Peach/Apricot

Some days I feel like peaches.
Some days I feel like apricots.
Some days the planets align and I can have both at once.

This is a Peach and Apricot Cobbler, based on a recipe by Matthew Evans, then translated by the things I had to hand, a few urgent cravings and my general unwillingness to leave anything well enough alone.

There is an amazing thing that happens in this recipe; a chemical liaison, between the melted butter and the final sprinkling of caster sugar that leaves this dish with a caramel-esque chewiness, which is foiled perfectly by the tartness of the slowly baked fruit inside their pillowy casing.

Surprisingly, this leaves off light enough use summer fruits completely guilt free. Furthermore, I've been known to start baking right away after dinner if only to accompany an inexplicable craving for Chantilly cream. This pudding leaves no room for doubt - the cream is definitely the accompaniment.

Peach and Apricot Cobbler

100g butter
1 1/2 cups plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
3 fresh ripe peaches
8 fresh ripe apricots
1/3 cup caster sugar

Heat your oven to 180C or 160C fan-forced.

Wash your delicious, orange-blushed orbs and slice each one through the middle in a full circle. Hold the peach or apricot with a sliced side in each hand and twist and pull to halve the fruit cleanly. This will work if the fruit is ripe enough. (Sometimes, if your fruit is over-ripe enough, you will have the pleasure of it squishing all over your  hands) Slice each half into quarters and put aside.

Chuck your butter into a baking dish and pop in the pre-heating oven to melt while you whip up the delicious batter.

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl with a pinch of salt. Mix in milk and vanilla to form a smooth batter.

Pluck your baking dish from the oven and pour in the batter. Do not stir it! The butter will squelch all up the sides of the batter but that's all part of the magic. Place your sliced fruit into the top of the batter, then evenly sprinkle the caster sugar all over.

Bake for 1 hour until you can see the edges are all caramelised and the batter has fluffed up around the fruit.

Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream or a big cloudy spoonful of Chantilly cream.

Serves 6 generously with some leftover for breakfast.

Love Em.