Recipe: Miss Ruthie's Old-Fashioned Peach Cobbler

MISS RUTHIE'S OLD-FASHIONED PEACH COBBLER
Source: Sweets: Soul Food Desserts and Memories by Patty Pinner and Sheri Giblin
Makes one 8-inch cobbler

"Mama used to say, "Every woman should have an older woman friend and a younger one; the older woman friend to learn from and to lean on when you need a mature shoulder, the younger friend to keep you from gettin' too old too soon." Miss Ruthie was Mama's older friend. And despite the fact that she cooked "down-home," she wasn't really from down home. Miss Ruthie was born in Toronto, Canada. I always thought of her as an elegant woman. The china and silverware that most folks would've saved for company, Miss Ruthie used every day. She said she did so because she'd watched her mother save her good stuff for company; then, a few weeks after her mother's death, she watched her daddy's new wife inherit her mama's things, some of them with the tags still attached.

Peach cobbler is truly a down-home comfort dessert. Most peach cobbler recipes call for a double crust, but the bottom crust is not used to line the pie plate the way most bottom crusts are. The bottom crust becomes part of the filling, like a dumpling. Everyone who tasted Miss Ruthie's peach cobbler said it was the best they'd ever tasted."

1 unbaked double pie crust
8 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F.

Lightly butter an 8-inch square glass dish. Set it aside.

Prepare the pastry for a double-crust pie. Set it aside.

Combine the peaches, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice in a 4-quart Dutch oven. Allow the mixture to sit until the dry ingredients are dissolved and a syrup forms, about 15 minutes.

Bring the peach mixture to a boil over medium heat. Decrease the heat to low and cook until the peaches are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the butter.

Roll out half of the pie pastry, then cut it into an 8-inch square. Spoon half of the peach mixture into the prepared dish. Cover the mixture with the pastry square.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Take the dish out of the oven and spoon the remaining peach mixture over the baked pastry. Roll out the remaining pastry, then cut it into strips about an inch wide. Arrange the strips in a loose lattice pattern over the peach mixture.

Bake an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until browned. Remove from the oven. Serve warm.