Some people have apple pie — for me, peach cobbler is the ultimate comfort dessert. When I was a kid, my parents would send me off to Kansas City for a week every summer to spend time with my Aunt Tommie and Uncle Slick, where I played kickball with the neighborhood kids, caught fireflies in jam jars, and tried to eat as much of Aunt Tommie’s savory home cooking as possible. Especially her peach cobbler, with thick, cinnamon-scented juices and a flaky lattice pie crust.

As I got older, I made the rude discovery that “cobbler” meant different things to different people. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve ordered cobbler and ended up with an oatmeal-coated concoction that looked like something I’d find on the lunch line in boarding school. Another kind has a biscuit-style crust. I like biscuits — just not on my cobbler, please.

I used to think that pie-crust-style cobbler was a black thing, a sort of culinary shibboleth, but then I found out that it’s more like a Southern thing. Alton Brown, a good (white) Southern boy, chronicled the different kinds of cobbler in an episode of “Good Eats,” but of course he came through with a recipe for flaky-crusted peach cobbler, perked up with rhubarb.

For a potluck dinner, I went to the farmers’ market and got a bunch of peaches. Rhubarb was nowhere to be found, but I remembered that I had some crystallized ginger bits back home.

This recipe worked out really well, the crust nice and crisp, the peaches luxuriously silky, plus the piquant note of ginger. You get all the satisfaction of eating pie, without any of the fuss of making one. Because the format of cobbler is informal, making the crust isn’t that intimidating. I accidentally ripped mine in transferring it to the baking dish, and just fit the ripped-off piece into place without bothering to stick it all back together. And just like Aunt Tommie, Alton places little bits of crust dough throughout the filling, to thicken the juices.

Peach-Ginger Cobbler
Adapted from Alton Brown

2 cups (9.5 oz) all-purpose flour
2 TB sugar (1 oz), plus 1 cup
1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon or lime zest
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus 1/4 teaspoon
5 TB chilled butter, plus extra for dish
3 TB shortening or lard, chilled and cut into small pieces
3 TB ice water
2 tablespoons cornstarch or tapioca starch
2 lbs sliced peaches, peeled and sliced into 1/2- to 1-inch pieces
1 TB freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Place a piece of aluminum foil on the bottom rack to catch any drippings. Butter a 9 x 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Place the flour, 2 TB sugar, zest, and 1 tsp salt into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and lard or shortening and pulse until the mixture just becomes crumbly. Sprinkle or spritz the mixture with the ice water a little at a time and process just until the dough comes together in a ball. Pat into a disk, then wrap in plastic wrap or put in a plastic zip-top bag and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the 1 cup of sugar, cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp of salt. Stir in the peaches, lemon or lime juice, and ginger bits.

Remove 1/3 of the dough from the bag, pinch into pieces and distribute about half of them in the bottom of the prepared dish. Pour in half the fruit mixture, add the rest of the dough bits and top with the rest of the fruit. With the remaining dough still in the bag, roll it out to a sheet large enough to cover the top of the dish. Transfer to the dish, pressing the dough into the corners. Bake, uncovered, for 60 minutes (90 if you’re using frozen fruit) or until the dough is cooked through and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 15 to 30 minutes before serving.