Peach Cobbler
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Got ripe peaches? This peach cobbler is the dessert to make—sweet, lightly spiced fruit tucked under a rich buttermilk biscuit topping. Simple, cozy, and perfect for any summer occasion.
Peach cobbler is a rustic dessert made from sweet peaches, warm spices, and a homemade buttermilk biscuit topping dolloped on top of the crust, baked until the fruit is bubbling and the top is golden and cobbled, like an old stone pathway. This dessert is a delicious way to use up all your sun-ripened summer peaches, as well as any other fruit you’d like to mix in (a combination of blackberries and peaches would be wonderful).
For more seasonal variations, check out my apple cobbler and blueberry cobbler. And don’t skip the finishing touch—a big scoop of vanilla ice cream or a generous dollop of sweetened whipped cream is a must.
“I made this for my husband’s family last night (all from Georgia—the peach state) and they said it was the best peach cobbler recipe ever!”
Cobbler vs. Crisp vs. Crumble vs. Buckle: What’s the Difference?
A cobbler belongs to the same family of rustic fruit desserts as crisps, crumbles, and buckles, but each has its own structure. A crisp or crumble tops fruit with a streusel, like my peach crisp or strawberry rhubarb crisp. A buckle flips things around entirely, with the fruit scattered over a cake batter instead of under a topping. A cobbler sits in between: biscuit dough dropped over the fruit in big, uneven dollops, which bake up golden and craggy—resembling a cobbled stone path, hence the name. The result is a fruit filling with a rich, slightly savory, biscuit-like topping, rather than a sweet streusel or a cakey crumb.
What You’ll Need To Make Peach Cobbler
- Peaches: Fresh, ripe peaches are best, but thawed frozen peaches work great too; just drain off the excess liquid first. Peel the peaches for the best texture.
- Lemon juice: Brightens the peaches and balances the sweetness of the filling.
- Sugar: Sweetens both the peach filling and the biscuit topping.
- Cornstarch: Thickens the peach juices so the filling turns out perfectly saucy, not soupy.
- Cinnamon & nutmeg: Add a cozy, warm spice note to the peach filling.
- Flour: The base of the biscuit topping.
- Baking powder & baking soda: Give the topping lift so it bakes up light rather than dense. (Curious about the difference? Check out my post on baking soda vs. baking powder.)
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and rounds out the flavor of the topping.
- Butter: Cut cold into the dry ingredients, it creates little pockets that steam as the topping bakes, making it flaky and tender.
- Buttermilk: Adds richness and a subtle tang to the topping. (No buttermilk on hand? See my post on how to make buttermilk using milk and lemon juice/vinegar.)
- Vanilla: Rounds out the flavor of the biscuit topping.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Prep the peach filling. Toss the peaches with the sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and spices, then set the bowl aside. As it sits, the sugar and lemon juice will start pulling juice out of the peaches; that’s exactly what you want, since it becomes part of the syrupy filling once baked.
Step 2: Mix the biscuit topping. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the cold butter and cut into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Then stir in the buttermilk mixture just until combined.
Pro Tip: Keep the butter cold and don’t overmix once the buttermilk goes in — both are what give the topping its flaky, tender texture instead of a dense one. The dough should look a little rough and lumpy, not smooth like a typical batter.
Step 3: Assemble and bake. Spread the peach filling in the baking dish, then drop the topping over it in big, uneven dollops, leaving gaps between them. A sprinkle of sugar over the top helps it caramelize into a little extra crunch as it bakes.
Pro Tip: Those gaps in the topping allow the peach juices to bubble up and caramelize around the topping as it bakes, which is what gives the cobbler its classic “cobbled” look and craggy texture, rather than one smooth crust.
Step 4: Cool and serve. The cobbler needs a full hour to cool before serving. Resist the urge to dig in sooner. As it sits, the filling firms up from loose and soupy to properly thick and saucy, so you get clean scoops instead of a runny mess.
“The biscuit topping had just the right amount of sweetness…Combined with the warm spices of the peach filling, it was a match made in heaven!”
More Fruity Summer Desserts You May Like
Peach Cobbler
Ingredients
For the Peach Filling
- 3 lb yellow peaches (7 medium peaches), peeled, pitted, and cut into ¼-in (6-mm) slices
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice, from 1 lemon
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the Biscuit Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 7 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small chunks, plus more for greasing the pan
- ⅔ cup buttermilk (see note)
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
For Serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Lightly butter a 9-in (23-cm) square or 2.5-qt baking dish.
- Make the peach filling: In a large bowl, combine the peaches, lemon juice, sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix until well combined and the peaches are evenly coated. Set aside.
- Make the biscuit topping: In a medium bowl, combine the flour, 6 tablespoons (75 g) of the sugar, the baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the butter and rub in with your fingers, or blend with a pastry cutter, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a liquid measuring cup, combine the buttermilk and vanilla extract. Add the buttermilk-vanilla mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a spoon until evenly moistened. Do not overmix; the batter will look lumpy.
