Joanna Gaines Just Shared an Easy Peach Cobbler Recipe You'll Want to Make All Summer Long

Maybe you can’t plaster your walls or replace your old floors with volcanic ash tile like Joanna Gaines does in Fixer Upper: The Lakehouse, but if you have an hour to spare and some frozen peaches (along with a few other pantry staples), you can get a taste of the HGTV-turned-Magnolia-Network star’s life.  

In the first episode of season eight of Magnolia Table, Gaines’s cooking show, the three-time cookbook author invites The Office’s Angela Kinsey into her kitchen to make a summery barbecue dinner—but it’s the peach cobbler that steals the show. Modifying a recipe from her cookbook, Magnolia Table: Volume 2, Gaines shows the fellow Texan how nine simple ingredients (many of which you likely have on hand) can turn into a comforting-yet-showstopping dessert. Especially when you serve it in a mini skillet—because everything’s better when it’s mini, right?

“What I love about this peach cobbler is you’ve got this soft, sweet fruit with this really buttery and delicious cakey texture,” Gaines explains.

You could use two large, semi-firm peaches to make this dessert, but Gaines is totally down with using frozen. In fact, that’s exactly what she and Kinsey do, using about 4 cups of sliced, frozen peaches total. Beyond that, all you need is sugar, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt, whole milk, a stick of unsalted butter, ground cinnamon and some vanilla ice cream, for serving. (Some may argue that last ingredient is optional; I’d say it isn’t.)

Whipping up the cobbler couldn’t be easier: You simply sauté the peaches and ¾ cup of sugar over medium heat until the peaches are “bendy but not broken,” as Kinsey says, and the juices have formed a sauce. During that time, you’ll preheat the oven and pop two tablespoons of butter into four mini skillets, which is where the real magic happens. Gaines sticks the skillets into the oven and lets the butter melt, then puts the cobbler batter and sauteed peaches on top.

Why does she pre-melt the butter in each skillet? It “really caramelizes the batter, so you get that nice, crispy edge” to it, she explains.

Gaines doesn’t specify which size skillet she uses, though they appear to be about 5 to 6 inches apiece. (You can find similar ones on Amazon.) If you try the recipe yourself, it may be worth checking on them five minutes early, inserting a toothpick into the center of the batter. If it comes out mostly clean, or with just a few crumbs—no gooey batter—then it’s good to go.

Serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream, and you’re one step closer to Gaines status.

You can find the full recipe for Jo’s peach cobbler, as well as her other recipes from the episode—which included loaded baked potatoes, Dr. Pepper BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Coleslaw and Corn on the Cob with Charred Jalapeño Garlic Butter—on the Magnolia blog. And you can catch new episodes of Magnolia Table on Magnolia Network, or stream it on Max or Discovery+.