Peach Cobbler

Ingredients for  8  Servings

• For the Filling

• 8

  Peaches, stones removed and thickly sliced or diced into large pieces
• 1 tbsp

  Cornflour
• 3 tbsp

  Soft light brown or light muscovado sugar
• 1

  Lemon, zest and juice
• -

  Icing sugar, for dusting
• -

  Vanilla ice cream or cream, to serve
• For the Topping

• 225g

  Plain flour
• 100g

  Caster sugar
• 1 tsp

  Baking powder
• ¼ tsp

  Ground cinnamon
• Pinch

  Salt
• 85g

  Cold butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
• 150ml

  Milk
• 1½ tsp

  Vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

Approximate Times

• Preparation :

  Less than 30 minutes
• Cooking :

  30 minutes to 1 hour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6. Grease a 30x21cm baking dish and add the peaches. Mix the cornflour, brown sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl. Sprinkle over the peaches and use your hands to toss together. Drizzle over the lemon juice.
2. To make the topping, place the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl and stir together. Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until no big lumps remain (or mix together in a food processor). Reserve a tablespoon of the milk then mix the rest with the vanilla paste. Drizzle over the flour mixture and briefly mix together with a cutlery or palette knife until the dry ingredients are all damp and resemble a soft, scone-like dough. Scoop 8 heaped spoonfuls on top of the fruit in the baking dish and roughly brush with the reserved milk. Bake for 30–35 minutes until the peaches are bubbling and the cobbler topping has slumped and is crisp, golden on top and baked through.
3. Dust with the icing sugar and serve the cobbler straight from the oven with ice cream or cream.