Skip to Content

Peach Cobbler

Loaded with late summer fruit, this peach cobbler recipe is warmly fragrant with almond and vanilla, and a bit grandmotherly in all the best ways.

Categories:

freshly baked peach cobbler in a baking tin with a scoop of ice cream

Peach Cobbler, A Cure-All

Got some peaches that aren’t totally perfect? Maybe a little bumped and bruised? Make peach cobbler. Got peaches that are totally perfect, but that all ripened at the same time? No worries—just make peach cobbler! Go peach picking, lose your mind in the fun of it and come home with 20 pounds of peaches? Not a problem! You can—yep, you guessed it—just make a peach cobbler. Feeling bummed out that summer is waning? Well, it’s not over yet, so shake off those blues and lean hard into summer by making a...peach cobbler! We’re only sort of kidding, friends. There are few maladies of the heart—or of peach-ripeness—that can’t be solved by this easy peach cobbler recipe. Loaded with late summer fruit, it’s pure, classic summertime love-in-a-baking-dish.

ingredients laid out for peach cobbler, butter, flour, vanilla, cream, sugar, egg

What Is the Difference Between a Cobbler and a Crisp?

Nope, the words "crisp" and "cobbler" are not interchangeable. Each has a very distinct meaning and this recipe is most certainly a peach cobbler, not a peach crisp. Nothing against crisps—we love a great crisp! But, a fruit crisp (sometimes known, just to confuse you, as a fruit crumble) is not a cobbler. Cobblers and crisps are both very simple, old-fashioned fruit desserts that are baked, and that involve topping a whole bunch of slightly-sweetened fresh fruit with some kind of butter-laden topping. In that sense, they’re pretty similar. But, there are some clear differences. Crisps are a bit easier—they're more of a throw-together kind of dessert. Cobblers are just a bit more work, but they're a little tidier, too. Here's a helpful, quick little guide to the difference between a peach cobbler and peach crisp:

  • Fruit Cobbler: here’s an easy way to remember what a cobbler is—they’re called “cobbler” because the topping looks like cobblestones! Cobblers are topped with biscuit topping that is usually dropped on top of the sweetened fruit in little mounds that bake up looking a bit like a cobbled road. Cute AND delicious.
  • Fruit Crisp: fruit crumble is arguably the simplest of the three. In a fruit crumble, fresh or frozen fruit is baked under a streusel topping in its simplest form—usually just flour, sugar, some oats and butter. Sometimes people go really crazy and add a sprinkle of classic baking spices like cinnamon or nutmeg.
flour in a food processor
dough for peach cobbler in a food processor

How To Shop For Peaches

Obviously, the peaches are the star of the show in this easy peach cobbler. If you’re a regular farmers market shopper, great! If you’re not—this is your chance! Buying peaches at a farmers market—or doing u-pick at a farm—is a great way to buy them and there are a few reasons why.

  • Cost. Peaches are very delicate. At a farm or farmers market booth that is selling peaches, they often have so-called “seconds” to sell for much cheaper than the pretty peaches on display. Sometimes they’re even half the cost of the pretty ones, and since they’re going into a cobbler, no one will know that they weren’t pretty.
  • In addition to the cost-saving value of shopping at a farm or farmers market, there’s the question of whether you’re buying clingstone peaches or freestone peaches! At a grocery store, you just get what you get. But at a farm or farmers market you can ask for freestone peaches, which are what you’d ideally have for making a peach dessert like this. “Freestone” means that the peach pit is “free” from the flesh, and when you slice the peach in half, the pit will fall out easily. “Clingstone” peaches are a little more work to prep, but will work for this cobbler if that’s all you can find. OK! This concludes your Peach Purchasing 101 class. Now you’re a pro!
sliced yellow peaches in a bowl
sliced yellow peaches in a baking tin with flour, sugar and butter

Peach Cobbler: Simple Ingredients, A Show-Stopping Dessert

So, other than peaches, what ingredients go into this peach cobbler recipe? Nothing too complicated! All you’ll need is:

  • Sugar
  • Cornstarch
  • Vanilla extract
  • Almond extract
  • Flour
  • Baking powder
  • Butter
  • Heavy cream
  • Egg
cooked peaches in a baking tin with sugar
cooked sliced yellow peaches in a baking tin topped with raw cobbler dough getting ready to bake in the oven.

