Peach and ginger cobbler

My best recipes always seem to be "I have loads of this and loads of that, what can I do with them?"

This time I had a punnet of peaches which had been rock hard for a week, then all went soft at once. Plus a load of ginger which has been languishing in my fridge a while, and I thought, do peaches and ginger go together? It turns out that yes, they're a delicious combination!

I considered a crumble or a pie suddenly thought, of course, peach cobbler! I haven't made a cobbler in years, but this was a delicious success. The crunchy top and gooey insides with the soft spicy peaches are heavenly.

For the cobbler:

• 100g self raising flour
• 50g butter
• 50g sugar
• 2 tbsp cold water

1. Put the flour, butter and sugar into a bowl and rub all together.
2. Add the water a little at a time until it all comes together into a dough.
3. Wrap the dough and put in the fridge to cool.

For the peaches:

• 4 ripe peaches, stoned and cut into segments
• 1 thumb of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 small orange
• 20 g sugar
• Generous knob of butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Small glass sherry or amaretto

1. Take the zest from the orange, cut off the remaining peel then slice the flesh into chunks.
2. Put the butter into a pan on a high heat.
3. Add the peaches and mix, you want them to caramelize a little bit.
4. Stir in the ginger and orange.
5. Add the sugar and mix in, then add the sherry and vanilla.
6. Mix together until the sugar has all dissolved then take off the heat.

Assemble and cook:

1. Preheat your oven to 180C or equivalent.
2. Gently spoon the peaches into either two individual oven dishes or one larger dish.
3. Take the cobbler dough from the fridge. Roughly roll out to an inch thick, and with a small cutter, cut 4 or 6 discs depending on thickness and size of your cutter.
4. Pop the discs of dough on top of the peaches.
5. Place in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes.
6. Serve with cream or ice cream!

Variations

Flaked almonds are a nice addition to the cobbler, it gives extra crunch.

I like the nice round effect that you get from using tiny biscuit cutters, but to save time and effort, simply cut the dough into six portions, roll into balls with your hands then flatten them slightly.