World’s BEST Peach Cobbler (Homemade Moist Flaky Pie Crust)

Hey, PBJ’s! This peach cobbler recipe is the BOMB! It’s so good that my mother’s coworkers were begging her to bring more to work, and one even paid me to make them a dish of her own.

Peach cobbler is probably my favorite dessert. I love it warm with a scoop of rock-hard vanilla bean ice cream on the side; there’s nothing like it. It’s the perfect dessert for a late-night family movie, and it’s even a bit romantic—the perfect one-bowl dessert to share with your spouse.

Also, a very good, hearty dessert, perfect for warming ya up during the winter season… eat it with a nice hot cup of milk or tea on the side, and you’ll be heaven-sent. Lol! It’s also a dessert many love to make during the holiday season, and it’s very popular around that time of year.

Childhood Memories Of Mom’s Peach Cobbler

I fell in love with Peach Cobbler back in the 90s as a kid when my mom used to always make it. My father was the baker in the house who’d bake delicious, moist chocolate cakes, cobblers, and pies, but my mom’s Peach Cobbler was A+.

She’d always use the sliced peaches that came in a can of syrup, and what I’ll be using for this recipe, because I personally think they taste better than fresh peaches and simply require less work.

But this classic American dessert is a must-try. I remember my mom making it about 4 times a year. She would make dessert for us often. One memory that stands out the most is when she’d get a big black can opener and open those wide cans of peaches.

I remember her using the same cans I use today; those wide oz cans. Then she’d dump some of the syrup out because she didn’t want the cobbler too runny. I remember seeing her add all these brown spices that I didn’t know the names to at the time. Lmbo!

And lastly, adding a bunch of sugar and squirting a pinch of lemon juice into the filling. That’s the one thing that always confused me that I never understood… why so little lemon juice. Lol!

I also remember her using the pie crust that came in the long rectangular box you find at your local grocery store in the freezer aisle. I even remember her picking them up from the store and knowing exactly what she was buying them for.

We loved this show called 7 Heaven, which always came on around 8. Mom always had a dinner prepared for us… and while we were outside burning off the food, running around with our friends, she was preparing dessert.

By the time 8 o’clock came around, which was our time to come in, dessert was ready, we all gathered around to watch 7 Heaven or a movie, and tore our peach cobbler up and the ice cream too. This was all around 98, I had to be about 11 and in the 6th grade then. Memories, memories, memories…

Cooking Utensils

• Baking dish: We’ll obviously be using a baking dish to bake the peach cobbler.
• Whisk: This is to combine all the dry ingredients.
• Blender/processor: You need this to blend the flour and butter.
• Rolling pin: To flatten and roll out the dough.

Recipe Ingredients

Pie crust ingredients

• Flour: Flour is the base ingredient and we’ll be using All-purpose flour.
• Spices: We’ll be using salt and cinnamon to add flavor to the pie crust and sugar for a hint of sweetness.
• Butter: We’ll be using unsalted butter for the pie crust. Use a good brand like Land O’ Lakes.
• Liquid: You can use either buttermilk or water, just make sure you stick with the same amount and that they’re cold when adding them to the flour.
  

Filling Ingredients

• Syrup: We’re going to juice the peach syrup left over in the cans of peaches to make our filling.
• Spices: Salt enhances flavor, cinnamon, and nutmeg are among the most important ingredients because they are what give peach cobbler its traditional taste.
• Sweeteners: We’ll be using white sugar and brown sugar to sweeten the filling.
• Butter: We’ll use unsalted butter, and before adding it to the filling, we’ll melt it.
• Flavoring: For flavor, we’ll be adding the most important flavor in dessert, vanilla extract. While we’re only adding a little, it’s so crucial to add it. You see it used in so many cake, pie, and dessert recipes because it’s an essential ingredient that provides the flavor needed in sweet dishes to achieve the best results. Without it, sweets just aren’t the same.
• Tart: To balance the filling so it’s not just sweet, we add a pinch of fresh lemon juice.
• Slurry: Slurry is used to thicken the peach juice, aka syrup, into a gel. So we’ll be using a combination of water and cornstarch and adding it to the peach syrup.

Pie Crust Topping

• Butter: Melted unsalted butter.
• Spices: All we top the pie crust with is Cinnamon.

How To Make Flaky, Moist Homemade Pie Crust

Properly preparing the pie crust is very important because just one mistake can completely ruin it. So there are a few things you have to do to ensure your pie crust comes out nice and flaky.

Creating the Dough

• Freeze your butter and water ahead of time: Before we do ANYTHING, we want to make sure that we place our butter and water, or buttermilk if you prefer to use it over water, IN THE FREEZER. We want our butter and liquid very COLD before adding it to the dry ingredients, so make sure they’re in the freezer getting cold 30-40 minutes before you start.
• Sift the dry ingredients: First things first, combine the dry ingredients. But before I do, I like to sift them as I pour them into the bowl. Doing this ensures you’re using the correct amount, and it removes any hard lumps or pieces that you sometimes find in the flour and sugar.

