Hospitality In A Can

I just adored my Aunt Doris. As a matter of fact, when she passed away last year I wrote a little tribute to her. I think one of the reasons I was so fond of her was because we both shared a love of cooking. As a very young girl I can remember her letting me help her in the kitchen and I loved every minute of it!

Aunt Doris was a preacher's wife so she was accustomed to having unexpected visitors knocking on her door at all hours of the day and night! She often told me about the importance of hospitality ~ always making sure to be gracious and welcoming to everybody. She said one wonderful way to do this is by always having something yummy on hand to offer your guests to eat. She then proceeded to tell me about the importance of having a well-stocked pantry, not only for the benefit of your own family, but for others as well.

One day (I was probably ten at the time), she said "I'm going to tell you one of my hospitality secrets!" Well, of course, I couldn't wait to hear it. She said along with the staples of flour, sugar, etc. she always, always made sure to have plenty of canned peaches on hand! Yes, I said peaches!! When company came to visit she would just go to her pantry and in just a few minutes she had a yummy cobbler for all her guests to enjoy. Here is the recipe she gave me:

Preheat oven to 350 and melt ONE stick of butter in a 3 quart baking dish. While you are waiting for the butter to melt all you have to do is mix together 1 1/2 cups SELF-RISING FLOUR, 1 1/2 cups milk, and 1 cup sugar. Mix slowly to avoid the flour from lumping.Once the butter is melted take the dish with the melted butter out of the oven and pour the batter in it. This is the important part: DO NOT mix the batter in with the butter ~just pour it on top and leave it alone!!!! Then take one LARGE can of peaches (the kind in heavy syrup) and "smush" them up and place them on top of the batter, as well as carefully pouring in the juice. It's going to look like a big mess and you're probably going to have the urge to take a spoon to it to "fix it up," but remember, DON'T mess with it ~ in less than an hour you will have a delicous cobbler.

Also, if you like cinnamon (or even nutmeg)you can add a dash of that into the batter as well.

In about 35 -40 min. you will have the most delicious peach cobbler you've ever tasted. Just let it set on the counter for a few minutes and then it's ready to serve.

My family loves it with vanilla ice cream, it is "oh, so good!!" Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the finished cobbler, my family gobbled it up in about two seconds!

One last thing ~ of course you can add ripe peaches (and extra sugar) instead of the canned ones. The canned peaches just represent the importance of planning ahead as well as the importance of hospitality. I can close my eyes right now and picture my Uncle Buddy chatting away with the company all the while Aunt Doris was humming in the kitchen while she busily whipped up this wonderful treat!

As a side note, a few years ago I discovered that Paula Deen, somebody I also adore, also uses this same recipe. It tickles me to think that maybe she got the recipe from Aunt Doris, too!!!!

Much love from,

Susan P. (who can take a simple peach cobbler recipe and turn it into a book;) Sorry, I know I'm wordy!!!!