Peach Cobbler with Hard Sauce, Kamehameha Schools Style

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Nani, my friend in food. And much more.

Kamehameha Schools is apparently famous for two particular delectables: haole brownies (sorry, I really don't find the word Haole to be offensive so despite PC people's efforts to be sensitive to Caucasians I will ALWAYS refer to them as haole brownies...and keep in mind that I am half Haole so I think I have a right to feel the way I do. At least 50% right) and peach cobbler with hard sauce (apparently it's not the same without the hard sauce).

The recipe circulated around many years ago and somehow I got ahold of it. Lucky me. Because despite the fact that Kamehameha Schools posts many of their best recipes online, this particular one is not there. Perhaps they wanted  to keep it a secret. But believe me, something this good that gives pleasure to all who try it should not be kept a secret. That's just wrong. I hadn't made it for several years but for lack of eggs in the ice box (I really like that word instead of refrigerator sometimes) I needed to find a great dessert to take to Nani's house. And so I searched high and low in my dessert folder and found it hiding right behind the haole brownies recipe (future post?).  I hope you give it a try. It was easy.

Recipe

Crust:  

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup butter

Filling: 

3 or 4 16 oz. cans of sliced peaches, drained

3-4 Tablespoons minute tapioca

1-2 Tablespoons sugar (optional)

Topping:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

6 Tablespoons cold butter

Hard Sauce:

1 lb box of powdered sugar

1 cup softened butter

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare crust first: cut butter into flour mixture, form a ball and pat into 13x9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes or until slightly brown. Remove from oven. (my notes: I used to actually CUT the butter into the flour mixture, using two butter knives, and then advanced to one of those pastry thingees that you use to cut butter into flour for making pie crusts. I have since advanced to a food processor so I did it in that. I started first with just pulsing the flour butter sugar combination but that was taking forever so I just turned it on and as it started getting more and more blended and sticking together, I went back to pulsing, til it all just seemed to stick together. Then I just turned the food processor upside down into my ungreased pan. Pressing it out takes a bit of time and I am horrible at figuring it out if it is even in thickness from one end to the other but it doesn't seem to matter a whole lot. I tried to make sure that at least the edges came up a little bit and were not very "torn" looking but that, too, proved to not be a big issue because the peaches covered everything well. The baking took a bit longer than 10 minutes, probably closer to 20 till it was a golden brown. Don't wait for it to get too dark. You will be baking it a second time.)
3. Prepare filling and pour onto baked crust (my notes: I only had two cans of sliced peaches and two cans of halved peaches. So I cut the halved peaches into slices and it worked out fine. I used 4 cans this time though 3 cans works just as well. It's obviously more "peachy" with 4. Don't forget to drain the peaches...no fancy draining, just right in the can. I did add one Tablespoon of sugar but two will probably be better. Moani's comment was, "it's kind of tart...but maybe after the third piece it'll get better" or something to that effect)
4. Prepare topping: Combine all dry ingredients and cut into cold butter to form crumbs. Sprinkle crumbs over filling. (my notes: again, I used my food processor. I just put all the ingredients in (the butter I cut into pieces. I pulsed it until the consistency, when I used my fingers, felt like there were little butter bullets in the flour)
5. Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes (my notes: I'm sure I baked it at least 10 minutes longer. I waited and waited for the topping to get a nice golden brown but it wouldn't. So I just took it out. There were some golden brown spots but not a lot and it made me a bit uncomfortable. But it was cooked. And the taste was still great. I may work on adding more butter or something else in the future and will update the post if it works better)
6. Prepare hard sauce: Beat ingredients together. Figure out how you are going to add it to the peach cobbler. (my notes: I only prepared HALF of the recipe. And I think it was enough. I actually opened a brand new box of powdered sugar and poured out what I thought was half.  I used one of those fancy shmancy pastry bag things where you can make the icing look, well, fancy. I am not very good at it. In the past I just used to put these hard sauce globs every half inch or so using a spoon. I think another solution would be to just serve it on the side and after you cut a piece off for your guest, just put a glob on top of the cobbler. Bottom line: Do not do without the hard sauce. It offers the sweetness that makes this cobbler special.)

Half of this recipe makes a 8 x 8 inch pan, use 2 cans of peaches. But why bother with half when you can have a whole freakin' pan's worth?

Verdict

What can I say? I wish I could have eaten more but I did take it to Nani's house and I didn't want to eat it all. Especially since my husband was eating more than his fair share. Four pieces to be exact. He gave it an A and his comment was: "THICKER. Make it thicker. So there's more of it in each piece." Personally, I think he still would have eaten four pieces. Nani loved the crust. And the hard sauce. Moani apparently had tartness issues and I failed to ask her for her final verdict after she devoured her third piece. In a row. Apparently tartness isn't a big issue for her.

Baked crust. Not very golden but done.

Peaches (w/ tapioca and sugar) on top of crust

Getting ready to blend the ingredients for the topping. I cut up the butter into small pieces first.

Topping mixture on top of peaches before baking

Finished product. See how it's not too brown? But the crust is a beautiful color. I used a glass pan so I could tell it was done

The finished product. Minus the first few pieces. Then I remembered to photograph. And the picture of my second piece on the paper plate did not look very appealing, asthetic wise, but it was oh so 'ono. Notice how I am not good at the fancy pastry bag thing. But it works.