• Spicing up the pie crust: Now, whenever I make a pie crust, besides salt, butter, and water, which are always used to make a good basic pie crust, I add in spices or seasonings for savory dishes, which will enhance the flavor of the crust. So for this pie crust, I like to add a little sugar and cinnamon just to take it up a notch.
• Blending the butter and flour: Ok, so now it’s time to combine the flour mixture and butter. I chop the butter into small pieces so it’s easier to blend. Then I blend everything until I’m left with crumbs. I usually only add half of the flour and butter, then add the remaining flour and butter because it’s hard for the processor to work it’s magic when you add all of it at once. 
• Add a little cold water: After you add the crumbs of flour/butter to a big bowl, you’re going to add in a little water at a time. Water is the culprit for dry hard crust, so remember to add the exact amount the recipe calls for.
• Don’t over-mix when creating a ball of dough: The buttery crumbs are what’s going to help everything stick and form a ball of dough when you bring everything together. You just need a little water to assist it all in coming together. It doesn’t have to be a perfect ball of dough; overworking this will result in a hard crust. So bring it together with as little handwork as possible.
• Wrap and refrigerator: Once you’ve brought all the crumbs together to form a ball of dough, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes so it gets cold. There’s a science to pie crust, and the butter in it being cold as it cooks, that helps to create a moist, flaky crust.

Rolling Out The Dough

• Dusting the surface: Before I unwrap the dough, I sprinkle flour over a flat surface and dust my rolling pin with flour as well. The dough tends to be semi-moist, so to ensure it doesn’t stick to the rolling pin or surface, I make sure to dust the rolling pin and the surface with a nice amount of flour.
• Dusting and flattening the dough: Once I unwrap the dough, I set it on the flour-dusted surface, and I dust each side of it with flour to dry it out a bit. Then I press it down with my hands to create a round disk of dough. Afterwards, I begin flattening and stretching it out with the rolling pin.
• Create a big rectangle shape: I try to flatten the dough out to where it’s long and wide enough to cover the baking dish. I usually use a size rectangular baking dish. I also try not to flatten the dough too much. I want it to be close to 1/16th inch in thickness.
• Wrap, brush, and lift: Then, I wrap the pie crust around the rolling pin, lift it up, and lay it over the peaches in the baking dish. As I’m wrapping it, I make sure to use a brush to brush off the flour beneath it before I lay it over the peaches in the baking pan.
• Remove excess dough: Make sure to remove the excess edges of dough that don’t fit into and lay over the edges of the baking dish as well.

Now… this step is key too because without doing this step you maybe left with very light pie crust. It’s not appetizing and a culinary sin. Haha! Ya pie crust has to be light golden brown in color. If it’s not, you’re doing it WRONG. So follow these steps for a nice brown coating.  

Coat the dough

• Brush with melted butter: You want to brush the crust with melted butter. You can use a combination of butter and a beaten egg if you want. Just make sure you coat all parts of the top of the pie crust with either butter or a combination of beaten egg and butter. This helps it to brown.
• Top with spices for color: Sprinkle the pie crust with cinnamon, just a little bit, not too much. This will help with the coloring, too, and make the end result more appetizing.

Tips For Results:

• Make sure the dough is well coated with flour so it doesn’t stick to the surface or rolling pin. Also don’t roll it out too thin just wide enough to cover the length and width of the dish you’re adding it to. But make sure it’s kinda thick, the thicker the more moist and flaky the crust will be.

Making it ahead of time

If you want to make the peach cobbler ahead of time. You can make the pie crust and store it in the refrigerator. You can then make the filling and place it in a Ziploc bag and store it in the freezer until you’re ready to make the cobbler.

Then, on the day you’re ready to make it, set the pie crust out, thaw the filling, place it in a baking dish, roll out the pie crust, top the filling with it, and follow the remaining steps.

Serving Suggestions:

• Vanilla Bean Ice Cream: Nothing goes better with a warm bowl of peach cobbler than regular plain ole vanilla bean ice cream. I know this because this is almost how everyone eats it. You rarely see someone with a bowl of peach cobbler without ice cream of some sort on the side, usually vanilla.
• Whipped Cream: Cool Whip or Redi Whip is common as well. Although this is definitely not my first choice for a side or topping, it’s pretty standard.
• Hot Tea: If you’tr tryna get or stay warm, a warm bowl of peach cobbler with hot tea is the perfect combo. Sounds like a great midday snack after brunch.
• Milk: And if none of those options quite do it for you, there’s nothing wrong with having an ice-cold cup of milk on the side to flush your cobbler down with.

Storage

• Tupperware: You can simply place your peach cobbler in a glass Tupperware bowl, make sure it’s tightly sealed, and store it in the refrigerator. Or if it’s still a lot in the dish, you can just cover it with aluminum foil.
• Can you freeze it? Absolutely! Peach cobbler freezes well. Just make sure it’s tightly sealed in a Ziploc bag, and store it in the freezer. This will prevent freezer burn.

Reheating

• Reheating peach cobbler in the oven: Cover your peach cobbler with aluminum foil and reheat it the same way you baked it. On 350°F for about 15-20 minutes until warm all the way through.
• Reheating peach cobbler in the microwave: Place your peach cobbler in a microwave-safe bowl, cover with a paper towel, and heat it up on high for 1 minute and 30 secs.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How long does peach cobbler last? It lasts 5-7 days if stored correctly, and up to 3 months or more if you freeze.
• Can you use store-bought pie crust? Yes, you can absolutely use store-bought pie crust. Just use a good brand.
• How can you double the recipe? You can simply double or triple the recipe. That means the filling, and pie crust. You will obviously need a larger baking pan or dish to bake the peach cobbler in.

Other desserts:

• Otis’s Easy Moist Chocolate Bundt Cake Recipe
• Super Moist Lemon Bundt Cake Recipe
• The BEST Sweet Potato Pie Recipe Ever
• Easy Vanilla Wafer’s Banana Pudding Recipe

Ok, folks, that’s enough info for now! Give this peach cobbler a shot, though, because it’s super good! I mean, it just can’t get too much better and simpler than this, so what do you have to lose?

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Enjoy, later!

PBJ~

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