Our neighbor to the south calls itself the Peach State, but we here in our beautiful South Carolina know both in our hearts and statistically that we produce more peaches than they do. However, we are polite and kind people, and won’t make an issue of it.
What we do want to do is to eat more peaches. The best way is to have a soft, tree-ripened peach that you can peel by gently pulling off the skin with your fingers. You can’t often find such a peach because the peaches have to be plucked early and firm to hold up for the store counters.
That’s a good thing, though, because you will need a firm peach to make peach cobbler.
There are many recipes for peaches: pies, ice cream, pickled, canned, dried, jam, shortcake, peach milk shakes, etc. — and there are three (and maybe more) ways to make a peach pie.
One is the plate pie baked in a “pie pan” with a top and a bottom crust. Another is the deep-dish pie, usually made in a two-inch-deep (or more) baking dish and cooked with a crust on both the bottom and the top as with a pie plate pie.
The third is the cobbler, which can be made with almost any fruit or berry (such as apples, blackberries, cherries, peaches, etc.) by combining the fruits, sugars, etc., in a baking dish and dropping the blobs of pastry into the mixture. Some of them will sink into the fruit/sugar mixture; other parts will stay on top and brown.
There are even different ways to make these cobblers, but today’s recipe is from Elsie Morgan, a member of First Baptist Church of Edgefield. This is a basic recipe, one you can depend on to turn out well. She has used the recipe for blueberries, apples, etc., and sometimes serves it with whipped cream, which her husband likes. You can also serve it topped with vanilla ice cream, and, although she didn’t say, you could probably use the frozen toppings.
Elsie and her husband, Buddy, have been members of First Baptist, Edgefield, for more than 50 years. Rev. Stacy Williams is the current pastor of the church, which has around 500 members.
Both Elsie and Buddy are busy in their church — she is active in Sunday school and WMU, and he taught Sunday school for years before retiring some time ago. They both are part of the group of 25-30 traveling seniors who meet monthly, sometimes for in-house programs but often for trips. This year they have gone to the State House and to the South Carolina Zoo. Sometimes the group meets for lunch, and occasionally they will have a guest speaker.
Elsie enjoys sewing and reading, and especially going to the beach, where she is constantly on the search for sharks’ teeth. It’s uncertain what the destination of her collection will be, but at the moment she has three jars of the teeth.
Elsie and Buddy have three children: daughter Susan and her husband, Rob Keck; daughter Faye and her husband, Sam Steight; and son Ashley.
Maybe she’s planning to share the sharks’ teeth with them. I would like to have a shark’s tooth.
This recipe serves several. If you don’t use it all at one meal, put it in the fridge and bring it out on Sunday. Warm it or serve it cold, with or without a topping, for a dessert that everyone — especially those of us in South Carolina — will enjoy for … Sunday Dinner.
Peach Cobbler
1 to 1 1/2 quarts peaches, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1/3 to 1/2 cup milk
1 cup sifted cake flour
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift together the flour and baking powder. Cream butter and sugar together. Add the egg and beat well. To the egg mixture, add milk and flour alternately, ending with flour. Beat well.
Place the peeled and sliced peaches in a 13x9x2-inch casserole dish.
Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of lemon juice* over the peaches. Spoon butter/flour mixture over the fruit.
Bake about 30-45 minutes until brown.
* May substitute 1 teaspoon lemon extract for the lemon juice.
Have a recipe? Send your recipes to: sundaydinner@baptistcourier.com