Peach cobbler with frozen peaches and pie crust recipe is easy to make and delicious to eat. My version of this old fashioned southern dessert is the best because you can make it at any time of the year. With almost no prep work and just the right amount of brown sugar and cinnamon, you will fall in love with this cobbler at first bite. If you want to learn how to make homemade peach cobbler with frozen peaches, be sure to keep reading.
Can You Make Peach Cobbler with Frozen Peaches?
Yes, you can! Most people think that only fresh or canned peaches can used to make peach cobbler, but that isn’t true. In fact, at 7:24 in her video “Quarantine Cooking – Peach Cobbler” chef Paula Deen says, “frozen peaches, if you sweeten them just right, they’re almost as good as fresh, not quite, but almost.”
This is because frozen fruit is picked at its peak of freshness and flash frozen, locking in the flavor and nutrients. On the other hand, canned peaches are slightly cooked, the canning process killing some of the flavor. That is why my peach cobbler recipe with canned peaches includes more spice. Since the fruit loses flavor during the canning process, you have to add flavor back in.
How to Make Peach Cobbler with Frozen Peaches and Pie Crust
How to Make Peach Filling with Frozen Peaches
The first step in making peach cobbler with frozen peaches is making the filling. When I make strawberry pie and other fruit pies, I defrost the fruit, add sugar, then put the filling into the pie. Although that is easier, I think it is best to cook peach cobbler filling on the stovetop first.
When I began researching southern cobbler recipes, I realized that all called for first cooking the fruit on the stovetop. Even though it might seem a bit odd to cook fruit twice, doing so serves two purposes:
- Cooking the fruit helps to break it down a bit. This is especially important with blackberries since they normally do not break down as much during cooking.
- Boiling fruit, water, and sugar together forms a syrup, giving the cobbler more delicious syrup.
Even though it seems like extra work, cooking the peach filling on the stovetop is a good idea. This softens the peaches and makes a thick, sweet, juicy syrup that will be perfect when combined with pie crust.
Brown Sugar and Spices
In addition to water and white sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon are necessary additions to any peach cobbler filling. Like I said earlier in the article, frozen peaches have more flavor than canned, so they do not need much additional flavor. In fact, it is better to err on the side of caution when adding spices so that you do not accidentally compete with the delicious yet subtle flavor of peaches. That is why, in my opinion, the best peach cobbler has just a bit of brown sugar and a pinch of cinnamon.
Can You Make Peach Cobbler without Lemon Juice?
Lemon juice in peach cobbler is controversial: some people love it and some people hate it. Honestly, I think that the answer is subjective, but as a general rule, lemon juice and / or zest is more important when using canned peaches than fresh or frozen since canned peaches lack flavor.
When making my peach cobbler with frozen peaches recipe for the first time, I spent a lot of time going back and forth about the lemon juice. I tasted the peach filling before putting it into the cobbler, and I thought that perhaps a bit of lemon juice would make the flavor pop. I was torn, but I decided to leave out the lemon juice–and honestly, I am glad I did.
The flavor of the peach filling was absolutely spectacular, the small amount of brown sugar and cinnamon accentuating the peach flavor without competing against it. Looking back, I personally think that adding lemon juice would have been too much “help,” but that is my opinion.
How to Thicken Peach Cobbler Filling
Learning how to thicken peach cobbler filling is important: if you don’t, the inside will be peach soup. Although there are many ways to go about it, a cornstarch slurry is the best and easiest way to do it.
Cornstarch, like flour, is cheap and widely available. However, you need less cornstarch to thicken liquids, and it is interferes less with the flavor than flour does. Additionally, cornstarch does not change the color of liquids: flour tends to add a slight gray-white tinge to whatever it thickens. So, as you can see, cornstarch is the better option.
However, if you are going to cook the frozen peaches on the stovetop first, you can’t add the cornstarch at the beginning. Overcooking cornstarch can cause it to lose some of its thickening power, so you want to add it towards the end. However, you can’t add cornstarch to a hot liquid, either: if you do, it will turn into a lumpy mess.
That is why you have to make a cornstarch slurry. You make a slurry by dissolving cornstarch into a small amount of of room temperature of slightly cold liquid (not hot), then adding the slurry to the hot liquid you want to thicken. By doing this, you avoid both overcooking the cornstarch and ruining the filling.
