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!
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.
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.
Video
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