During a recent trip to Barnes & Noble, a place I can't seem to leave without at least a couple of new books, I indulged my fancy and bought Julia Childs' Baking with Julia. Before I made my purchase I sat down and carefully leafed through the entire thing and perused the recipes and instructions. I wanted to make sure it was worth the hefty price tag. I've recently been burned by impulse-buying baking cookbooks based mostly on their cover and a quick flip through the middle only to get them home and find not much in it I would actually use.

What I left with was the book and a strong desire to try everything inside! Even something as technical and difficult as puff pastry was calling my name. The book features very detailed and easy to understand directions and more than a few appetizing photos to go along with it.

A recipe for Johnnycake Cobbler seemed a perfect use for some fresh, locally grown peaches I'd bought from a school fundraiser, even though the recipe calls for nectarines or plums.

Johnnycake Cobbler
From Baking with Julia

The Fruit

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup sugar, or more to taste
• 6 cups sliced nectarines or purple plums (9 to 12 pieces of fruit)

Directions:

• Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
• Add the sugar, stirring to dissolve, then toss in the fruit.
• Stir the fruit around to coat each piece and then cook, stirring now and then, until the fruit is soft and gives up some of its liquid.
• increase the heat to high and cook for a few minutes more to boil down the juices a bit.
• Spoon the fruit into 4 to 6 individual souffle molds, ramekins, or ovenproof bowls and set aside.

The biscuit

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup stone-ground white cornmeal (you can use yellow)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt or fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger (optional)
• 1/2 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Directions:

• Position rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425°F.
• Put the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and the ginger if you're using it in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.
• Pulse 5 to 6 times, just to mix the ingredients.
• Add the pieces of cold butter.
• Being extremely careful not to cut your fingers, reach in and toss the butter around to coat each piece with flour. (This will help cut the butter evenly into the flour--it's an optional step; if you'd rather skip it, you'll still have great cobbler.)
• Pulse the machine 18 to 20 times, or until there are no lumps and the mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
• Make a well in the center of the ingredients and pour in 1 1/4 cups heavy cream, stirring with a fork to draw in the dry ingredients from the sides of the bowl and form a dough.
• If the mixture is too dry and does not hold together, add more cream, as much as 1/4 cup more. You want a soft dough that forms curds as you stir it.
• Spoon the dough onto the top of the fruit, dividing it evenly among the cobbler pans. Don't worry if it's covered unevenly--this is a homey dessert and part of the charm is its rough, craggy top. If the fruit bubbles up over the top, so much the better.
• Place cobblers on a foil or parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the tops are nicely browned.
• Cool 5 - 10 minutes; best if served warm.

About this recipe: you see, here's a recipe worth paying for! I love everything about it, from the estimate of how many pieces of fruit in cups to the suggestion to just use yellow corn meal if that's what you've got to the encouragement to go for a less-than-perfectly topped cobbler. Following this recipe was both easy, comforting, and fun.

I would also suggest trying other fruit fillings besides nectarines, plums, or peaches. A medley of fresh berries would be great and the cobbler topping would remain the same. You will probably need to adjust the sugar up or down depending on how sweet the fruits you've chosen to use are. The possibilities are endless.

I made a small batch first and then a full sized batch that I preped the night before and baked in the morning and brought it hot to work. The first batch I used rather small ramekins (3/4 cup size) and I thought this turned out well. The second batch, I used a 9-inch round cake pan since my pie pans are kind of small. I had a problem getting the topping to cook all the way through and in fact, it was a little doughy at the very bottom at the thicker parts. If you do this, just check to make sure it's cooked all the way through, or go a little easy on the topping--I had more than enough to cover the entire round generously.

Oh, for the ever-so-dangerous step of using your fingers to toss the butter inside the food processor bowl with the blade, please, for the love of sweets, don't use your fingers. I used one of my measuring spoons, and any kitchen implement will work fine for this. Also, it's one of those things you can very easily do without. If you're cooking with your kids, don't even go there.

The result: A warm, fruit filled delight. The topping has a mild sweetness and a nice weight and crunch thanks to the cornmeal. The fruit was soft and, well, peachy and ever so delicious. This would be wonderful as a special Sunday breakfast and great as an evening dessert.