If you make your cornstarch slurry right, you should see it thicken the peach cobbler filling within seconds, no more than a minute.
Peach Cobbler with Pie Crust and Dumplings
Many people say that the best part of peach cobbler is the crust. Although most easy recipes call for making a dump cake with a cake-like crust, I prefer to make my cobbler with homemade pie crust. However, in addition to crispy pie crust on top of the cobbler, I also add some inside to make dumplings.
Easy Homemade Dumplings
Putting pie crust inside of a cobbler may sound odd, but many old fashioned southern cobbler recipes call for adding small pieces of dough, or dumplings, to the fruit filling. You see this in many old timey blackberry cobbler recipes as well.
You might expect the dumplings to turn out rubbery, but they don’t. In fact, by cooking in the sugary syrup, pie crust dumplings become soft and pillowy. In addition, when added to fruit filling that has been cooked on the stovetop, the dumplings soak up some of the flavor, making them even more delicious.
Adding dumplings to your cobbler is super easy, especially if you use storebought pie crust. Like I said, it may seem a bit odd if you are not familiar with traditional southern recipes, but trust me: if you try, you will like it.
Peach Cobbler Lattice Crust
Although not all cobblers have a bottom crust, every cobbler does have a top crust. A solid crust would be fine, but I chose a lattice top for my peach cobbler. I chose a lattice top so that more steam and thus moisture could escape from the filling, thickening the peach filling without additional cornstarch.
If you really love pie crust, then you could definitely put a solid crust on top. You may have to add a bit more cornstarch, I am not sure, but I don’t think the filling would be runny if you didn’t.
A Chef’s Review
I fell in love with this peach cobbler at first sight. The golden brown lattice top crust, bright orange peaches, and caramelized sugar all looked amazing. Honestly, I thought it looked like something a southern grandma would make, hahaha.
Possible Changes to the Recipe
As you can tell, I really liked this southern peach cobbler. Honestly, it was the best peach cobbler I had ever had, both in taste and texture. If you wanted to change something, you could maybe add a bit of lemon juice. Lemon juice in peach cobbler is a personal taste, but I wouldn’t change anything about this recipe.
Other Peach Dessert Recipes
Peaches have a delicious yet subtle flavor that’s absolutely amazing. If you can’t get enough, check out:
Peach Dumplings on the Stovetop – This recipe is easy if you use premade pie crust and frozen peaches.
Peach Cobbler Recipe with Frozen Peaches and Pie Crust
Peach Cobbler with Frozen Peaches and Pie Crust
Ingredients
- Filling:
- 24 ounces frozen peaches, unsweetened (680 grams) **no need to thaw before cooking on stove
- 3/4 cup white sugar (160 grams)
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar (60 grams)
- 3/4 cup water (180 grams) **for cooking the peaches–more needed for cornstarch slurry
- 1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- Slurry:
- 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (20 grams)
- 2 Tablespoons water (30 grams)
- Pie Crust Top and Dumplings:
- 2 9-inch pie crusts
- 1 Tablespoon white sugar (15 grams)
- 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar (15 grams)
Instructions
- Add all ingredients for filling (peaches, sugars, cinnamon, and salt, but NOT cornstarch) to a pot. No need to thaw peaches you will be cooking them.
- Turn on heat to high (gasmark 6/6) and cooking peaches and other filling ingredients. Stir to combine.
- Bring to a bowl on high heat while stirring constantly.
- Once boiling, turn down heat to medium (gasmark 3/6) and cook peaches for an addition 10 minutes.
- When peaches are done cooking, turn off heat.
- Combine water and cornstarch to make cornstarch slurry, then add slurry to filling. Stir to combine. The filling should thicken within a minute.
- Cut 1 pie crust into small pieces and add pieces to cooked pieces. Stir add dumplings to the fruit filling.
- Once all dumplings are added to the peach filling, pour filling into a greased 8×8 dish.
- Use second pie crust to add top layer. Although you may add a solid crust, I recommend a lattice top.
- Sprinkle top with extra 2 tablespoons of sugar.
- Bake uncovered at 350 F for 50 minutes. Bake on a pizza pan or cookie sheet in case filling overflows.
YouTube Video
Be sure to watch my YouTube video tutorial:
