Sunday, September 6, 2015

Blueberry Bacon Peach Cobbler. Gluten free, Dairy free



I created a throw together peach cobbler while on family vakay in Hilton Head Island, SC. Because who doesn't eat peaches in the south in August?!

It was really good, so I decided to try again about a month later, but wanted to up the ante with blueberries and bacon- when has adding bacon ever been a detriment to a food item?! It turned out amazing.
Since I don't ever measure anything when cooking, here's the best guesses I have for instructions to re-create it yourself! ENJOY

ps butter doesn't categorize as "dairy". Please use organic, hormone free, UNsalted butter!

Insides:
big bowl. peel and chop 8-9 ripe peaches into bite size. Add as many blueberries as you want - well, within reason. Squeeze in 3/4 of a juicy large lemon. (ok to use whole lemon, but you might notice the citrus flavor a bit more) Stir in about 3/4 cup of raspberry jam (organic, sugar free, sugar full, homemade, smuckers, whatever you want). Few good liberal dashes of cinnamon powder. Stir well. Cover with ceran wrap and leave on counter. Let sit for at least 30 mins, can leave up to an hour or so. Stir occasionally. 

If adding bacon... Cook 4-5 long strips in frying pan until just starting to crisp - you don't want bacon bits crisp, but you don't want a mouthful of chewy fat either, or maybe YOU do! (Handy to do this while you're peeling peaches - endlessly peeling peaches) Cut cooked bacon into small pieces and stir into fruit bowl. Can drizzle in some bacon grease too if wanted! Yum!!
ps nitrite hormone free bacon is best. smoked flavor bacon will taste smoky in the cobbler and peppered bacon prob isn't a winner here. 

'Crust':
Pamelas white cake mix (gf/df). It really is the best.I cannot vouch for any other gf white cake mixes. 

combine the cake powder with: liberal dashes of cinnamon powder, 3 eggs, and 1/2 cup butter instead of oil. Start mixing with fork and slowly add tiny amounts of water as needed. You want batter to be thick and sticky (not runny like cake batter). I don't think I even used 1/4 cup water.

Set aside approx 1/3 of batter for later, in a small bowl.

9 X 13 glass pan.
Melt 1/2 stick of butter and coat the bottom of pan. Put in the sticky glob of cake batter and grease the tips of your fingers, then tap/mold/spread the batter to cover the bottom as best as you can, try to leave it as thick as possible. It's ok if it doesn't reach into the corners - it will expand as it bakes.

Bake at 350' for 11 mins.
if you bake it for 10 or 12 mins, the whole thing is ruined. kidding

Prepare topping :
The batter you set aside needs to be mixed with granola of choice. I like Bear Naked and Kind brands, just make sure you pick a gluten free one if that's your enemy, whatever 'flavor' you want to enhance your cobbler.
Use liberal amounts of granola to make as crumbly a mixture as you can. (but it won't get literal crumbly).


Remove pan from oven. (after the 11 mins) Batter should withstand a gentle tap from your finger tip.
Stir your fruit bowl one last time. Gently pour the bowl of fruit and all the juice that magically appeared onto the cake, gently so that you don't rip through the thin cooked layer. 

Grease finger tips again and pull apart very small chunks of topping (1/2in x 1/2in), and place on top of the fruit, evenly covering.
Use leftover granola to lightly sprinkle in the gaps of your topping chunks so entire fruit surface is covered.
Continue baking at 350' until top is getting golden brown and the edges are good-n-bubbly.
Serve with ice cream and/or whipped topping of choice.
(I suggest cashew milk - salted caramel chocolate chunk or dark chocolate chunk, because I hate coconut taste and the rice milk flavors all have a weird aftertaste and all soy products are of the devil.)
It will come out soft and gooey (and messy) when hot so use a big wide spatula, much firmer when cold straight outta the fridge the morning after for bfast.