Country Fresh Peach Cobbler

Author: Meera, September 16, 2022

Ripe peaches, widely available throughout summer, are delicious in cobblers, pies, and pancakes. They are scrumptious in spreads like jam for toast, on pound cake drizzled in brand or a fruit wine, or over warm bread. Alternatively, pile ripe peaches into a pandowdy, tart, galette, or crostini (the French and Italian versions of a rustic one-crust pie with edges folded over to hold in the fruit).

Folks in the Midwest where I grew up enjoy peach cobbler best when served warm with rich vanilla ice cream or piled high with homemade whipped cream. Of course, this cobbler is especially tasty served cold when flavors have time to marinate. To ensure freshness, always refrigerate.

For this peach cobbler recipe, you’ll need about two and one-half pounds of fresh, ripe peaches. Gather your tools, bowls, and ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

RECIPE: COUNTRY FRESH PEACH COBBLER

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup sugar
6 Tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup Half & Half
2 1/2 pounds fresh peaches (peeled, pitted, and sliced)
2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 Tablespoons apricot preserves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg or mace and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon for peach filling
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon mixed with 2 Tablespoons sugar for topping

Directions to Make Crust


Divide sugar into two equal portions. In a large bowl, pour in the flour, baking powder, and one portion of the sugar. Mix the ingredients until thoroughly combined. Cut four tablespoons of the butter into cubes. Drop pieces of butter into the dry ingredients. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers, integrate the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. In a separate bowl, beat together egg and Half & Half. Slowly pour this into the dry flour mixture and mix until the dough is moistened, not wet. On a piece of plastic wrap that has been sprinkled with a little sifted flour, shape the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Directions for Preparing the Peaches

In a medium-size bowl, mix the peeled, pitted, and sliced peaches with lemon juice, nutmeg (or mace), 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, apricot preserves, and the remaining portion of sugar. In a 1 1/2 quart baking dish, pour in the peach filling. Cut the remaining butter into pieces and add to the peaches.

Directions for Assembling the Cobbler.

Roll out the cobbler dough and place it so that it covers the peaches and stretches to the edge of the baking dish. Seal by crimping the dough around the edges of the dish. Cut vents into the dough. Then sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar mixture over the top of the crust. Bake 30 to 35 minutes. Remove when crust has browned and let cool. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream.

If you enjoy reading about country living, check out the novels based on my farmette life: A Beeline to Murder, The Murder of a Queen Bee, and A Hive of Homicides. All are available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online retailers as well as bookstores everywhere.

Get the three-book series of cozy mysteries based on the real Henny Penny Farmette


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Swimming in Fruit

Author: Meera, July 12, 2017

Our cherry trees became so heavily laden with fruit this year I couldn’t work fast enough to make the fruit into cookies and pies and jars of jam, conserve, and chutney.

 

 

What fruit the birds and squirrels didn’t devour ended up drying on the trees and looking like ornaments. I’m heartened that at least the wildlife will have something to forage on through fall and winter.

 

 

Once cherry picking season is over, I can hardly face another  piece of cherry pie (no matter how flaky the crust).

Ripe cherries make a lovely filling for a delicious  pie

 

 

 

The apricot trees did a massive drop of their fruit and seemingly all at once. I made more jam than we’ll probably eat, dried some, and gave away more than a few full  buckets of cots to neighbors and friends. I also had to do a messy cleanup of fruit on the ground.

 

In the cycle now are the summer peaches; so, here I go again  . . swimming in fruit.

 

 

Fresh Elberta peaches are firm and juicy, perfect for summer dessert

Ripe Elberta peaches are perfect for eating fresh or preserving

 

Next year, I’m going to get my act together early with  teams of backyard pickers who can help me remove the fruit, divide it, and distribute it. Right now, however, I’ve got peaches to pick and preserve. The summer pears and figs will be next.

