I recently made this Peachberry Cobbler recipe for the Independence Day party I went to at my sister's home. She asked me to make dessert for their party and I knew I wanted to make something that just said summertime. I had seen a recipe online for a pie with peaches and berries and I thought that sounded really good. Normally, I am not a big fan of peach pies or cobblers, but for some reason the combination of the peaches and the berries just sounded so good to me. Because I was cooking for a crowd and I wanted to make my time in the kitchen as simple as possible I decided to make a cobbler rather than several pies.
I have never tried my hand at too many cobblers, but my husband makes a boysenberry cobbler that I just love, the mixture for the crust starts out under the fruit and once it is baked you have a scrumptious crispy, yet gooey topping. So I followed the same general method for making my Peachberry Cobbler.
As I indicated in the title this cobbler will feed a crowd. We had about 35-40 people at the party and although there were some other desserts served there really wasn't much left of my dessert. I would say you could easily feed 40 to 50 people with this cobbler if it is the only dessert served. Of course, if you don't want to make so much you could easily divide the recipe to make a smaller cobbler. I multiplied my original recipe three times and did a little tweaking with my ingredients to come up with the recipe and measurements below.
Peachberry Cobbler for a Crowd
Serves 40-50 people
Ingredients
11-12 cups sliced and peeled peaches (I use frozen)
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup fresh raspberries
6 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups of water
24 tablespoons butter
4 1/2 cups self-rising flour
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
3 1/2 cups whole milk
ground cinnamon, to taste, optional
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Empty berries in to a colander, rinse and allow to drain thoroughly.
If you have a second colander, place your peaches in it and also allow to drain thoroughly. If not you can add them to your rinsed berries and allow to drain, maybe 10-15 minutes. You want to get as much extra water as possible out of them.
Once your peaches and berries are well drained place them in a large stock pot with half the sugar (3 cups) and the water. Mix well and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes and remove from heat.
While your peaches are simmering slice your butter and place in the bottom of your baking pan,
(I use an approximately 20" L x 12" W x 3" deep full size disposable metal catering pan. I normally find them at our local catering supply store.)
Place the pan in the oven and allow the butter to melt completely.
Mix remaining sugar (3 cups), flour, sweetened condensed milk, and whole milk slowly to prevent clumping.
(This is where I would have had a photo of what the dough looked like after being mixed, but it is also about the time I dropped my camera on the kitchen floor, started cussing like a sailor, almost cried, and then panicked because I thought I had broke my very favorite, not so cheap lens. Thankfully my wonderful hubby came home from work a few hours later, fixed my lens and saved me from years of regretting my first feeble attempt at becoming a great food blogger photographer.)
The mixed dough will resemble pancake batter. Pull pan with the melted butter from the oven and pour your dough mixture over the melted butter. DO NOT STIR!!! Using a slotted spoon, slowly spoon your fruit on top of the dough mixture, make sure you have good even placement of your fruit, then gently pour the remaining fruit syrup over the top of the fruit. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.
Place the pan in the oven, be careful to support the pan well, especially in the center, if you are using a disposable one.
Bake for 45-60 minutes or until the crust is a light golden brown and the syrup is set.
I suggest serving it warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. Delicious!
