fuzzy love

Peaches, peaches, and a lot more peaches. That’s what you find in Central Virginia right now, at the glorious height of peach season. Yellow peaches, white peaches, donut peaches—you’ll need a spare chin just to accommodate all the dripping juices.

When we picked a heaping half-bushel straight off the trees on a recent steamy morning at Chiles Orchard in Crozet, we could have been accused of having eyes bigger than our stomachs. But you haven’t seen our two tykes turn into peach piranhas, leaving only a pile of clean pits in their wake. I had to hoard a half-dozen just to be able to make this simple-but-delicious cobbler—sweetened with local honey. It couldn’t be easier, and the husband swears it’s his new favorite dessert. Guess it’s time to pick another trunkload!

LOCAL PEACH COBBLER

sweetened with local honey

Makes 8 servings

6 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, plus more for pan

6 to 8 ripe peaches

2 Tbsp. honey

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1⅓ cups all-purpose unbleached flour*, plus 1 Tbsp.

2 Tbsp. sugar

1½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ cup cold milk

*Even better than all-purpose is White Lily brand flour, because it creates ultra-fluffy dough.

1. Preheat oven to 385°F. Butter a glass baking dish. Cut peaches into ½-inch pieces, enough to fill baking dish 2 inches deep. In baking dish, toss peaches with honey, nutmeg, vanilla, and 1 Tbsp. flour until well-distributed.

2. Make dough: Mix 1⅓ cups flour with sugar, baking powder, and salt. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in 6 Tbsp. butter until texture resembles coarse meal. Stir in cold milk until dough forms.

3. Drop large spoonfuls of dough onto fruit, so that you have large circles of dough with exposed bits of fruit beneath. Bake 25 minutes, or until fruit is bubbly and dough is lightly browned.