 

 

Pick Bartlett pears before they get soft and ripen in a bag to get peak flavor

Pick pears and ripen in a brown bag to two days for peak flavor

 

 

I’m not complaining; I’m enthralled that all this bounty is due to the work of our industrious little honeybees. All this fruit and I haven’t even mentioned finding time to harvest honey. Yet, the bees don’t stop, so neither will I.

 

 

 

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If you enjoy reading about farmette topics like keeping bees and chickens, caring for an orchard, or growing heirloom herbs and vegetables, check out my mystery series from Kensington Publishing (due out September 26, 2017).

 

 

These novels feature a whodunnit for you to solve and are filled with farming facts, trivia, and delicious recipes. The novels and my other books are available in traditional and online bookstores everywhere. Seehttp://tinyurl.com/yb42zd2d

 

Murders at a N. California winery is a catalyst for ex-cop turned farmette owner Abigail Mackenzie

A mystery on a N. California winery

 

 

 

Novel #2 in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available September 27, 2016

Novel #2 in the Henny Penny Farmette series

 

 

 

My debut novel, the first in a series of three cozy mysteries set on the Henny Penny Farmette

BEELINE TO MURDER, the first in a series of cozy mysteries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start to summer, which means time to grab a little reading pleasure and sample some locally grown produce to go with whatever you’re putting on the grill. And don’t forget dessert.  My mind is already spinning with ideas.

 

 

Hanging out in the hammock calls for a book, so if you haven’t already snagged a copy of A BEELINE TO MURDER, get your e-book today through May 30 for a great price from KOBO Books. Here’s the link: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/ebook/a-beeline-to-murder.

 

 

 

The first book in the Henny Penny Farmette series, Kensington Books 2015

The first book in the Henny Penny Farmette series, Kensington Books 2015

 

 

 

 

For your grilling pleasure, choose some sweet corn to grill to go with the barbecue ribs or chicken. Here on the Henny Penny Farmette, our corn won’t be ready until July, so we’re going to pick some up locally grown corn at the farmers’ market in downtown Concord.

 

 

 

This corn has just started growing

This corn has just started growing

 

 

 

We’ve got more than a dozen heirloom tomato plants with fruit on them. Vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes for a cool Caprese salad are also available from the farmers’ market. And as I consider salads for our weekend meals, a red-skin potato with pesto and shredded basil leaves sounds almost as good as a conventional country style potato salad. But then again, I’d love a fresh broccoli-carrot salad with an Asian sesame-seed dressing or a simple cold slaw.

 

 

 

tomatoes

 

 

 

We’ve got plenty of zucchini and sweet snap peas in my garden that are ready to eat. These taste divine tossed into a garlic and butter shrimp pasta with a little shaved Parmesan cheese. Add a nice chardonnay or a traditional Cuban lime mojito along with some fresh baked bread and you’re ready to head for the table in the orchard.

 

 

 

Sunflower-design bundt pan makes this cake pretty enough to eat without the icing.

Sunflower-design bundt pan makes this cake pretty enough to eat without the the caramelized pecan frosting.

 

 

 

Desserts are on my mind too–a simple cake or a plate of berries or watermelon rings my chime. But then again, with company, I could bake some linzer torte cookies with home-canned apricot jam. Or make a rhubarb-strawberry pie. The rhubarb stalks are cherry red and ready to cut.

 

 

These are some of my ideas of simple pleasures for Memorial Day to get you thinking about yours. Wishing you a peaceful, blessed Memorial Day weekend.

 

 

*          *          *

 

 

If you enjoy reading about keeping bees and chickens, raising heirloom vegetables and fruits, and other aspects of modern farmette life, check out my series of cozy mysteries from Kensington Publishing (New York).

 

 

 

A BEELINE TO MURDER, available in hardcover, will be released in paperback format in October.  THE MURDER OF A QUEEN BEE will be released October 1, 2016. Find these titles on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Walmart.com and other online bookstores and retailers as well as in traditional bookstores everywhere.

