Peach Cobbler Cake

This is a sponsored post by Challenge Butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible! 

There are a wide variety of baked fruit desserts that are all similar but have different names and variations depending on the region you live in. For some people, cobbler consists of a fruit base with a biscuit-like topping. For other people, cobbler is more like a cake. And that's the kind of cobbler I'm making today! I'm calling it a cobbler cake to avoid confusion.

I wanted to capitalize on the last of the fresh peaches left this season. As I'm sure you know, the last of the crop isn't usually the best of the crop. So the best way to consume them is to bake them.

So why make this type of cobbler as opposed to the biscuit-like cobbler? Well, peaches don't get as saucy as berries when baked, so cobbler biscuits don't soak up peach juices in the same way they soak up berry juices. But peaches bake up well into a cake-like cobbler.

Here's what I like about this cobbler cake:

• You don't need to peel the peaches! The skin gives the peaches structure.
• You can make it in one bowl. 
• It's delicious warm, room temperature, or cold. My preference is warm with a scoop of ice cream!

I know you're ready to just skip to the recipe, but there are a couple more things I want to point out. 

1. Soaking the peaches in peach schnapps can help intensify the peach flavor, especially if your peaches aren't super flavorful. The alcohol will mostly bake off in the oven. But the schnapps is optional.
2. Always toast your nuts before adding them to a recipe. Always!
3. You can place the baking dish with butter inside the refrigerator so the butter layer hardens making it easier to spread the batter on top. Also, you can substitute with equal amounts brown butter. The butter will rise up the sides of the cake creating delicious, chewy edges. Just make sure to use a good quality butter. I always use Challenge unsalted butter because I know the rich taste will shine through in the final product.
4. If you do not have buttermilk, make your own. Pour 1.5 cups milk into a cup, remove 1.5 Tablespoons of the milk, add 1.5 Tablespoons lemon juice or white vinegar in its place, stir and let sit for 10 minutes.
5. The purpose of the almonds and the decorating sugar is two-fold: for aesthetics and to add crunch. No big deal if you don't have decorating sugar.

Peach cobbler cake

Yield: Makes about 12 servings

Ingredients

• 4 fresh peaches (about 12-14 ounces)
• 1/4 cup peach schnapps (optional)
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick or 113 grams) Challenge unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (200 grams) brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 tablespoons decorating or Demerara sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Slice peaches into 1/2-inch slices and place in bowl with peach schnapps. Set aside.
3. Spread almonds on baking sheet and bake until toasted, about 7-8 minutes. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile, place butter in 11x7-inch baking dish. Place dish in oven and allow butter to melt. This should only take a few minutes. Set baking dish aside.
5. Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and salt in large bowl. Add buttermilk and almond extract to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
6. Pour batter in even layer over melted butter. 
7. Spoon peaches over batter. Sprinkle with almonds and decorating sugar.
8. Bake. 50 minutes or until golden brown. Check doneness by lightly tapping center of cake. If cake bounces back, it's done.

Strawberry orange shortcake with rose whipped cream

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Strawberry orange shortcake with rose whipped cream

Yield: Makes 8 shortcakes

Ingredients

For the fruit

• 1/2 pound strawberries, sliced
• 4 blood oranges (or 2 regular oranges), segmented and cut in half
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar 
• 1 Tablespoon rose water

For the shortcake biscuits

• 2 cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar 
• 1 Tablespoon orange zest (from 1 orange)
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted Challenge butter, cold and cubed
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

For the whipped cream

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup sour cream 
• 3 Tablespoons (38 grams) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon rose water

Directions

For the fruit

1. Combine strawberries, oranges, sugar, and rose water. Let sit at room temperature while you prepare the rest of the shortcake.

For the shortcake biscuits

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheet with parchment paper or nonstick mat.
2. Combine flour, sugar, orange zest, baking powder, salt, cardamom, and baking soda in large bowl.
3. Use pastry cutter or fingers to cut butter into dry ingredients until you have pea-sized crumbs.
4. Pour buttermilk into bowl and mix until it becomes cohesive dough.
5. Form dough into 8 mounds using ice cream scoop or 3-Tablespoon cookie scoop and place on baking sheet.
6. Sprinkle tops of biscuits with sparkling sugar if desired and place in oven.
7. Bake biscuits for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the bottoms are browned and the tops are golden, and set aside to cool.
8. Once biscuits are cool, use serrated knife to cut biscuits in half horizontally.

For the whipped cream

1. Whisk heavy cream (by hand or in a stand mixer) in chilled bowl until soft peaks form. 
2. Add sour cream, sugar, and rose water and continue whisking until stiff peaks form.

Assembly

1. Plate bottom half of 1 shortcake biscuit.
2. Spoon macerated fruit over biscuit bottom. 
3. Top with generous dollop of whipped cream
4. Close with top half of biscuit.
5. Spoon more cream over shortcake if desired and serve immediately.

Strawberry Shortcake Skillet

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

Nothing says summer quite like strawberry shortcake, and the recipe I’m sharing today may be the easiest version yet!

At any given moment in your life, you are 20 minutes away from eating this delicious summer dessert. Reducing preparation time is the key.

As you already know, there are a variety of ways to make strawberry shortcake. And guess what – they’re all delicious. You can either make the shortcake by sifting together flour and other dry ingredients and cutting the butter into it with a pastry blender.

Or you can use biscuit mix and melted butter.

Like I said, both are delicious.

Also, you can form the dough into biscuits or just dump everything into a skillet.

Once again, both ways are delicious, but the latter is significantly easier. 

Even better, don’t bother to plate it. Just eat it straight out of the skillet.

Strawberry Shortcake Skillet

Ingredients

• 1 pound strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 cups biscuit mix
• 1 cup buttermilk*
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 Tablespoons Challenge butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• Optional: More strawberries and whipped cream for garnish

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare cast iron skillet
2. Combine strawberries and sugar and set aside to macerate
3. Whisk together biscuit mix, buttermilk, eggs, sugar, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl until just combined
4. Spoon 1/2 of biscuit batter into bottom of skillet
5. Dump strawberries over batter and dollop remaining biscuit batter on top of strawberries
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until top turns golden brown and let cool
7. Serve with more strawberries and whipped cream if desired

*You can use any milk you have on hand, but I like the texture buttermilk creates. You can make buttermilk by combining 1 Tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar with 1 cup milk.