Peach Blackberry Cobbler

I have been making this recipe for years now. I originally found it in the July 2007 issue of a Cooking Light magazine.  It is absolutely fabulous! The drop biscuit topping is tender and fluffy and the whole thing comes together in almost no time at all. You can literally just toss it together while you are cooking dinner, or just before, and you'll have dessert to look forward to once you've eaten all your veggies.

You can easily make this an all peach cobbler. Or an all blackberry cobbler. Or a blueberry peach, or a triple berry, and etc. I use this recipe as the base standard for all my summer cobblers. The amount of sugar and flour called for in the filling below is a good amount for berries/fruit that are sweet and not too juicy. If you have some fruit that is more tart than sweet, like wild blackberries, you will need to add a bit more sugar to the mix. Likewise, if your fruit is very juicy, you may need to add more flour to the filling, up to about 4 tablespoons.

Serves 8

Filling:
1/2 c sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp grated lemon rind
1/4 tsp salt
2 peaches, sliced (you may leave the peels on if desired, I do)
2 dry pints blackberries
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Biscuit Topping:
1 1/3 c flour
1/3 c sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp chilled butter, cut into small pieces
2/3 c buttermilk (or plain milk if you don't have buttermilk)
1 1/2 Tbsp turbinado sugar, reserved to sprinkle on top of biscuits

Preheat oven to 400°.
Combine first 4 filling ingredients in a large bowl. Add peaches, blackberries and lemon juice. Toss gently. Spoon mixture into an 8-inch square baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the topping. Lightly spoon the flour into dry measuring cups and level off with a knife. Using a wire whisk, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. With clean hands, rub butter into the flour mix using your fingertips until the mix looks like coarse meal. You could also do this with a pastry blender if you prefer. Make a well in the middle of the mix and add the buttermilk all at once. Stir, with a wooden spoon in a circular motion, just until moist.

Remove the baking dish from oven after the 15 minute pre-bake. Drop the biscuit topping onto the hot fruit mixture in 8 spots. Sprinkle the dough with the turbinado sugar. Bake for another 25 minutes or until it's bubbly and the biscuits are golden.