Warmly effusive and dear yet gritty, Paula H. Deen seems mythically Southern. But this cooking luminary, proprietor of Savannah, Georgia's Lady & Sons restaurant, is the real thing. The Lady & Sons Just Desserts, her all-sweets follow-up to The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cookbook and The Lady & Sons, Too!, celebrates the Southern sweet tooth with 120 recipes
It was an instant hit on the first day we offered this dessert at The Lady & Sons, and remains so today. This delicious cobbler can be found on our dessert trays at both lunch and dinnertime. It's so easy to make you won't believe it!
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup self-rising flour
3/4 cup milk
1 (28-ounce) can sliced peaches in heavy syrup, undrained (or use fresh if available; see note)
cinnamon for sprinkling (optional) (use only with peach or apple cobbler)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place butter in oven in a 2-quart baking dish to melt.
Stir sugar and flour together and mix well. Slowly add milk and continue to stir to prevent the batter from lumping.
Being careful not to burn yourself, remove hot baking dish containing melted butter from oven; pour batter directly over butter in baking dish (DO NOT STIR). Spoon fruit on top of batter, then gently pour syrup on top (DO NOT STIR). Sprinkle with cinnamon, if using. The most important part of this dish is not stirring the mixture.
Bake for 30 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Your batter will rise above your fruit, producing the most wonderful of crusts. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.
Note: If they are available by all means use fresh peaches. In a saucepan, mix two cups fresh peach slices with one cup sugar and one cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. An almost equally good product is frozen peach slices. Simply follow the instructions for the fresh peach slices.
