Are you looking for an unfussy, forgiving dessert that you can literally take anywhere this summer?

Well, look no further than one of our favorite Southern staples: cobbler.

Here in the South, We don't just make cobbler, we celebrate it.

[UPBEAT MUSIC] I'm Trace Barnett, and welcome to Garden Party.

Today we are making the absolute dessert of the South, which is cobbler.

And the great thing about cobblers is they are extremely versatile.

So you can use whatever fruit you have on hand or whatever is growing out in the garden, in your yard, or what's fresh and available at the farmer's market.

Today, we are making the classic peach cobbler.

We're also throwing in just a few blueberries and blackberries, because I really do love a little mix of fruit inside of a cobbler.

You are going to need four cups of fruit, and that roughly equals to about four large peaches.

These are smaller, early season peaches.

So I'm going to use 6 to 8.

The key here is that you really can't have too much fruit.

So go ahead and just throw it all into the bowl.

So to get started let's pour our fruit into a bowl.

And I'm going to remove the skin off of my peaches.

If you have a really good vegetable peeler at home, go ahead and use your vegetable peeler because it removes the skin of the peaches without removing any of the flesh.

If you have peaches that have any kind of blemishes that may have fallen to the ground, they're perfect for cobblers.

Just cut the blemish off, remove any kind of bad bruising or anything like that, and no one will ever know.

And now we just remove skins!

So while you are peeling your peaches, go ahead and throw a whole stick of butter in a cast iron skillet and put that in your oven.

And I really just want that butter to melt, not burn inside the oven.

So be sure you put your oven on about 350 and keep a check on that butter too.

I love cast iron for cobblers because it really develops that good crispy crust.

It also creates this wonderful juicy- like almost... What's the word I'm looking for here?

Gooey.

That's it.

So if you are making a cobbler out of peach season, it's super easy just to use canned peaches as well.

And the canned peaches work perfect, especially if they are in the heavy syrup.

Don't drain any of the syrup off, just let it kind of melt down and marry in there with the crust, and it's super good.

No one will even know they're canned.

So now that we've got our peach skins removed, let's just cut our peaches in half and remove the pit.

And I'm just going to slice them into just small slices.

A good paring knife works well for this, that way you don't worry about cutting your hand or scraping your nail against the knife.

And just get that pit right out as I stab my hand with the knife.

[LAUGHS] Small little slices here, and they don't have to be pretty.

That's the perfect thing about cobblers is everything can be just a little bit rustic in there.

So now that we have our fruit all nice and ready for our cobbler- a few of them are trying to escape there after all our hard work.

I'm just going to take a little bit of sugar, and I'm going to sprinkle it right on to our fruit there.

And I'm also going to use the juice of a lime.

You can use lemons as well, but I've used all my lemons in limoncello.

I'm going to give that a little toss with my hands.

And I'm just going to set that to the side.

So what that's going to do is it's really going to bring out the natural sweetness and juices that in the blueberries, the blackberries and the peaches.

So I'm just gonna let that hang out while we make our batter.

So this batter is the traditional "cuppa cuppa cuppa" which I'm sure your grandmothers made.

And it's still my favorite today.

So we've got one cup of self-rising flour, and I always use self-rising because I feel like it gives just a lot of lightness to the cobbler.

I feel like some of the ratios when you're adding your baking powder into the all purpose flour, just sometimes makes it a little stodgy.

I stole that from a British show.

So I'm gonna add in a cup of sugar, and I'm just going to wisk those together, just to evenly distribute those dry ingredients there.

And now comes a cup of milk.

You can use buttermilk too if you have that on hand.

I love that little bit of buttermilk bite that it gives it.

And use a whisk when you are mixing together your batter.

The reason being is because you don't want any flour clumps, sugar clumps.

A clumpy cobbler's a no go in the South.

You'll get shunned.

I'm going to add a little bit of vanilla, and when I usually say a little bit of vanilla, I mean I like a lot of vanilla.

