A Happy Accident

There was a moment when I was making this that my heart sank, "Oh, no. I can't deal with a baking failure today. I'll blow it all out of proportion." Because I am not on an even keel today, and I know it. I thought baking something might make me feel more relaxed, but I forgot that things can go wrong.

But the emotional funhouse was all worth it when I opened the oven door and this browned beauty smiled back at me. I had set out to make Mark Bittman's blueberry cobbler, substituting 4 cups of peaches for the blueberries and using cornmeal for half the flour. What I ended up with was like a peach upside down cornmeal cake that was light on the cake and super-heavy on the fruit. The cornmeal topping covered the fruit and had a crust crunchy with cornmeal and sugar.

Four cups peeled, diced peaches (I used UFOs) tossed with 1/4 cup sugar in the baking dish. Mix 1/4 cup each flour and cornmeal in a bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder and a pinch of salt. Cut in 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold, unsalted butter. Then mix in 1/2 cup sugar because you forgot to add it with the flour. Use a spoon to mix in 1 egg and a dash of vanilla. (This is the point at which I panicked. It did not look like biscuit dough, but rather a spotty, lumpy yellow mush.) Drop over the fruit in tablespoonfuls and don't spread it. The baking will do that, 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.