Desk for One is a column by Senior Editor Eric Kim, who loves cooking for himself—and solely himself—and seeks to have a good time the great thing about solitude in its many kinds.

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One of many first desserts I ever realized to bake was a peach cobbler recipe from the again of a margarine field. My cousin Becky and I have been 12 or so on the time and had by no means eaten, not to mention made, cobbler earlier than, regardless of our being born and raised within the Peach State (Korean immigrant mother and father and all).

Not that it mattered. The recipe, in fact, known as for canned peaches, which is for some motive what our mothers stocked up on every time they made their Costco runs. Our pantries have been at all times crammed to the brim with canned peaches in heavy syrup; we nearly by no means purchased contemporary, I suppose as a result of, opposite to well-liked perception, Georgia peaches can typically be onerous and tasteless even within the peak of summer season. Do not let anybody inform you in any other case: Peaches are, no less than in my expertise, a lot sweeter and juicier in North Carolina, New Jersey, and northern Italy.

Arduous peaches apart, for those who’ve ever made traditional cobbler earlier than, then you understand how bizarre and counterintuitive the method is. First, you soften butter in a casserole dish or cast-iron skillet, then pour an eggless batter into it, watching it drown within the scorching yellow sea like an oil spill. Syrupy peaches go on prime of all that, and the mess will get baked till the batter inverts over the moist fruit like black magic.

Or no less than that is what’s imagined to occur.

When Becky and I tried peach cobbler all these years in the past, the butter hadn’t melded with the batter and as an alternative pooled over the overcooked peaches and undercooked biscuit. It was a catastrophe. Considering again on it now, I ponder what precipitated that cobbler to separate so terribly? Possibly it was that we have been utilizing margarine, or considered one of us did not measure an ingredient appropriately, or the recipe was simply dangerous. Nothing like moist canned fruit to break a wonderfully good summer season’s day.

Ever since, I will admit that I’ve by no means been that blown away by peach cobbler. Why go for a limp, soggy cobbler when you might have a nutty, oaty crisp?

Good, contemporary peaches, that is why.

Years later, I went peach choosing in New Jersey and introduced dwelling a satchel of attractive pink fruit. They have been so ripe that they appeared to bruise simply from being stared at. Sadly I could not eat them uncooked (as a child I developed an allergy to raw rose-family fruits, e.g. peaches, pears, plums, apples, and many others.) and did not need to waste their juicy glory on one other cobbler mishap. Idiot me as soon as…

So I saved a pair recipes for a wet day: my colleague Emma Laperruque’s lush cake and our co-founder Amanda Hesser’s well-known tart. However as every day handed—and because the summer season warmth intensified—I made increasingly more excuses to keep away from turning on my oven after I got here dwelling from work, shirt perpetually drenched in sweat.

That is when the microwave appeared to beckon my consideration. (Errric…use me.) I made a decision to start out working my manner by means of the peach stash one mug cake at a time. Or have been they mug cobblers? All I can say is that the microwave had, someway, resolved lots of the authentic qualms I had with that one abysmal peach cobbler from years previous.

The Factor About Mug Desserts…

It is simple to make enjoyable of mug desserts as a result of they’ll look and sound gimmicky, to not point out emphasize the lonely singleton standing of the preparer. However what higher vessel than one with a deal with to function a simultaneous mixing bowl, baking dish, and servingware? Even higher that you simply want solely to zap it within the microwave for a pair (sure, two!) minutes and also you’re in your technique to peachy dessert heaven.

As I examined and tweaked this recipe again and again—and in the long run, with associates who occurred to be vegan—I discovered that olive oil baked up a a lot better cake than butter, each in taste and in texture; darkish brown sugar over white granulated meant chewier edges and gooier insides; rose-blushed, white-fleshed peaches produced a naturally sweeter (to not point out prettier) mug cobbler than the same old yellow ones. Ultimately, a pinch of floral, citrusy cardamom changed the extra traditional floor cinnamon and the items appeared to fall into place.

I might lastly discovered a peach cobbler of my very own, one which I may put together for myself and for myself alone—and one which positioned the forbidden fruit of my childhood entrance and heart within the nest of a treacly, caramelized cake.

Let’s not neglect the takeaways right here: This cardamom-scented white peach cobbler could be made out of begin to end in a 12-ounce espresso mug, in simply 5 minutes (three minutes to chop the fruit, fumble about your pantry, and stir just a few substances collectively, and two to cook dinner within the microwave). With a scoop of coconut ice cream, it simply so occurs to be vegan too.

What’s your favourite manner to make use of ripe summer season peaches? Tell us within the feedback.