Dessert: Peach Cobbler

Peach cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. You can get the recipe for my other favorite, pound cake, here. Something about warm peaches seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg, topped with vanilla bean ice cream makes me feel so at home. Its a comfort dessert! Here's mom's recipe

Ingredients

3 large cans (29oz) peaches in heavy syrup
2 boxes of pie crust (2 per box-4 total)
1-2 sticks of margarine or butter
1-cup of sugar
1-tsp nutmeg
1-tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
2-3 tsp vanilla flavor

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Crust

Pie crust needs to be at room temp. Spread a heaping tablespoon of flour on a cutting board (or wax paper on a counter). Unroll pie crust onto flour and press out with a rolling pin or glass with shape of rolling pin. Place 2 crusts in bottom of 9x13 glass pan.

Filling

Reserve about 1/3 cup of peach juice to mix with the flour for thickening. Place the peaches with juice, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large pot, heat on medium until peaches are soft. Mix juice into flour a little at a time so flour does not have lumps. Add to peach pot a little at a time stirring frequently until juices are thick (you may have to add more flour until its as thick as you like it). **Be sure to add juice into the flour or you will get lumps of dough.** Add butter or margarine after juice is thickened. Stir in vanilla flavor (taste and add additional ingredients as needed). Pour peach filling into pan. Unroll and press out 2 other pie crusts and place on top (it's ok to over lap crusts). Crimp together edges.

*Make sure you have foil in bottom of oven to catch drippings*

Bake 45-50 minutes until crust is brown, spread butter on crust and sprinkle sugar just before removing. Check to make sure pie crust has not burned.

Sweet Ending

Before Thanksgiving I bought cranberries because they were on sale. I had no intention of making cranberry sauce but I wasn't sure what I wanted to make with them so I popped them in the freezer. While browsing Taste of Home magazine I found a recipe that had peaches and blueberries. I decided I could substitute cranberries for this so it was perfect. Not to mention how incredibly easy the recipe is. Easy as pie isn't a saying for no reason!

Peach-Cranberry Crumble Tart
(Adapted from James Schend's submission to Taste of Home Oct-Nov 2012)

Ingredients

Crust
1 9" Frozen Pie Crust

Filling
2 Cups fresh cranberries
2 Cups frozen unsweetened sliced peaches, thawed
1 Tbsp honey

Crumb Topping
1/4 Cup all-purpose flour
1/4 Cup packed brown sugar
1/4 Cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 Cup chopped pecans
1/8 Tsp ground cloves
2 Tbsp butter, melted

Preparation
1. Sprinkle the pie crust with cinnamon and pre-bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool.
2. In a large bowl combine the cranberries, peaches, and honey; toss to coat.
3. In a small bowl combine the first 5 topping ingredients; stir in butter.
4. Spoon fruit mixture into crust, sprinkle with topping, and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until topping is golden brown and fillings is bubbly.
5. Cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

*Note: It's pictured here without the crumble that's just because I forgot to take a picture, but don't leave it out, its the best part!