Vegan Peach Cobbler with Hazelnut Biscuits

 

Peach cobbler is a quintessential summer dessert, something that is awesome made about mid August when the peaches are in season and at their best!  The peaches at the store just looked so good the other day, and I hadn't had any yet this year, so I decided to buy a bunch.  They were also on sale, so I figured why not?!  It turned out they were perfectly ripe, sweet, and ready to eat!  So besides just enjoying some as they were, I decided to make some Vegan Peach Cobbler with Hazelnut Biscuits!

The filling didn't need much for flavoring since the peaches were so good on their own, so I just added a touch of lemon juice and vanilla, and a little maple sugar to sweeten them.  I use much less sugar in my cobblers than a traditional cobbler because I like to be able to taste the actual flavor of the fruit and let it shine! I just add a little bit of flour to thicken the juices a little so that it is not watery and it comes out perfect!

For the biscuits, I use my scone dough, but with nut meal mixed in to make them extra rich and delicious! I used hazelnut meal this time, since that is what I had on hand and the flavor is lovely with peaches.  The dough isn't quite as fussy as scone dough thanks to the nut meal, and they are pretty easy to make!  I like to cut them into cute little shapes on top of my cobbler, but if you wanted to just cut them into circles or squares or something if you didn't have a small cookie cutter, that would work also!  If you wanted to make the biscuits with gluten free all purpose flour instead of the whole wheat pastry flour for a gluten free option, you can sub it 1:1.

The cobbler turned out super delicious!  The peaches were all jammy and bubbly, sweet and delicious, the tender vanilla scented hazelnut biscuits the perfect topper for them! This is perfect served warm with some vegan ice cream or coconut cream!  If you have lots of ripe peaches on hand, definitely give this Vegan Peach Cobbler with Hazelnut Biscuits a try this summer!

Fruit:

1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees with the rack at the center position. Place a baking sheet lined with foil on the rack. Oil a 6 inch wide pie plate or bowl with coconut oil. In a large bowl, toss together the fruit, sugar, vanilla, flour. Spoon into prepared bowl or pie plate, and cover with foil. Place plate on baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes until fruit is cooked through and bubbling.
2. Meanwhile, when the fruit in the oven is almost at 45 min, to make biscuits, in a large bowl, combine the flour, hazelnut meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the oil with your hands or a pastry blender or 2 knives until the mixture starts to clump into pea sized pieces (I like to use my hands because I can feel when it is properly blended). In a small bowl, stir the vanilla extract into the coconut milk. Add the milk to the dough, and stir a few times. The dough should hold together when squeezed, but still be clumpy. Place dough on a floured work surface, and pat into a 1/2 inch tall rectangle.
3. Remove baking fruit from oven. Cut small shapes out of the dough using a cookie cutter (or free form it), and place on top of the cobbler. You can re-press together scraps if you have some left over and re-cut them also to use them all up. When all biscuits are on top of cobbler, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and return to the oven.
4. Bake for about 20 minutes until biscuits are cooked through and lightly brown and toasted on top (keep a close eye on they could burn very quickly). Remove from oven and let cool until warm, and top with some ice cream or coconut vanilla whipped cream and...enjoy!