Double Crusted Peach Cobbler

My husband has been gone for more than a week on a fishing trip. He came home today, and to welcome him back I made a peach cobbler. This recipe is one that my sister Helen gave me, and it originally came from Southern Living.

Double Crust Pastry
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons chilled shortening
4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Combine flour and salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, evenly over surface; stir with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape into a ball; cover and chill until ready to use.

Double Crusted Peach Cobbler
8 cups sliced fresh peaches – about 5 pounds
2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon almond or vanilla extract
1/3 cup butter or margarine
Pastry for double crust 9-inch pie

Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.

Start with 8 cups of sliced fresh peaches.

Next we’ll need 2 cups sugar, 3 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg.

Mix peaches together with sugar, flour and nutmeg in a Dutch oven; set aside a few minutes until syrup forms.

Bring peach mixture to a boil; reduce heat to low and cook 10 minutes or until tender. Remove from heat. Add extract and butter.

Stir until butter melts.

Spoon half of the peaches into a lightly buttered baking dish. The original recipe says to use a 9-inch square dish. I used an 8 x 12-inch baking dish. There were so many peaches, I feared a boil over!

Now roll half of the pastry to 1/8 inch thickness on a lightly floured surface, and cut a square (or rectangle) to cover the peaches.

Notice that my pastry is not very pretty. In my haste I tore it when I picked it up, but not to worry! This pastry will be inside the cobbler so it doesn’t have to look beautiful. Bake at 475 degrees F for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Remove from oven. Spoon remaining peaches over baked pastry . . .

. . . until all is covered.

Roll remaining pastry to 1/8 inch thickness, and cut into 1-inch strips; arrange in a lattice design over peaches.

Bake 15 to 18 more minutes until browned.

Give it a while to cool, then serve it up.