Peach Jam 2014 Cobbler Competition: Remix

Monday, June 30, 2014

There are so many reasons that Summer is my favorite time of year - and Peach Jam is definitley one of them! Every June the folks at Community Farmers Markets designate a week to celebrate our state fruit and raise money for their Wholesome Wave program. The celebration begins at the Wednesday Decatur Farmers Market with a BBQ sauce competition. Next, Thursday's East Atlanta Village Farmers Market invites mixologists from Atlanta's best bars to compete head to head in a cocktail competition. The Saturday morning Decatur Farmers Market rings in a jelly and jam competition. Then the week culminates with my favorite competition of all: the cobbler competition at Sunday's Grant Park Farmers Market! 

For this year's competition I was inspired by all the amazing goodies from our Local Market: Pearson Peaches, Verdant Kitchen Savannah Snaps & our newest addition - Cinnamon, Cardamon & Ginger Banner Butter. We wanted to celebrate our local partners with the ultimately local (and ultimately delicious) peach cobbler. It was a rough week of cobbler eating, but after a few test cobblers I was seeing it come together. 

Cooking Garnish & Gather meals have taught me a few things over the past year about planning a great recipe. So I thought: What would Garnish & Gather do?

#1 We'd spice it up! A meal is only as good as it's ingredients. And some of the most important ingredients in our meals are the spice blends. So I created a simple spice blend of my own to work with the flavors in the ginger snaps & butter.

#2 We'd prep! We'd get all the ingredients ready to go for when we are ready to cook, so we could enjoy the act of cooking and not worry about the planning. So, naturally, I prepped on Saturday, and Sunday morning was... well, easy as Sunday morning. Armed with two mason jars, I first made the ooey gooey peachy filling, loaded it up in the jar and stashed it in the fridge. Then I revisited my sand-art days and combined all the dry ingredients I would need to combine with the butter in the morning to make the crispy ginger snap crumble topping. I popped my H&F pie dough out of the freezer & into the fridge to thaw and I was ready for the competition! 

Sunday morning I simply formed the dough to my pan and filled it with my peach filling. 

Then I mixed my dry crumble ingredients with some melted Banner Butter and sprinkled that over the top. I popped it in the oven and still had time to make breakfast with my boys before I headed out the door. 

Grant Park was bustling when I got there. Kids were laughing hysterially as the giant peach walked by. Local vendors were featuring special peach products, like Turnrow's Peach Soaps or S&J's Peach Pizza! If you haven't been to Grant Park Farmers Market, it's a feel good place. There are families lounging in the shade, dogs eagerly wagging their tales, chef demos and great music, so it was hard not to be in a great mood as I dropped off my cobbler. Armed with a spoon and sample cups, the competition began. First the judges, then the crowd. 

The crowd was voting with their forks. Not in the metaphorical way, but in a very literal way. If they liked a cobbler, they left their fork behind to count as a vote. It was neck & neck the whole time so when the counting began, none of us knew who'd won. 

There was some pretty stiff competition (and loads of behind the scenes fun). I come from a long line of 'yankees', so baking a peach cobbler is not something I grew up with (although I can bake a mean biscotti).  I was stunned and so excited to hear the market manager, Dani, call my name as not only the Crowd Favorite, but the judge pick also!! Best. Peach Jam. Ever.

But I certainly can't take the credit. A big thanks to my biggest little helper, my 15 month old Gaines, who tirelessly tested peach after peach to make sure they were at their peak freshness. And lots of love to the local vendors like Banner Butter and Verdant Kitchen who really did all the work - I just threw it all together. Afterall, it's all about the ingredients.

So, without further adeiu... the winner of the 2014 Peach Jam Cobbler Competition.

Happy baking, y'all!

Cinnamon, Cardamom, Ginger Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 2 lbs peaches, peeled, pitted & sliced
• 2 oz Banner Butter's Cinnamon, Cardamom, Ginger Butter
• Cobbler Spice Blend (1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cardamom, 1/2 tsp ginger, pinch of cayenne)
• 1 lemon, juiced

Topping:

• 1 bag Verdant Kitchen Savannah Snaps
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 cup pecans, crushed
• 1/2 cup flour
• 3 oz Banner Butter's Cinnamon, Cardamom, Ginger Butter

Crust (optional): Frozen pie crust (we used H&F!)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375
2. Peel peaches, remove pit and slice peach. Blanch the peaches in boiling water for 15-20 seconds then drop them in an ice bath and the skin will fall right off. The riper they are, the easier it will be to remove the skin
3. Melt 2 oz of the Banner Butter in a large sauce pan over med-low heat
4. Juice the lemon
5. Add the peaches, lemon juice and Cobbler Spice blend to the melted butter and simmer for 10-15 min, until it begins to thicken
6. Crush the pecans and ginger snaps (keep it chunky, not overly fine)
7. Combine the ginger snaps, pecans, brown sugar, sugar and flour in a large bowl
8. Melt the 3 oz of Banner Butter
9. Add the melted butter to the ginger snap mixture and and mix until a crumbly mixture forms
10. Form your pie crust into a greased baking dish (you can skip the bottom crust if you want)
11. Smother it in that delicious peachy mixture
12. Cover that with the crumbly ginger snap topping
13. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until crust is browned