me not to have any vanilla in the recipe.
I made half a batch and it was gone within an hour between the two of us.
I need more peach cobbler. Now.
Tyler Florence’s Bourbon Peach Cobbler
Show: Food 911 Episode: Chili Roundup
Ingredients
8 peaches, peeled and sliced, about 6 to 8 cups
1/4 cup bourbon
3/4 cup sugar, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
3/4 cup heavy cream, plus more for brushing
Click here for directions
I do love this Tyler Florence, there’s no doubt about it.
Bourbon Peach Cobbler marks my 20th post for Tyler Florence Fridays, a group with the freedom to make any recipe of Tyler’s that they choose and then share their experiences every Friday.
Honey Peach Ice Cream
I’m already looking forward to the Peach Festival that comes around here every August. There are peaches as far as the eyes can see. Peach jam, peach cobbler, and peach ice cream all just waiting to come home with me… mmmm. So I was really excited for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Honey Peach Ice Cream. For one, it made the wait for the festival in August not seem so bad. For two, my ice cream maker hadn’t seen any action since last year’s Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream. It really needed to be used instead of the canister just taking up room in my freezer.
I picked up some peaches at the organic market, used regular honey in the bear jar, and 2% milk instead of whole. The full recipe calls for 3 egg yolks but I made a half batch. So instead of using 1.5 eggs yolks I just used 2. I added a little extra vanilla to it as well. You have to cook the custard mixture on the stove top first and then chill for a few hours before churning. Then you need to freeze for a few hours before you can enjoy. So make sure you plan a little bit ahead.
This ice cream is delicious. I loved this one, it’s right up there in my favorite Dorie recipes. I loved the smooth, creamy peach flavor. Next time, I think I would puree all of the peaches together instead of having a chunky ice cream – just a personal preference. I will make this again without a doubt, we couldn’t stay out of it and it was gone in no time. I’m really lucky I even got a few halfway in focus pictures to post of this ice cream. I thought I was going to have to make another batch just so I could get some more photos!
Making your own ice cream is really the better way to go over buying it. You know exactly what’s in it, there’s no weird ingredients and you can customize however you want. You don’t even really need an ice cream maker either so don’t fear if you don’t own one. One of the girls over on the TWD P&Q posted a link to David Lebovitz’s technique – check out his article How To Make Ice Cream Without a Machine.
Thanks to Tommi of Brown Interior for choosing Honey Peach Ice Cream for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie. Check out Tommi’s blog here to view the recipe. Next week, Andrea of Andrea In The Kitchen selected Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise on pages 293-295 of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours. See you next Tuesday!
TFF: Peach Couscous
This week for Tyler Florence Fridays I wanted to do something different. I’d been interested in trying the Apricot Couscous for a while so I thought I’d go with that. As I was buying all the ingredients I found that dried peaches were less than half the price of apricots. Since I really like saving all the money I work hard for, less than half price really spoke to me and Apricot Couscous turned into Peach Couscous.
This is a great idea for a quick, easy side dish. Or dinner if you’re like me and generally only make one thing to eat. It’s light, but packs a lot of flavor. The combinations of orange, peach and scallions was interesting and different to me. Both the boyfriend and I thought this was pretty good. There’s a amped up version of this recipe on foodnetwork here from Tyler’s Ultimate but I just went with the more basic version below this first time around.
Tyler Florence’s Couscous with Apricots
Show: Food 911 Episode: Moroccan in Miami
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups couscous
2 cups hot chicken stock
10 dried apricots, chopped
2 scallions, sliced thin, green parts only
1 orange, juiced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish (I used extra scallions as the garnish)
Directions
Put the couscous in a medium bowl; pour the hot stock over it and stir to combine. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Add the rest of the ingredients, season with salt and pepper. Toss gently to combine. Garnish with chopped parsley.
Breakfast Part 2,3 and 4: Ellie Krieger’s Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal, Apple-Pecan Muffins, and Peach French Toast Bake
This is the post that could not be written. Every single time I tried to sit down to write, nothing would come. I felt determined to finish it once I kept seeing people were arriving to my blog while searching for the Ellie Krieger things I’ve said I’ve made on my sidebar tracker. So in continuing on with my quest to eat healthier, my obsession with all things breakfast related, as well as Ellie Krieger recipes from The Food You Crave, I bring to you the following three breakfast ideas.
First up we have Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal.
I love oatmeal. The only problem is it’s a tad bland unless you’re eating one of the sugar laden instant kinds (the kind that I know and love so much). To me, oatmeal was never something you broke out a recipe for. Until now. I’ve made this probably 20 times. It’s perfect. It’s old fashioned oats mixed with cherry jam, dried cherries, vanilla and milk. There’s no added sugar but I found it was sweet enough from the jam alone. I’ve adapted to making it in the microwave with no problems.
Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal Recipe on Food Network
Second, I offer to you Apple-Pecan Muffins.
I absolutely loved these. I made a full batch and they were gone in about 10 minutes around here. I thought about adapting this recipe into a loaf. It would make a really good apple bread. You must make these muffins soon, I’m not kidding. They’re made with whole wheat pastry flour and brown sugar. Applesauce and buttermilk add tons of moistness.
Apple-Pecan Muffin recipe on Food Network
And last but certainly not least, we have Peach French Toast Bake.
This one intrigued me from the first time I came across the recipe. Not sure why because I really don’t care for French Toast that much. (Although, I’m considering trying to come around. Matt, my blogging friend, recently featured a Crème Brûlée French Toast that looks pretty good.)
Anyway, this Peach French Toast couldn’t be easier. You make it the night before so in the morning all you have to do is turn on the oven and bake. A whole wheat baguette is the base underneath a milk and egg mixture that’s topped with frozen peaches, brown sugar and cinnamon. Ooooh Mama! It’s only lightly sweet which I think makes it really good.
Watch the video for making Peach French Toast Bake here
Ahh, it feels so good to clear this draft out of my posts. The bottom line is you can’t really go wrong with a healthy breakfast. Remember kids, it’s the best way to start your day. And Ellie Krieger can do no wrong right now with me. Everything I’ve tried of hers has been good.
The recipe links again:
Cherry Vanilla Oatmeal
Apple-Pecan Muffins
Watch the video for making Peach French Toast Bake
Summer Fruit Galette – TWD
It’s Tuesday again! This time, Michelle of Michelle in Colorado Springs chose Summer Fruit Galette for this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie. I’ll admit that I let out a little whimper on this choice because I knew it called for pie crust. And me and pie crust don’t get along that well. It doesn’t seem to matter how many tips and tricks I study up on, I just don’t have the magic touch for it yet. But I’ll keep trying.
The Summer Fruit Galette consisted of a free form pie crust, jam/preserves, fruit and a custard that’s added towards the end of baking. This recipe gave the group many choices of what fruit and jams to use. I ended up going with peaches and Dorie’s suggestion of ginger preserves. This was a good flavor combination as the ginger preserves added a nice contrast.
I didn’t use as much fruit as the recipe called for (I only used five peaches) but there was a huge pile in the center anyway. I folded up the crust edges as best as I could but I did have some trouble and it didn’t fold up all nice and neat. I made the custard, then poured it over the galette towards the end of baking. It smelled great the whole time it was baking. It did leak a lot in the oven though, the leakage burned and things got a little smoky in the house. 
Oh well, what can you do?
I couldn’t wait for it to cool down to try a piece. It may not win any beauty pageants but damn this was good.
Thanks to Michelle for picking out this wonderful recipe, stop by Michelle in Colorado Springs and check out her version of Summer Fruit Galette. Then, like I always say, make your way to the Tuesdays with Dorie site to see everyone else’s.
For next week, Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen has picked The Black and White Banana Loaf.
