Friends, I am so excited to share this taste of summer with you in this old fashioned peach cobbler recipe. What makes this cobbler especially delicious is the addition of a cream cheese layer that is similar to cheesecake batter, turning this summer dessert into peaches and cream cobbler!
Based on a standard “cuppa cuppa cuppa” recipe, this cobbler is so creamy and lovely you might not need any whipped cream or ice cream on top. But use some anyway.
For another easy fruity dessert, you may like my lazy peach sonker, which is a cobbler by another name!
Hooray for Peaches
I live in North Carolina, and peach season is a joy here. South Carolina peaches are also wonderful (maybe even better than NC peaches, but don’t tell anyone I said that!)
During the summer, I am a fan of using peaches in both sweet and savory recipes. If you’re as big a peach fan as I am, check out some of these recipes.
- Another sonker, this strawberry peach sonker has a lattice crust and gets served with “milk dip,” which sounds super weird until you realize it tastes like melted ice cream.
- Blueberry peach pandowdy is one of the easiest fruit desserts: just dump in your seasoned fruits and then top with pieces of pie crust. Nice!
- Peaches and cream take the form of ice cream in this browned butter peach buttermilk ice cream. So refreshing for summertime.
- Highlight the “meatiness” of peaches by serving them in a tomato peach panzanella or bread salad. Dress it with an easy vinaigrette made from the peach and tomato juices, a touch of vinegar, and olive oil.
- This grilled chicken filet “burger” gets topped with peaches instead of tomatoes. Love it!
- Quinoa and Nectarine Slaw can easily be made with peaches for a refreshing and satisfying summer salad.
- Don’t forget beverages! Sparkling peach sangria will definitely hit the spot this summer (or use frozen peaches to make it any time of year.)
Is This Cobbler Hard to Make?
Not at all. Here are the components and the steps you’ll use to make it:
What You Need
You probably own all of these Items already since most are pantry staples. Here are the ingredients:
- fresh peaches (or frozen)
- self rising flour
- ground ginger
- ground cinnamon
- sugar
- milk
- salt
- cream cheese
- lemon zest
- vanilla
- heavy cream
- butter
What To Do
The components are the cake batter, the peaches themselves, and the “cheesecake” batter. Here’s how you bring everything together:
- Combine milk, self-rising flour, spices, salt, and sugar to make the cake batter.
- Melt the butter in the pan you’ll be baking in.
- Peel and slice the peaches.
- Combine cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest, salt, and heavy cream to make the cream cheese goodness.
- Dump the cake batter into the pan with the melted butter.
- Spread the peaches over the batter.
- Drizzle the cream cheese layer over the peaches.
- Bake until golden brown and delicious.
How Do I Peel the Peaches?
If you are using super ripe peaches, they will be easy to peel with a sharp paring knife.
- Make a cut into the peach right under the skin and parallel to the fruit.
- Grasp the “flap” of peach peel you’ve cut under with your thumb and then slowly pull the knife down and away from the fruit.
- The peeling should come off in long strips.
- Continue this way until the peach is completely peeled.
If your peaches are less than perfectly ripe, the skin might not easily peel away from the fruit.
In that case, you’ll need to blanch the peaches. Here’s how to do that:
Blanching the Fruit
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Make an ice bath, filling a large bowl with ice and then topping off with water.
- Cut a large “X” on the “bottom” or blossom end of the peach (not the end with the stem), scoring the skin about 3″ in either direction.
- Place the scored peaches in the boiling water and let them boil for 1 minute.
- Scoop them out with a large spoon or a spider and put them in the ice bath to cool for about 5 minutes.
- You should now be able to grab the peeling at the “X” with your fingers, or use a paring knife as described above, and peel off the skin.
Slicing the Peaches: Freestone vs Cling
There are two basic types of peaches, ones whose fruit is not tightly attached to the pits (freestone peaches) and ones whose fruit is very much attached to the pits (cling peaches).
Both are delicious and both will work in cobblers, but you’ll need to approach them differently.
For freestone peaches, you can simply cut into the peach in sections and the slices will come away from the pits cleanly (see photo below).
For cling peaches, you will have an easier time slicing the peaches if you take the pit out of the equation altogther.
After peeling your peaches, simply slice down each side of the peach from top to bottom to one side of the pit and then the other. This will give you two rather large semicircles of peach called “cheeks.”
Then slice off the remaining flesh from the other two sides of the pit.
This is the way you’d normally slice a mango, but just on a smaller scale. If you need a visual, here’s a great video showing how to peel a mango.
Cut each “cheek” into sections and leave the last two slices as is. Done!
Storing Instructions
Because of the cream cheese, I recommend storing this cobbler in the fridge. It will be fine for 4-5 days, although you may get some “weeping” and a bit of watery peach juice in the pan after the first day.
Reheating
Do reheat to serve. One minute in the microwave should be enough to bring it to a nice temperature.
You can also reheat in a toaster oven or your conventional oven at 350F until heated through.
Freezing
You can freeze this cobbler, but I think you’ll enjoy it more if you eat it within 4-5 days of making.
You can freeze the whole cobbler after it is baked and cooled, or you can freeze individual portions. Make sure you wrap it well in plastic wrap and foil.
Either way, thaw in the fridge for 24 hours and then reheat in a 350F oven or in the microwave before serving.
