By LSU orientation was this week and the campus is bigger in person than it is in imagination. I walked from building to building in the July heat with a group of incoming freshmen, all of us sweating in our orientation T-shirts, all of us pretending to be less nervous than we were. The biology building is five stories of glass and concrete and I stood in the lobby and looked at the directory of professors and thought: these people are going to teach me to be a doctor. These names on this board are the bridge between where I am and where I am going.
I met my assigned roommate — Brianna, from Shreveport, pre-nursing. She is chatty and kind and has already planned the decoration scheme for our dorm room in a shared Pinterest board that she sent me within four hours of us exchanging numbers. She asked if I cooked and I said yes and she said, "Oh thank God, because I burn water." We are going to be fine. Different-fine from Jada, because nobody replaces Jada, but fine in the way that new people can be fine when they are honest about who they are from the beginning.
I registered for classes: Biology 1201, Chemistry 1201, English 1001, Math 1550 (Calculus). The pre-med track starts here. Four years of undergraduate science leading to the MCAT leading to medical school leading to a white coat and a stethoscope and a practice in north Baton Rouge where the kids look like me. The path is long. The path is clear. I have been walking it since I was twelve and announced at the kitchen table that I was going to be a pediatrician, and Daddy said, "Okay," and Mama said, "Then you need to make straight A's," and MawMaw Shirley said, "And you need to keep stirring." All three of them were right.
Saturday at Baker. I told MawMaw Shirley about orientation and she listened with the attention she gives to important things — still, focused, hands in her lap. When I described the biology building she said, "Is there a kitchen?" I said no. She said, "Then where will you cook?" I said in my dorm. She looked at me with an expression that suggested I had announced I was going to perform surgery with a butter knife. "In a dorm," she said. "Lord." She is not wrong to be concerned. But I will manage. I always manage. She taught me to manage with a cast iron pot and a step stool, and if I can make roux on a step stool, I can make dinner in a dorm.
When MawMaw Shirley gave me that look—the one that said a dorm kitchen was no place for real cooking—I knew the first thing I had to prove, to her and to myself, was that I could still make something warm and homemade with whatever I had on hand. A peach cobbler is exactly that kind of proof: humble ingredients, no complicated equipment, and a smell coming out of the oven that turns a cinder-block room into something that feels like home. Brianna said she burns water, so I’m starting here—something sweet, something southern, something I can teach her without a cast iron pot or a step stool.
Easy Peach Cobbler
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 45 minutes | Total Time: 55 minutes | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1 can (29 oz) sliced peaches in syrup, undrained
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat & melt butter. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place the butter in a 9x13-inch baking dish and set it in the oven while it preheats, just until the butter melts. Remove the dish carefully and set aside.
- Make the batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the milk and vanilla extract and stir until just combined—a few small lumps are fine.
- Assemble the cobbler. Pour the batter evenly over the melted butter in the baking dish. Do not stir. Spoon the peaches and all their syrup evenly over the batter. Again, do not stir—the batter will rise up and around the peaches as it bakes.
- Add the spiced sugar. Mix the remaining 1/4 cup sugar with the cinnamon and nutmeg, then sprinkle the mixture evenly over the top of the peaches.
- Bake. Bake uncovered for 40–45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the batter portion comes out clean. The edges should be bubbling and lightly caramelized.
- Rest & serve. Allow the cobbler to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm, plain or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 49g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 160mg