It’s that time of year again. The end of summer.

Except it’s still 90 degrees outside.

The calendar is whispering fall, my air conditioner died and the repair guy quoted me $22K which means we’re living that fan life, and the peach supply is starting to dwindle. But don’t worry, my friends. I’ve got one more peach treat for you before the world goes completely apple and pumpkin.

Who am I kidding? It’s already gone pumpkin.

Pumpkin bread. Pumpkin coffee. Pumpkin candles. Pumpkin cereal. Pumpkin cream cheese. I’m fairly certain somewhere out there a marketing department is currently trying to convince my cat that she needs pumpkin spice cat treats.

She does not.

And neither do we. At least not today.

One More Peach Dessert Before Fall

My little ARFID crew actually can’t stand pumpkin anything, which is a little tragic because I do loves me a fall treat. Unfortunately, they don’t really like peaches either.

So this one?

This one is just for you and me.

And since we don’t waste perfectly good sourdough starter around here, we’re making it a discard recipe.

This Sourdough Discard Peach Cobbler is exactly the kind of dessert I want during these strange in-between weeks when the grocery store says October but Mother Nature is still firmly committed to July.

Warm cinnamon peaches. Brown sugar. Buttery cobbler topping. A little sourdough discard because she’s sitting in the refrigerator and deserves to be invited to the party too.

And, obviously, ice cream.

We’re not monsters.

Why Sourdough Discard Works So Well Here

If you’ve got a sourdough starter living in your refrigerator, you know the routine. You feed it, use what you need, and then there’s that little bit of discard staring at you.

Throwing it away feels wrong.

Especially when it can become dessert.

You don’t need active, bubbly starter for this recipe. Regular sourdough discard straight from the refrigerator works beautifully. We’re not asking it to make anything rise—that’s the baking powder’s job. The discard simply adds a little depth to the cobbler batter and gives us one more delicious way to use something we already have.

Waste not, want not. Especially when “want” involves warm peach cobbler.

About Those Peaches

Use the peaches you have.

If they’re perfectly ripe and dripping down your arm when you bite into them, wonderful. If they’re a little firmer, they’ll soften beautifully while they simmer with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon.

And yes, I peel mine for cobbler. It makes the filling a little softer and silkier, which is exactly what I want underneath that buttery topping.

The peaches get a little head start on the stove before the cobbler goes into the oven. Ten minutes of simmering gives them time to soften and creates that gorgeous brown sugar-cinnamon syrup that we are absolutely, positively scraping every last drop of into the skillet.

There will be no syrup left behind.

The Magic of the Melted Butter Cobbler

This is one of those recipes where you have to resist the urge to “fix” things.

You melt the butter right in your cast iron skillet, pour the batter over it…and do not stir.

I know.

It feels wrong.

Trust the process.

Then you spoon the peaches and all their lovely syrup over the batter and, once again, leave everything alone. While the cobbler bakes, the batter and butter do their own little kitchen magic trick. The topping rises and works its way around the peaches, getting golden and buttery and almost biscuit-like around the edges.

Your peaches may stay beautifully arranged on top.

They may also disappear underneath the cobbler topping like mine did.

Either way, it tastes wonderful. We’re making dessert, not entering a cobbler beauty pageant.

A Few Cobbler Notes Before You Start

A 10-inch cast iron skillet is perfect for this recipe because you can cook the peaches, melt the butter, and bake the cobbler in the same pan. Fewer dishes are always welcome in my kitchen.

Keep an eye on the cobbler toward the end of baking, too. Mine takes about 35–40 minutes at 375°F, but ovens have personalities. Some are calm and reasonable. Others apparently have something to prove.

Start peeking around 25 minutes. If the top is getting too brown before the center is finished baking, loosely cover it with foil and let it keep going.

You’re looking for a beautifully golden topping with bubbling peach filling around the edges.

Then comes the difficult part: letting it cool just enough that you don’t remove several layers of skin from the roof of your mouth.

Ask me how I know.

Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream or a big cloud of whipped cream. Cobbler without one of those things just seems positively naked.

So grab your sourdough starter and the last of those summer peaches. We’re embracing summer after Labor Day around here.

Because we get to decide what we want for dessert, my beautiful friends. Not the calendar. Not the weather. And certainly not the marketing people trying to pumpkin-spice everything within a five-mile radius.

And tonight?

I think we should have cobbler.

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Sourdough Discard Peach Cobbler Recipe

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 35–40 minutes
Total Time: About 1 hour

Ingredients

Peach Filling

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 5 peaches, peeled and sliced
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cobbler

• 8 tablespoons (½ cup) butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1¼ cups brown sugar, divided
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or measure with your heart)
• 70 grams sourdough discard (about ⅓ cup)

Instructions

Make the Peach Filling

1. Add 2 tablespoons butter to a 10-inch cast iron skillet and melt over medium heat.
2. Add the sliced peaches, ½ cup brown sugar, and cinnamon. Toss everything together until every peach slice is coated in that buttery brown sugar and cinnamon goodness.
3. Bring the peach mixture to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
4. Transfer the peaches and all their syrup to a large bowl and set aside to cool slightly. And when they won’t burn your mouth, taste one to make sure they’re “good enough.” This is quality control. Very important work.

Make the Cobbler

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, 1 cup of the brown sugar, salt, milk, vanilla extract, and sourdough discard. Mix until combined. Set the remaining ¼ cup brown sugar aside for the topping.
3. Add the 8 tablespoons butter to your 10-inch cast iron skillet and melt it.
4. Pour the cobbler batter directly over the melted butter. Do not stir the batter and butter together. I know you’ll want to. Step away from the spoon. We want all that butter to work its magic around the batter while it bakes.
5. Spoon the peaches evenly over the cobbler batter. Scrape every bit of that gooey brown sugar and cinnamon syrup out of the bowl and into the skillet, too. Waste not, want not.
6. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup brown sugar evenly over the top. You can be very precise and fancy about this or just go nuts like I do.

Bake

1. Bake at 375°F for 35–40 minutes, or until the cobbler is puffed and beautifully golden brown and the peach filling is bubbling around the edges.
2. Ovens vary, so start checking around 25 minutes. If the top is browning too quickly, loosely cover the skillet with foil and continue baking until the cobbler is cooked through.
3. Remove the cobbler from the oven and allow it to cool slightly before serving. Your peaches may be beautifully visible or they may hide underneath the topping like mine did. Either way, she’s a cobbler and she’s beautiful.
4. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. All cobblers are positively naked without one or the other, so make sure you add a generous scoop when you serve this up to the people you love.

Notes

Sourdough discard: You can use unfed sourdough discard straight from the refrigerator. It doesn’t need to be active or bubbly for this recipe.

Peaches: Ripe fresh peaches are wonderful here, but slightly firm peaches work too since they get a head start cooking on the stove.

Don’t stir the layers: Once the melted butter, cobbler batter, and peaches go into the skillet, resist the urge to mix everything together. The batter will rise and bake around the fruit on its own.

Serving: This cobbler is especially lovely served warm, when the peaches are still gooey and a scoop of vanilla ice cream can melt down into all the little nooks and crannies. And yes, “especially lovely” is code for “get a spoon immediately.”