In a cobbler, fruit filling is baked under a biscuit-style batter or dough. Dropped or spooned on top, it bakes to a bumpy or cobbled surface. Choose cobbler for a straightforward way to feed a crowd or serve individual portions. I love this cobbler because it’s like a fruit dessert topped with a vanilla sugar cookie. Adults and children are equally pleased.
Yield: 8-10 servings
What You Need:
4-5 cups prepared fruit filling (see below)
1¼ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, etc.
1 stick, 6 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch chunks, divided
1 egg
2 tablespoons heavy cream or milk
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
What You Do:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. Gently mix in 6 tablespoons of the butter with a pastry blender or your fingers until you have small pea-sized pieces of butter coated in flour.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, cream and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture with a fork just until combined.
Transfer the prepared fruit filling to one large (13x9 inch or 8x8 inch) baking dish, pie plate or 10-12 individual (3 inch) ramekins. Dot with remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Using a spring loaded scoop, drop evenly sized mounds of dough on top of the fruit, evenly spaced out. If you don’t have a spring loaded scoop, use the 2 spoon method: with one spoon, scoop up a mound of dough, and use the second spoon to scrape it onto the fruit topping.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour (25-30 minutes for smaller portions) or until fruit is bubbly, top is browned and a toothpick inserted into cobbler topping comes out clean. Cover lightly with foil if topping is browning too quickly. Allow to cool completely on a baking rack.
The Fruit Filling
What You Need:
5 cups fruit, (2.5 pounds peaches, plums, apricots, apples, etc. and 2 pints blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc.) peeled if desired, pitted, sliced 1/4 inch thick or diced into 1/2 inch chunks
⅓ cup sugar (white, brown, cane, turbinado, raw, maple crystals, or coconut)
3 pinches fine sea salt
1-2 teaspoons ground spices (cinnamon, cloves, ginger, cardamom, etc.) or the insides of a vanilla bean, optional
Zest and juice from one lemon*, optional but highly recommended
2 tablespoons tapioca flour/starch or cornstarch
*note: with cranberries, pears and apples, try orange in place of lemon, and only use half of a medium orange
What You Do:
In a large bowl, stir together the prepared fruit, sugar, salt, spices, lemon zest, and lemon juice.
Cover and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 hours. You can refrigerate if you choose but this is not necessary.
Immediately before baking, stir in the tapioca flour/starch or cornstarch.