- Assemble and bake the cobbler: Transfer the peach filling to the prepared baking dish and flatten into an even layer. Drop the batter in 6 large, evenly spaced dollops on top of the peaches. Sprinkle the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar evenly over the batter. Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool for about 1 hour, then serve with vanilla ice cream or sweetened whipped cream.
- Cover any leftover cobbler loosely with a kitchen towel. (Do not cover with plastic wrap or the biscuit topping will get soggy.) Reheat in a 325°F oven for about 15 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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I made this last night and wanted to share my experience.
First, although I had announced earlier in the week that I needed eight peaches and would be slowly ripening them individually, when I got ready to peel them there were only six and one of those was no longer any good. Ok. No problem, right? Down to five peaches but I had some blueberries that could fill in. Next, I went to add sugar only to find that the unopened package up on the top shelf was actually cake flour. Oops. Ok. No sugar, no problem.
Decided to use brown sugar instead. Cool. Then made a cup of buttermilk from powder but when I added it to flour and other dry ingredients I forgot to only add 2/3 cups and added the full cup worth. Hmmm. At this point I was starting to mumble to myself and may have said a bad word. So, since the topping looked nothing like the picture due to the extra buttermilk and my brain was fried I simply started pouring flour directly from the canister into the mix until it looked similar to your picture and then I just plopped it on top of the peach mixture and Popped in oven. At this point I must admit I didn’t have a lot of hope for what I had hoped would be a wonderful cobbler that I was making as a family treat., right? Well. It turned out wonderful!!! Really really delicious! The fruit was yummy with the brown sugar and the topping was perfect! A total hit!
Thank you Jenn for another practically foolproof recipe. 🙂
LOL — so glad it defied your expectations and turned out well! 🙂
So easy! So perfect! Loved it!
Beverly, you are hilarious! Your baking style sounds very familiar to me. It’s all about going with the flow!
Loved reading your hilarious baking adventure with the cobbler, Beverly. Thank you for the laugh!
This was absolutely delicious! Went peach picking with my daughter, she made peach sorbet (a millennial!) and I made the cobbler (a baby boomer memory) Wow, better than my memory I suspect. Thanks Jenn
P.S. My daughter bought your cookbook for me as a complete surprise
So glad you enjoyed the cobbler! Hope you enjoy the cookbook just as much. ❤️
Love your blog and cookbook! This tasted good, but I don’t know where I went wrong. I followed the recipe to a “T” and it was so so wet. I had to cook it at least 15-20 minutes longer than stated in the recipe and the topping was still only just done and the peaches were like peach soup. Do you think my peaches were just really juicy? Any ideas where I went wrong?
Sorry you had a problem with this! Did you use fresh or frozen peaches? Did you use a different sized baking dish than the recipe calls for?
Hi Jenn! I used fresh peaches and the recommended baking dish. It tasted great, so I will give it another go today! I probably just made some sort of mistake along the way 🤷♀️
Hope you have better luck the second time around!
Agreed by all, the best cobbler ever! And I grew up eating cobbler. The biscuit topping is so light and fluffy. Made it with half peaches and half nectarines because that is what I had.
jenn, can i use frozen peaches for this dish
Sure, Barb, that will work. 🙂
I made this a couple of weekends ago for company. The peaches were at their peak or a little beyond (very good eating peaches which btw I purchased from Costco), so I wasn’t surprised when the final product was juicy. Everyone enjoyed it anyway — there was only one scoop left which I enjoyed two days later for breakfast with coffee. Yum!
Followed directions to a “T” and it came out beautiful and tasted wonderful…. I used frozen peaches, so when I added the ingredients to the peaches I let them set aside in a strainer. I believe doing this will assure there is not too much liquid.
Thanks for a great recipe….
Amazing. I have made many cobblers and crisps over the years but this was undoubtedly the best. The flavour and texture were right on. One of the only sites I will make a recipe for the first time and serve it to company.
Hi Jenn, I just sent you a note about making the recipe in a 9×13 pan. I hadn’t noticed until now that in your comments you suggested doubling the ingredients. That would be to exactly double each ingredient for both the filling as well as for the biscuit topping? – By the way, I love all your recipes and your cookbook!
Glad you like the recipes, Barb! Yes, you would double all of the ingredients to bake this in a 9 x 13-inch dish. It may take a bit longer in the oven, so keep an eye on it. Hope everyone enjoys!
Jenn,
The batter for the cobbler was much thicker than I expected it to be but I put the cobbler in the oven anyway, knowing that every recipe I’ve tried on your site and in your cookbook turns out well. I was not disappointed and it was a hit with the family too! Thanks Jenn for another great recipe!
So glad it turned out well, Barb. ❤️
Best peach cobbler recipe I have ever tasted!!
We have a lactose intolerant person in our household. Can soy milk work in this recipe? If not, what do you recommend for a peach cake that is dairy-free? Thank you
Hi Adele, I think you could use soy milk but turn it into something that resembles buttermilk: Just add 2 tsp. lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup and then add 2/3 cup of soy milk. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then use it in place of the buttermilk. Hope that helps!
I use Fairlife milk… Comes out perfectly.