So I'm really going to go in.

A little bit of vanilla adds a little bit of flavor there.

And then I'm going to add just a little pinch of allspice and just a little bit of cinnamon.

And that does deviate somewhat from the "cuppa cuppa cuppa" method.

But I really just like that little bit of flavor and spice that it gives and also makes it have a really pretty color too.

Now I'm going to make this up, and if you have time, let it kind of just hang out for a couple minutes.

The reason being is because you can see that it's just starting to have some little bubbles form there.

We really want that little bit of aeration because that's what's going to give our cobbler the lift.

So now comes the fun part.

And that's when we are going to assemble our cobbler.

Now there is a question in the South about whether you add your fruit first and then the batter or the batter and then the fruit.

And so what I typically do is I'll remove my skillet from the oven, and I'm going to pour my batter in first.

Look at all that batter goodness flowing into there.

And the butter- We're not going to stir this.

We really want the butter to kind of float up to the top.

And then directly in with the fruit.

And we're just going to place the fruit directly on top.

And I know if you've never made a cobbler before, it's going to sound a little wild and crazy.

But that's the beauty of cobblers is they rise around the fruit.

Now, we're not going to stir this, but what I'm going to do is I'm just going to take some of the fruit that was right there in the middle, and I'm just going to push it out to the sides.

And the reason I'm doing that is I just want that even ratio of fruit throughout our cobbler.

And I mean, look how beautiful that is already.

And just for a little final touch and just for a little bit of beauty, because we like living in beauty here, let's just sprinkle a little bit of cinnamon on top.

And so that's ready to go into a 375 degree oven.

I'm going to cook it for 40 to 50 minutes.

But I would go ahead and check it at 30 to 35.

You're going to know that your cobbler is done when everything just starts to bubble up.

And that crust on top is nice and browned.

So let's get in the oven.

Let's take it to the oven.

[LAUGHS] I'm not actually getting in there.

And you know, you don't want a cobbler where it's too cakey.

Like you don't want it where you're biting into this thick layer of cake on top.

I call those "fobblers": faux cobbler!

You know, there is a ton of new restaurants around town that always want to come up with a new concept of a cobbler, and there's just really no way that you can reinvent the cobbler.

It's just a cobbler.

You know, cobblers, if you start to move around with them a lot, like, change them up, I think it turns more into crisp or a cake or a piece of [BLEEP]!

[LAUGHS] There's nothing better than fresh out of the oven ooey, gooey cobbler.

And the best time to eat this obviously, is right when it's out of the oven.

Since I made it, I'm diving directly into the middle.

Look at all that.

And I love the combination of fruits, because you really get that contrast of color, which I think is just so festive.

I don't even know why I'm bending down to do this.

I just want to be close to it.

Just garnish it with just a little bit of mint.

And this is perfect if you are serving this outside to serve with just a little bit of ice cream, you can also make it a day ahead of time and just warm it up.

Well, I'm going to risk my tongue's safety to dive into this.

So peachy!

I think some smoke just came out of my mouth.

Did you see it?

It is hot!

Did you see the smoke coming-?!

[PRODUCER] Our host is steaming!

[TRACE] So be sure and let your cobbler cool a good 8 to 10 minutes before unless you want to go to the ER with a burnt tongue.

We used a prosthetic tongue for this video.

[UPBEAT MUSIC] Are you looking for a summer dessert that's unfussy, forgiving, and that you literally can haul to anywhere?

[LAUGHS] Haul to anywhere.

Here in the South, we don't just celebrate cobbler... We don't just make it, we celebrate it.

[LAUGHS] I know I didn't.

I was like, trying to get to Heather as quick as I could!

[CREW LAUGHS] Oh my God!

Ok. [LAUGHS] [WITH FOOD IN HIS MOUTH] Perfectly peachy!

Ok, hold on.

You jinxed us!

[PRODUCER] I'm trying!

I'm trying over here.

[SIGHS] [LAUGHS] [MUSIC]