Birthday Highjinks - Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

This is the last of my birthday recipes and the second of the two cobblers I made, this one is a more American version and was so so good. Whereas the English version was a little too sweet and the scones a little firm for a pudding topping the cake batter mixture was perfect. It would also be easier to make smaller versions of this, which I will definitely be doing! I've also filled up all week on leftover puddings, it's been fantastic!
Although the outlay for the party was a fair bit, actually I've had so many leftovers and things that it's practically fed me for the week. I bought a very good quality piece of pork and even so my Mum and I worked out that the pork was just over £1 per portion, which is pretty good value really. None of anything else was particularly expensive and a lot of it simply used up things I already had and at the end of the day I had a fantastic night with good friends and good food and that's what really matters.

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler (from Hairy Biker's Mississippi Adventure)
(Serves 6-8)

2 x 410g tins sliced peaches, in juice
75g granulated or golden caster sugar, plus 4 tbsp       
2 tbsp cornflour
75g butter, softened
1 large egg
150ml semi-skimmed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
125g blueberries

Preheat the oven to 190C. Drain the peaches, reserving the juice from just one of the cans - you’ll get about 110ml.

Put the peaches and the juice in a medium saucepan and add 2 tbsp of the sugar. Cook the peaches and sugar for three minutes, or until they reach a gentle simmer.

Mix the cornflour with 4 tbsp cold water and stir into the pan. Cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes or until the peach juice has thickened and looks almost clear, stirring constantly. Tip into a 1.5 litre shallow ovenproof dish.

To make the topping, put the 75g of sugar in a large bowl and add the soft butter, egg, milk, vanilla extract, flour and baking powder.

Beat like hell with a wooden spoon or electric whisk. The batter should be thick and smooth and drop easily from the spoon. Don’t worry if there are a few small lumps of butter in the mix. Stir in the blueberries.

Put big spoonfuls of the batter on top of the fruit. There will be a few gaps but the cobbler mixture will soften to fill them.

Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar and bake for 35 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is well risen and golden brown. Serve with cream or ice cream.