Peaches & Cream Cobbler Q & A
Absolutely. When in season, fresh is best, but frozen peaches are always picked and frozen when they’re nice and ripe. No need to thaw them before adding to the recipe.
Well, there is sugar in the peaches already, but you can limit the additional sugar used by either using less in the batter (try 1/2 cup). You can also substitute 1:1 Monkfruit and Erithritol sweetener, which is my preferred sugar substitute.
Sure. You can cut down the butter to 1/2 stick and substitute Neufchatel cheese for the cream cheese. Leave out the heavy cream from the cheese mixture, or substitute some whole milk.
Substitute your favorite gluten-free flour blend and add leavening and salt. (1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt).
Substitute 1 cup all purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt for 1 cup of self-rising flour.
Absolutely. Consider peach relatives like nectarines, apricots, and/or plums. Cherry would also be delicious as would strawberries or raspberries.
You can, but the texture is better warm. Since the butter is “free” and poured into the pan first, it hardens into wee little butter pebbles throughout the cobbler. Heat your leftovers at least until the butter melts, about 95F or so.
If you wash them well, you don’t necessarily need to peel the peaches. If you don’t want to peel them, I’d go for organic peaches since the skins of conventionally grown peaches might contains lots of pesticides. Also consider using plums or nectarines, both of which have thinner skins than peaches and don’t need to be peeled
I really hope you love this easy cobbler recipe, you guys!
If you make it, please share a photo with me, either in the PCO Facebook Group or on instagram by tagging @onlinepastrychef and using hashtag #pcorecipe.
Thanks, and enjoy!
Old Fashioned Peach Cobbler
This old fashioned peach cobbler has a creamy twist. A traditional "cuppa cuppa cuppa" peach cobbler with the addition of a lightly lemony sweetened cream cheese batter drizzled over the peaches makes this the peaches and cream cobbler of your dreams!
Ingredients
For the Cream Cheese Layer
- 1 8oz block cream cheese, very soft
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 Tablespoons heavy cream
For the Batter
- 1 cup self rising flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Pan
- 1 stick butter
To Finish and Bake
- 4-5 large ripe peaches, peeled and sliced
Instructions
- Set a rack in the center of your oven and preheat to 350F.
For the Cream Cheese Layer
- Mix together the cream cheese, sugar, salt, and lemon zest until smooth. You can do this by hand in a small bowl as long as your cream cheese is very soft.
- Mix in the heavy cream, and set aside.
For the Batter
- Whisk all dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk together the milk and the vanilla.
- Pour the milk into the dry mixture and mix just until combined.
To Prepare the Pan
- Choose a 9"x13" baking dish or a square or round baker with a similar capacity. If you use a 9"x9" pan, your cobbler will be deeper and will take a bit longer to bake.
- For whatever pan you choose, place a cold stick of butter into the pan and put it into the oven.
- It will take about 5-7 minutes for all the butter to melt.
- While it is melting, prepare the peaches.
To Finish and Bake
- Peel 4-5 large ripe peaches. If they are very ripe, they're easy to peel. Use a sharp paring knife to slice right under the skin. Use your thumb to "pinch" the peach skin between it and the knife blade and then pull away. The skin should come off in large strips. Repeat until done.
- Slice the peaches into about 1/2-3/4" slices.
- Once the butter has melted, carefully remove the pan from the oven.
- Pour in the batter, then pile on the peaches making sure to place them so the edges gets peaches too!
- Drizzle the cream cheese mixture evenly over the peaches and then return the pan to the oven.
- Bake until deeply golden brown and bubbling all over. If the batter seems to be browning too much, loosely tent the pan with foil. To use an instant read thermometer to test for doneness in the center, check for a temperature of at least 195F.
- (See Notes about the butter in the above photo)
- Remove from oven and cool to warm before serving plain, with ice cream, whipped cream, or even unsweetened Greek yogurt of sour cream.
- Store leftovers covered in the fridge for 3-4 days. Reheat portions in the microwave until warm.
Notes
No Self-Rising Flour?
If you don't have self-rising flour, substitute 1 cup of all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
What's Up with All That Butter in the Baking Dish in the Oven?
Weirdly, one of the ways to tell your cobbler is done is when all the butter has been absorbed. In the photo of the cobbler in the oven, it still needed about 15 minutes. I thought it was dark enough, so I tented it with foil at this point.
By the time the cobbler finished baking, there was no longer "free" butter floating on top of the cream cheese layer.
Ways To Make It a Little Healthier (but It'll Never be Health Food!)
- You can sub 1% or 2% milk for the whole milk in the batter
- Cut down some on fat by using 1/2 stick of butter instead of a whole stick
- Use Neufchatel cheese in place of the cream cheese
- Use a sugar substitute for the granulated sugar. My preference is the Lakanto Monkfruit/Erithritol blend
- In the cream cheese layer, substitute milk for the heavy cream
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Nutrition Information
Yield 9 Serving Size 1Amount Per Serving Calories 412Total Fat 21gSaturated Fat 13gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 59mgSodium 368mgCarbohydrates 53gFiber 2gSugar 40gProtein 5g
The stated nutritional information is provided as a courtesy. It is calculated through third party software and is intended as a guideline only.
And there you have it friends! Enjoy the old fashioned “cuppa cuppa cuppa” cobbler.
Thanks for spending some time with me today. Take care, and have a lovely day.
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