Exciting news and a peach cobbler to celebrate

Do I have some big news for you, amigos – I’m about to pack up and move to Spain!

Today, after just over five months of waiting and hoping, I finally received word from the Spanish Consulate that my residency visa had officially been approved. I’m so unbelievably excited and just a tad terrified too.

I’m heading over solo and, while I have travelled sans companions before, this is set to be my longest foray alone. So yes, it’s daunting. But it’s something I’ve hungered to do for a really long time so I’m sure as heck not going to let a little fear get in the way. I’m drawn to this place for reasons I can’t yet explain and I can only hope I’m about to be led into a marvellous new stage in my life.

So to celebrate, I made a dessert that’s just about as far away from Spanish-style cuisine as you can get! But it’s delicious and it makes me happy.

The cobbler is actually a recipe dug up by my fab friend Melinda Fleetwood, who’s incredibly talented in the kitchen. Kudos for passing this gem along, Melinda.

What goes in:

¼ cup melted butter
1 cup flour (I used spelt, which didn’t rise quite as much as I would have liked)
¾ cup sugar
2 tsps baking powder
¾ cup of soy milk
5 to 6 fresh peaches, sliced
¾ cup of sugar (yes, a second one!)

How you do it:

Preheat the oven to about 180 degrees Celsius. Pour the melted butter into a 20cm cake tin or oven-safe dish.

Whisk together the flour, ¾ cup of sugar, baking powder and milk, then pour the mixture over the melted butter. Place the peach slices on top – I got a little fancy with this and made lovely circles across the cobbler. Sprinkle over the second ¾ cup of sugar and pop the lot in the oven.

Bake until the batter rises to the top and forms a delicious brown crust, which will take about 20 to 30 minutes depending on your oven. Serve with ice cream.