Easy Peach Cobbler Recipe (Homemade, Fresh and Fast) in 35 Minutes

Among peach recipes, I believe this easy peach cobbler recipe is on the top. The crunchy crust, moist peaches and overall fulfilling taste… 

Plus, it is such an easy recipe. What could you ask for more?

It is delicious, soft and tender and fits any season. Of course it is better in summer, using all those fresh fruits. But it can also be made with frozen or canned peaches. 

What is a Cobbler Recipe?

As its name says, a peach cobbler is a dessert prepared with a peach filling and a thick and crunchy crust. It’s like a pie without the bottom crust. It was invented by American settlers. This dish was never meant to be good-looking. It was considered an alternative for the popular pie recipe from United States and Europe in the 1800s. 

The cooks “cobbled” it together using canned, dried or preserved fruit which were covered with chunks of biscuit dough. After that, the dessert was baked over an open fire.

In the beginning of the European settlement, the immigrants that settled in the New World brought a lot of pie recipes, most of them being English or Dutch. They obviously needed to adapt those recipes to what resources they could found in America. 

In the early 19th century, settlers started to move to the west. Since fruit trees were usually grown on the East Coast, they lost easy access to fresh fruits. However, the pie recipes traveled with them, so they had to adapt the new situation and make their desserts with the available resources such as canned, dried or syrup-preserved fruit.

They also used baking powder to leaven the dough and baked it over an open fire.

This is how the cobbler was born as a dish prepared from scratch in attempt to recreate a pie. It was basically a trail-made recipe. The settlers dumped the fruit into a Dutch oven, covered it with some biscuit dough and cooked over an open fire until the crust got golden-brown. 

Real soon, the dessert was turned into breakfast for some of the immigrants, into a first dish or main course for others. We may say that this food was adopted pretty quick into the 1800s diet. It was only in the late 19th century that the cobbler was assigned only with the “dessert” purpose.

Just like the other cobblers, peach cobbler was born in the same way: with dough, peaches and an open fire.

Nowadays, it is a common dessert in the Deep South. They usually serve it with a scoop of ice cream. Although there are many versions of this dish, the recipe is pretty similar with the old fashioned peach cobbler that settlers used to cook.

We may encounter some reinterpretations such as: torte, slump, tart, croustade, grunt, crisp, pie, crow’s nest pudding or bird’s nest pudding, pandowdy, buckles or sonker. They all use butter, flour, sugar and fruits but the Southern peach cobbler follows the same original recipe.

Fun Facts About Peach Cobbler

Since the 1950s, the easy peach cobbler recipe became an American primary dessert. So it should have its own celebration day, right? In order to honor it but also to sell more peaches, the Georgia Peach Council proclaimed April 13th National Peach Cobbler Day. What better way to cook and enjoy more cobblers? And did you know that there is also National Cherry Cobbler Day? This happens on May 17th. More days to cook cobblers. That is if you needed an extra reason to do that.

If you happen to visit the annual Georgia Peach Festival, you will be able to taste the “World’s Largest Peach Cobbler”. It is something huge, measuring 11 by 5 feet. It has a depth of about 8 inches. Locals use 75 gallons of fresh peaches, 32 gallons of whole milk, 90 pounds of butter, 150 pounds of sugar and 150 pounds of all-purpose flour. The dessert is so gigantic it is obvious that there is no baking pan large enough. 

So they thoroughly clean the floors of school buses and use them as pans. Locals also have a custom-designed brick oven to help them with the cooking process. They need to bake the cobbler for about five hours. But first of all they need to divide the ingredients into five work stations which are handled by eight people.

What do you think they use to stir all the great amount of ingredients? Well… boat paddles. And instead of simple bowls, they have trash cans. Clean, of course. You should also know that if you go there, you can bring your own storage vessels and take home as much peach cobbler as you can carry. Great news, right? You may even freeze it and not need to cook this dessert for the next year.

And naturally, there is also a Guinness World Records’ record for the largest peach cobbler. It weighed 2251 lbs. and could be found in Louisiana on June 27th 2015. It was made with the occasion of the 65th Annual Louisiana Peach Festival in Ruston, at the Hampton Inn. 

How to Cook an Easy Peach Cobbler Recipe?

Well, that is pretty easy and it won’t take much of your time. There are basically three steps:

Place the peach slices inside the baking dish and sprinkle them with sugar.

Make the crumble and press it over the fruits. This can be done with your hands so it’s nothing fancy, you don’t need to spread a dough or something similar.

Bake the dessert. And that is all, folks! Simple peach cobbler using a easy peach cobbler recipe!

How to Easily Peel Peaches?

How to Cook a Doubled Peach Cobbler Recipe?

The original fresh peach cobbler has only one crust, on top of the fruits. If you want to make something similar to a pie, you need to double the ingredients quantity for the crust. After preparing, divide it into two equal parts.

Grease your baking pan and press one half of the dough on the bottom of the pan. Add the peach filling and then top with the remaining dough.

Your dessert will be equally delicious.

How Long to Cook Frozen Peaches for This Easy Peach Cobbler Recipe?

You don’t necessarily need fresh peaches to cook the Southern peach cobbler. Frozen ones are just as good.

In this case there are two options: you can either defrost them or use the slices directly from the freezer. If utilizing frozen peaches, the baking time will increase with about 15-20 minutes.

But you may see this as an opportunity to do something else, you don’t need to guard the oven.

How to Make Canned Peach Pie Filling Cobbler?

Peach cobbler with canned peaches is also delicious and fulfilling. The recipe is pretty much the same. The only thing that differs is the type of peaches you use. So, instead of using fresh or frozen peaches, you will fill the cobbler with canned peaches. Just pay attention to the cans you buy. If they contain sugar or any other sweetener, adjust the sugar quantity for the recipe.

Well, the same you make any other fresh peach recipe: following the old-fashioned peach cobbler steps, only using a Dutch oven.

Regarding the crock pot, we have a different but pretty similar story here. A great difference is the cooking time: it will come up to 2 hours. On the other hand, you really can leave the crock pot to do its job and you can go away to take care of yours.

You can also go for fresh fruits (if they are available) or make a peach cobbler with canned peaches.

Fresh Peach Cobbler Varieties

There are people who follow a certain diet and they will need to adapt this recipe in order to be able to enjoy this delicious Southern peach cobbler.