How To Make Peach Cobbler From Scratch

Making any cobbler—this one included—is as simple as sweeten fruit + make biscuits. But we’ll walk you through the process! Peach cobbler is as easy as:

  1. Sweeten the peaches. Toss the sliced stone fruit with sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract and cornstarch. P.S. fun fact! Ever noticed how that little nugget inside of a peach stone looks like an almond? Well, peaches and almonds are in the same plant family, and so peach and almond are a natural, classic pairing.
  2. Make the biscuits. You’ll use your food processor—trusty old thing—to pulse the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Then you’ll pulse in the cold butter (cold cold cold—always cold butter when making biscuits, OK?) and then cream (this should be cold, too). When you start adding fat—the cream and butter—have a light touch with the pulse button. When we say pulse “just” until incorporated, we do mean JUST. You can always mix more, but you can’t un-mix a dough, so err on the side of undermixing.
  3. Bake! You’ll bake the peaches on their own for a bit first, then you’ll top the warm, fragrant peaches with the biscuits and bake it a bit more, until the biscuits are cooked through.
freshly baked peach cobbler in a baking tin
freshly baked peach cobbler in a baking dish with a spoon.

More Summer Fruit Desserts To Celebrate The Season

Tools You’ll Need:

freshly baked peach cobbler in a baking tin with a scoop of ice cream
homemade peach cobbler in a bowl with a scoop of ice cream and a spoon.

This Insanely Delicious Dessert? Oh, It’s Just Something I Cobbled Together

You know you want to! So just try this peach cobbler recipe, and let us know how you like it, OK? Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!

Peach Cobbler

  • Serves: 8
  • Prep Time:  15 min
  • Cook Time:  35 min
  • Calories: 355

Ingredients

  • 5 large ripe peaches
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp almond extract
  • 1 1/2 cups Flour
  • 1 tbsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 6 tbsp Butter
  • 3/4 cup Heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp Raw sugar, for sprinkling
  • 1 egg wash (1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp heavy cream)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Pit and slice peaches into it into ½ inch wedges.
  3. Add peaches to a 9x13 inch baking dish and mix in the sugar, vanilla extract, almond extract and cornstarch. Spread peaches out in a single layer.
  4. Bake the peaches for 10 minutes on center rack.
  5. While peaches are pre baking, make the biscuits. Put the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a food processor and pulse it for long enough to mix the ingredients. Add the butter and pulse until the largest pieces of butter are smaller than grains of rice. Pour in the cream and pulse just until the dough gathers in clumps. Turn the dough out onto a piece of parchment paper and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Lightly form each piece into a shaggy disk the size of a sausage patty, about 2 ½ inches in diameter.
  6. Arrange the biscuits on top of the hot peaches, brush with egg wash and sprinkle them with raw sugar. Put the dish back in the oven and bake another 20-25 minutes until the biscuits are a golden brown.
  7. Serve the cobbler warm with vanilla ice cream, sweetened crème fraîche or fresh whipped cream.

Nutrition Info

  • Per Serving
  • Amount
  • Calories355
  • Protein4 g
  • Carbohydrates62 g
  • Total Fat10 g
  • Dietary Fiber2 g
  • Cholesterol49 mg
  • sodium234 mg
  • Total Sugars43 g

Peach Cobbler

Questions & Reviews

Join the discussion below.

or

    Any questions?

    Need to change up some ingredients? Unsure about a step in the method? Click the Ask a Question button above. We’re here for you.

  • Leigh

    I agree with the comment above — Don’t know how this doesn’t have more reviews! It’s so easy and so good! I made the peaches and the biscuits earlier in the day and refrigerated them separately. When it came time to cook, our AC wasn’t working properly so I ended up grilling the cobbler. It turned out beautifully and everyone agreed it was delicious!

    Thank you Leigh, we are so glad you loved it!

  • Kristin Reiner

    I don’t know how there aren’t any comments on this recipe. This is THE BEST DESSERT I have ever made. The biscuits turn into crunchy on top, crumbly and moist in the middle cake like bites. It’s so easy, so beautiful, and couldn’t be any more perfect.

    Thank you! So glad you loved it, we do too!