Peach & apple cobbler

A while back I was reading about some "rules" for healthy eating. One of those rules resonated with me: eat whatever you want, as long as you make it yourself.

I thought, well now that sounds great!! I can still have my beloved tortilla chips and be healthy! As I was making a mental list of all the things I would want to make myself that I normally buy I hit a small snag. I don't bake.

I just don't. It's hard. I have to measure. It never ever seems to come out right. I get so frustrated that I don't even want the food anymore. I don't bake.

So the idea was shelved for the time being. Perhaps another day and another time.

Then I found a recipe over here for a peach & apple cobbler. I read through the recipe and thought, a cobbler, eh? I could make that. I mean, it has to be easier than regular cake, cookie or brownie.

Then something else dawned on me. A few weeks ago two friends brought ice cream cakes over to my apartment. After our delicious Korean feast we came back and munched on the cakes and watched the Princess Diaries II. One of the cakes was left with me, completely untouched.

Two weeks later I still have at least 1/3 of that cake in my freezer. You see I tend to savor the cakes, limiting my consumption to a slice a day. I don't know why I'm incapable of doing that with any other sweet. But for some reason I can control myself when it comes to cake.

I thought a little more. What is a cobbler but a cake made of fruit instead of batter? Don't burst my bubble. I'm runnin' with that idea. So I bought the ingredients and baked myself up two delicious cobblers.

Cobbler recipe below the jump!

Peach & Apple Cobbler

Fruit base:

1. 3 sliced peaches, 3 sliced apples
2. 1/2 cup sugar
3. 2 tablespoons cornstarch
4. 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
5. 1/2 cup water
6. 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Biscuit topping:

1. 1 cup oats, ground into powder
2. 1/4 cup flour
3. 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
4. 1/4 teaspoon salt
5. 2 tablespoons sugar
6. 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
7. 3 tablespoons butter, softened
8. 1/2 cup almond milk

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 and grease a pie pan (or two, depending on the size of your pans. I had to split the recipe so it filled two pans since my pans are really shallow).

2. Place the fruit in a large saucepan. Stir in the sugar, cornstarch & cinnamon. Add the water and bring to a boil over medium. Once boiling, remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.

3. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into tiny clumps and add to the dry ingredients. Make sure your hands are clean because they're about to get a bit dirty!! Squish the butter into the dry ingredients with your hands until it looks like cornmeal. Add in the milk (no you don't have to use your hands for that part).

4. Place the fruit in the pie pan(s). Drop the biscuit mix onto the fruit and spread it around using the back of a spoon to make a nice even coating. Pop the whole thing in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

5. ENJOY. Here's a hint: have this baby in the oven while dinner's cooking. I made mine before dinner, thinking that I would just pop them in the fridge and enjoy later. When they came out of the oven they were too bubbly and hot and gooey and wonderful smelling to resist. Naturally I dug right in! Turns out, sometimes having dessert before dinner isn't such a bad idea.