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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Hi Jenn, this recipe looks delicious! I am wondering if it will work to make half the recipe using a smaller baking dish?
Thanks for all the great recipes!
Ruthie
Sure, Ruthie – that’s fine!
This cobbler is outstanding! My brother took one bite and said it’s better than any cobbler you would get at a 5 star restaurant. I can’t wait to make it again.
Love the recipe! What would be the best way to transport for a church picnic? Trying to think of ways to preserve the crust texture, serve warm, and not spill in my car. Appreciate any suggestions.
Hi Raina, it’s always challenging bringing a warm dessert to a picnic. If you really would like to make the cobbler, I’d cover it loosely with foil and have someone hold it in their lap for the drive over. It’s also good at room temperature so you could go that route. If you want to use peaches, another option is the peach crisp. That’s also good at room temperature and the top of that will stay more crisp than the top of the cobbler. Hope that helps!
We had an abundance of peaches and made two cobblers in the same week- one was this Southern Peach Cobbler, and the other from my favorite food blogger’s site. Hands down, this was the better of the two! If you are browsing recipes and considering this one, stop here and make it!
Now I need to make a few other dishes from this site to see if I have a new favorite source for recipes 🙂
Yes, this is the Best food blog. You will love Jenn
❤️
Agreed!!
Best peach cobbler EVER. The almond extract and buttermilk make the perfect topping, and not having to cook the peaches on the stovetop before baking saves so much time.
Delicious! I use a bit less cinnamon and add some vanilla and almond extract to the peaches but other than that I follow the recipe. Frozen peaches work well in the winter- just under 3 frozen 1 lb bags instead of 8 fresh.
DELICIOUS!!! Not too sweet, excellent flavors, SUPER EASY to make!
THANKS JENNIFER! I’m an experienced home baker, with confidence in my abilities. I share this because, Jenn, my husband said THIS PEACH COBBLER (your recipe) was his all-time favorite dessert I ever made!!! WOW!!!!
FOR OTHER READERS – MY ALTERATIONS:
DID NOT PEEL peaches (we are fine eating the peel & it saves time)
ADDED a pint of Blueberries, as I had to use them up. Wonderful addition.
IDEAS:
No buttermilk or lemon? I make buttermilk with the dry product that sits in fridge, quite helpful
Jenn I’d love it if your web site offered a SEARCH FEATURE in the reviews. Incredibly helpful when you have lots of reviews & I’m looking for something specific (e.g. did anyone else NOT peel peaches & get a good result)
Jennifer as always, Thank YOU for the super clear written instructions. Your recipes have ALWAYS turned out exactly like your photo and get so many compliments. I LOVE buying your cookbook & sending to my friends – to spread the love around. This should be in your next cookbook!
Hi Barrie, so glad you and your husband enjoyed this! While I don’t have a search feature for the reviews, most computers have a function where you can search for certain words. I have a Mac and I hold down the command button and then the F key and it opens a field where I can type in a word to search for. Obviously this may vary based on the kind of computer you have. Hope that helps!
Another winner! This peach cobbler was just perfect! I baked it in a cast iron skillet, done to delicious perfection in 40 minutes. My family loved it! Thanks Jen for your excellent recipes!
Hi Jenn,
I did this cobbler twice : first time I’ve kept it in the oven 40 minutes and had a nice golden crust like yours. When we wanted to eat it after a while, I saw that under that crust it was runny dough. It was too late to put it back in the oven, so I saved as much as I could.
Tonight I tried it again, after 45 minutes it was still runny batter under the crust so I lowered the temperature at 365 F and I kept it another 35 minutes. Finally it’s done after 1 hour and 20 minutes. The crust is really brown now.
I noticed that the peaches, after adding the sugar, leave a lot of juice, around 1 cup. Should I drain the peaches before putting them in the baking dish?
Considering that it takes so long for the batter to cook, as other reviews also indicated, should we lower the temperature from the beginning to avoid the crust to brown so much? Or maybe making it in larger baking dish, to allow the batter to spread in a thinner layer?
Is it possible for you to put a photo with a section of the cobbler, just to see how the cooked batter should look like?
Thanks,
Ingrid
Sorry you had a problem with this! I wouldn’t change the size of the pan or drain the juice from the peaches. For some reason, it may just take a bit longer in your oven (I don’t think you need to reduce the temperature). I would just keep an eye on it and when you notice it starting to get golden on top, I’d lay a piece of foil loosely on top of the baking dish while it continues to bake. And this recipe is on my list to re-photograph soon so I will try to remember to add a picture like you described.
Hi Jenn, just to let you know that after some research, I baked first the fruits only, for 20 minutes at 370 F, I removed some of the accumulated juice, around 3/4 cup and then I added the biscuit topping and cooked for an additional 35-40 minutes at 370 F. The biscuit topping came out perfectly fluffy and cooked through and the fruits also.
So if other people had the same problem, this way it seems to work.
Thank you!
Ingrid
Good to know – glad you found a solution – thanks for reporting back!
Just baked this and used a 9 inch pan, baked for 45 minutes and it was perfectly done throughout.
It may be that your oven temperature is off. I had that problem a while back so I purchased an oven thermometer and it turns out my oven was 15 degrees higher so now I adjust the temperature to fit all my recipes. If it says to bake at 350, I set the oven to 335 and so on. That might help.
Awesome! I used 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract instead of 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract. I used 6 canned peaches instead of 8 fresh peaches. Everything else I used the same measurements. Came out so delicious! I’m just a teenager so seeing my whole family fill up their stomachs eating the food I baked was a great feeling.
Can I use self rising flour?
Hi GG, I haven’t made this with self-rising flour so I can’t say for sure, but I think it should work. Here’s some more info for future reference. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!