Peach Berry Sonker

A peach crumble or cobbler is one of those true signs of summer, impatiently waiting for the really great peaches to appear. I will brave parking downtown for market day when Frog Hollow and other Brentwood growers begin to appear with amazing peach selections, but even if you buy peaches in the grocery store, baking them brings out flavors that remind you of all your past summers. Combining them with another fruit, like blackberries, you get a gorgeous rhubarb color that is all comfort and optimism.

Sonkers are relatively new to me—I had also followed Jenny Field’s sonker trail postings, and made one as soon as she shared her findings. It turns out this is a super regional specialty, and describing the milk dip to folks who had lived elsewhere in North Carolina, I was met with the same puzzled curiosity I might respond when presented with a grunt or buckle. All wonderful ways to experience summer fruits and a pastry-like envelope.

This version includes a quick pastry that comes together with a light hand mixing and isn’t any more work than a batter but is even more satisfying. I started with an old-fashioned wire pastry cutter, then finished rubbing the butter in roughly with my fingers. This dough doesn’t rest and is soft and moistly shaggy. (I added an extra 1/4 cup flour, then only needed a little bit of flour flicked onto the board to roll out without sticking.) I also finally had an reason to use my lattice cutting roller, making the last part easy and super pretty, rolled on a flexible mat which I carefully inverted to lay and spread open over the fruit.

The milk dip is what my English spouse calls a simple custard (without egg), not fancy custard like a crème anglaise, but more like Bird’s Custard without the coloring. Using it on the dough partway through cooking was a new idea. It seems to enhance the caramelization as well as the lightness of the milk-doped pastry, which puffs up also partly to the addition baking powder. These details set this aside from a regular pastry or batter and make this sing, the kind of dish you want to make for a special occasion, but will consider whenever lush fruit presents itself in abundance.

For dessert, passing a jug of the milk dip is perfect (though when I have some of this for breakfast, I add yogurt, and justify having it twice a day).

I think the fruit filling in this recipe could be sweetened less, especially as you get better and better peaches further into the season. This pastry dough is really great—it’s unsweetened and easy to work with (NOTE: I did add a bit of flour, but then did not need much to roll it out).

Although I had not heard of a sonker before last year, now they are one of my favorite alternatives to a crumble or cobbler. I also noticed that a strawberry sonker has been added to the most recent Joy of Cooking, although it is a different take (precooked fruit and a batter poured in).