 

 

First book in Meera Lester's Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries

First book in Meera Lester’s Henny Penny Farmette series of cozy mysteries

 

 

 

Novel #2 in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available Oct. 1, 2016

Novel #2 in the Henny Penny Farmette series, available Oct. 1, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Easy Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam

Author: Meera, July 2, 2014

 

 

 

rhubarb takes up a lot of space because of its big leaves

Rhubarb takes up a lot of garden because of its big leaves but the canes pair well with strawberries

 

 

Rhubarb and strawberries just seem to go together. Their flavors blend nicely, whether in a compote, trifle, pie, or jam. The following is a simple recipe for strawberry-rhubarb jam and uses the boiling hot water bath to preserve the jars of jam.

 

Make extra to tuck into holiday gift baskets or for gift-giving throughout the year.

 

 

Luscious strawberries, big, red, and ripe means it's time for strawberry jam

Luscious strawberries are easily made into  jam

 

 

 Ingredients:

2 cups strawberries (washed, hulled, and crushed)

2 cups rhubarb (roughly four stalks, chopped)

1/4 cup lemon juice

6 Tablespoons Classic Pectin

5 1/2 cups sugar

 

 

Directions:

Combine the first four ingredients (strawberries, rhubarb, lemon juice, pectin) in a large pot.

Bring to a boil.

Add the sugar, stirring to blend completely.

Return the mixture to a roiling boil.

Time for one minute, stirring constantly.

Remove the pot from heat.

Skim away the foam.

Ladle the jam into hot, clean jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space.

Apply and tighten the two-piece ring/lid caps.

Place jars into the boiling water bath canner.

Process for 10 minutes.

 

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Rhubarb–That “Pie Plant”

Author: Meera, April 2, 2014

 

 

 

rhubarb takes up a lot of space because of its big leaves

Rhubarb takes up a lot of space because of its big leaves

 

 

In my grandmother’s time, rhubarb’s moniker was the “pie plant” for the simple reason that the tart flavor of its canes nicely tempers the cloying sweetness of other fruits.

 

Rhubarb, long treated as a fruit, is actually a vegetable. In bygone days when tariffs on imported vegetables were higher than on fruit, a New York court decided in favor of labeling rhubarb as fruit for the purposes of taxation and tariff regulations.

 

One of the first edibles in the spring garden, rhubarb pushes up leaf stalks or canes (what botanists call petioles) with large leaves. The leaves are are high in oxalic acid and thus poisonous to consume (when harvesting, cut off the tops and discard; snap off the canes for cooking).

 

Rhubarb stalks or canes, when cooked with sugar or apples (to sweeten), are delicious in pies, jams, sauces and fruit tarts.

 

Rhubarb is easy to grow (in warm climates, it grows year-round). In cold climates, its leaves and canes will die but the rhizome root will generate new shoots come spring. But if it blooms, cut off the bloom to ensure the root continues to produce canes.

 

 

You really don't want the rhubarb plant to bloom as the plant will stop producing canes

Do not allow the rhubarb to bloom; the plant will stop producing canes and may become weakened

 

 

The plant can also be grown in large containers or in greenhouses. It is not fussy about soil, produces new canes year after year, and loves sunlight.

 

Consumers love those red canes, but rhubarb canes, depending on the variety, aren’t always red–some are light green or pink speckled. The flavor of the light green canes, the type growing on our farmette, has the most robust flavor.

 

While creating a space for some new plants, we decided to dig out one of our rhubarb plants. That little rhizome I put in the ground four years ago had produced roots 20 inches into the earth. Above ground the plant had grown roughly three feet high and as wide. We will divide it and replant, since it’s a good idea anyway to divide every 3 to 4 years.

 

We grow Victoria, an old variety with a tendency to flower (or bolt). We prefer to remove those flower spikes in order to keep the plant producing new canes and leaves. Blooms tend to waste the plants resources, see http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/rhubarb/rhubarb-bolting.htm. Also see, http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/rhubarbflowers.html

 

In an upcoming posting, I’ll include some recipes for using rhubarb from your garden. In the meantime, consider the different varieties available and perhaps try planting a new and different cultivar. See, http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/varieties.

 

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