This vanilla and brown butter peach cobbler recipe is the perfect way to use fresh peaches when they’re in season at the height of summer. Or use home canned peaches and enjoy this homemade peach cobbler all year long!
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* This post is sponsored by Nielsen-Massey Fine Vanillas & Flavors. All opinions are my own.
Fresh peaches are one of my favourite summer fruits. Even though we don’t grow them ourselves, we always make sure to buy a couple boxes of ripe peaches during summer peach season so we can preserve them to enjoy all year long.
But to be honest, since we don’t grow them, I don’t do a lot of cooking with fresh peaches. Instead I focus most of my attention on canning them, and then I use my home canned peaches in baking recipes, on top of oatmeal, in yogurt, smoothies and in homemade fruit salads throughout the year.
This year though, I wanted to try my hand at a classic peach cobbler. Maybe it’s because this summer’s been way cooler, cloudier and darker than usual so I’ve been craving comfort food more than usual. But for whatever reason, I’ve been right into summer baking this year.
It started with strawberry rhubarb pie in June, then it was cherry pie in July, and as soon as August hit I couldn’t wait for homemade peach cobbler.
I wanted to put a little spin on my classic peach cobbler though, and add some complexity to the flavour. Because honestly, I think that’s what makes cooking from scratch so much fun! Truth be told, the whole reason I got into cooking in the first place was because I really enjoyed the creative aspect of playing around with different ingredients and creating a form of consumable art.
Now let’s be clear, I am no Masterchef! But I do like to experiment and try new ingredients and techniques as often as possible, which is what has helped me build my skills and confidence in the kitchen ever since I started cooking from scratch in my mid-twenties (I’m in my early thirties now). So I decided that instead of just making a standard peach cobbler recipe, I was going to make a vanilla and brown butter peach cobbler (served warm and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, of course;)
The benefits of baking with vanilla
Vanilla is one of my go-to ingredients for most of my baking recipes. I always keep a bottle of vanilla extract on hand and usually free pour a little into anything sweet that I happen to be whipping up. Usually I keep a cheap but decent bottle of Mexican vanilla extract on hand and use that (my mom vacations in Mexico once a year and aways brings me home a bottle). This time though, I decided to use some vanilla that was sent to me by Nielsen-Massey Vanillas.
They asked me if I would consider using some of their vanilla in one of my recipes this summer in exchange for a bottle of their Indonesian vanilla extract, so I figured this would be as good a recipe as any to try it out in!
They also generously sent me a bottle of their vanilla powder (something I didn’t even know existed until I got it in the mail). So I decided to incorporate a little vanilla powder into my cobbler as well, although you could always substitute vanilla extract if you don’t have powder on hand.
I also decided to substitute brown butter for regular melted butter. If you’ve never made brown butter, you essentially just melt butter over medium heat, stirring constantly until it darkens and develops a deep, almost nutty aroma and flavour.
One of my favourite simple yet fancy meals to make at home is pasta with brown butter and sage sauce, topped with some toasted hazelnuts and fresh parmesan. O.M.G. It’s my favourite way to use fresh sage from our garden and hazelnuts from our hazelnut tree! And trust me, it sounds more complicated than it is. I figured if I could elevate pasta with brown butter, than why not peach cobbler too?
If you want to learn how to make brown butter easily at home, check out this video tutorial on how to brown butter. And while you’re at it, be sure to check out Nielsen-Massey’s Better Your Bake video learning series and add a few more essential kitchen skills to your repertoire. Because the more skills you master in the kitchen, the more creative you can get and the more fun you will have:)
Aside from the brown butter, I kept this recipe pretty simple. The filling consists of sliced fresh peaches, sugar and a little vanilla powder. The topping is made with all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, brown butter and vanilla extract. Oh, and a pinch of salt.
I also made mine in a cast iron skillet, because everything’s better in cast iron, amiright? But you can make it in a regular baking dish if you don’t have a cast iron skillet on hand.
The end result is a sweet, gooey, vanilla peach filling with a rich, rustic, crumbly, cookie-style topping that is truly the perfect comfort food on a cool, overcast August day.
Oh, and if you’re wondering, yes, you could substitute home canned peaches for fresh peaches in this recipe and enjoy this at any time of year. You could also substitute (or add) other seasonal fruits like berries, apples or pears. Remember, the fun of cooking is all about getting creative, so if you’ve got some blackberries or blueberries on hand, don’t be afraid to toss them in!
Same thing goes for vanilla… Don’t be afraid to try something new! I highly recommend trying out some Nielsen-Massey’s vanilla powder, or choose from their nine different varieties of vanilla extracts from all over the world.
Above all else, have fun in the kitchen. Experiment. Create. Eat. And of course, enjoy:)
Vanilla & Brown Butter Peach Cobbler Recipe
Ingredients
Vanilla Peach Filling
- 6 large fresh peaches, sliced
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey vanilla powder
Brown Butter Cobbler Topping
- ½ cup brown butter (check out this video tutorial to learn how to make brown butter)
- 1 cup flour
- ½ cup sugar, plus a little extra for sprinkling on top
- 1 teaspoon Nielsen-Massey vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease your skillet or baking dish with a little butter, then prepare your peach filling mixture. Toss sliced peaches with sugar and vanilla powder in a large bowl. Then transfer to the skillet or baking dish and set aside.
- Brown your butter. To brown butter, melt butter completely in a saucepan over medium high heat. Then, continue to heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Cook until the butter turns from gold to golden brown and has a nutty aroma. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Mix flour, sugar, vanilla, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Then add the brown butter and mix well until all ingredients are all combined and the mixture is the consistency of cookie dough.
- Using your hands, place clumps of the raw cobbler topping on top of the peach mixture and press down. Do this until all of the topping has been used up and the peach filling is more or less covered.
- Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from the oven, sprinkle with a little sugar and then return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool for about 20 minutes before serving. Serve warm with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Wishing you homemade, homegrown, homestead happiness 🙂
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