Bless Your Spoon

By Stephanie Williams Dean

 

Just as Southern as apple pie and loved every bite as much, fruit cobbler – with hot, buttery batter, floating biscuits, savory crusts, or sweet dumplings, along with bubbly fruit and juice – captures the essence of summer by using locally sourced, plump and juicy, and sweet and tart ripened fruit when at the peak of its season.

Just about as simple as dessert can be, cobbler’s a good choice for quick and easy. With the unmistakable, delicious scent of fruit – good smells permeate your home – homemade cobbler delivers on delicious taste, too.

CHURCH PEACH

COBBLER FOR 30

5 cans (21 oz.) of peach pie filling

1 Tbsp. almond extract

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

5 cups blueberry muffin mix

2 sticks melted butter

Pour peaches into mixer bowl. Make sure all peaches are sliced. In the same bowl, mix in extract and cinnamon.  Pour pie mixture into the bottom of a greased 11 ½ x 9 x 2 ½ pan. Cover the top with muffin mix and drizzle top with butter. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 degrees, and bake 15 minutes or until brown and filling is bubbly.

QUICK-COBBLER BATTER-ADD

BUTTER AND FRUIT

¾ cup milk

¾ cup sugar

¾ cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon (optional)

Dash of salt

In a 350 degree oven, melt 6 Tbsp. butter. Pour batter on top of butter. In a bowl, combine 1 quart of any fresh fruit with ¾ cup of sugar. Spoon on top of batter. Bake uncovered for 40 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.

NO SUGAR BASIC CRUST-JUST ADD FRUIT

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour

5 Tbsp. cut up, cold, salted butter

4 Tbsp. frozen Crisco

4-5 Tbsp. ice water

In a mixer, combine flour, butter, and Crisco. Add 4 Tbsp. ice water until the dough begins to cling together. Add more water if required. Gather dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use. Roll out pastry into a large circle. Dust it with flour and roll up on a rolling pin. Unroll over a greased dish to line the bottom and sides while allowing excess to hang over. Add fruit. Fold any excess pastry over the top of the cobbler.

OLD FASHION PEACH FILLING

FOR NO SUGAR BASIC CRUST

7 skinned, pitted, large Georgia peaches

1 cup sugar

¼ cup unsalted butter, cut up

Cut prepared peaches into slices. Place on top of the crust. Cover peaches with sugar and dot with butter. Bake in a 425-degree oven for 45 minutes.

RHUBARB COBBLER

6 cups cubed, fresh rhubarb

1 cup sugar

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground ginger

6 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. cornstarch

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp salt

1 Tbsp. sugar

1/3 cup milk

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

In a saucepan, stir together rhubarb, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, water, and cornstarch. Boil and stir constantly for 1 minute. Pour into a 9X9 baking dish. In a mixer, combine, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the milk and oil. Then work the mixture with your hands and make a dough. Shape dough into rounds using about 2 Tbsp. pieces and place rounds on top of the fruit mixture. Bake in a 400-degree oven 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

BLACKBERRY COBBLER

¼ cup cornstarch

½ cup water

1 ½ cups water

1 cup sugar

6 cups fresh blackberries

¼ cup salted butter, cut up

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp vegetable oil

2 Tbsp. milk

1 Tbsp. melted butter

1 Tbsp. sugar

In a bowl, stir together the cornstarch and ½ cup water until smooth. In a saucepan, combine the 1 ½ cups of water and sugar. Bring to a boil, then cool. Add the cornstarch mixture to the boiling water mixture. Return to boil and stir constantly. Reduce heat and simmer 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in the blackberries and butter until the butter melts. Pour into a 9×9 baking dish.

In a mixer, combine the flour and salt. Add the oil and milk. Mix until a dough forms. Press dough into a ball. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface and into a square that fits the baking pan. Place dough over the filling. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 40 minutes or until top is golden and fruit filling is bubbly. Cool. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

PEAR-CHERRY COMPANY COBBLERS (6)

12 oz. fresh, pitted cherries

2 peeled, cored, diced pears

½ tsp grated lemon zest

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

¼ cup sugar

4 tsp. cornstarch

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ tsp baking powder

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. butter

2 Tbsp. sour cream

In a mixer, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in sour cream just until combined. Knead lightly. Shape into a ball, wrap in plastic and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

In a bowl, combine cherries, pears, zest, juice, sugar, and cornstarch. Divide equally among 6 ramekins.

Between 2 sheets of waxed paper, Roll dough out into the 18×4 strip. Remove top waxed paper. Cut into 24 strips, ½ inches wide. Don’t cut through bottom paper.

Top the 6 ramekins with 4 dough strips to form a lattice top crust.

Cover baking sheet with foil. Bake ramekins in a 400-degree oven for 25 minutes or until golden and filling is bubbly. Serve warm.

PEAR COBBLER

6 large, peeled, cored, diced pears

½ Tbsp. lemon juice

Grated zest of ½ lemon

¼ tsp. fresh mint

1/3 cup sugar

¼ tsp. ginger

2 beaten egg yolks

¼ cup milk

1 Tbsp. melted, salted butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup sugar

¼ tsp. salt

Prepare pears. In a bowl, combine pears, lemon juice, zest, mint, sugar, and spice. Put in a greased baking dish. In a mixer, beat egg yolks, milk, and butter. Add flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Pour batter over fruit.  Bake in a 375-degree oven for 35 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Check middle to make sure it is done.

PEACH-BLACKBERRY BUTTERMILK COBBLER

3 cups fresh blackberries

3 cups fresh, peeled, pitted peaches

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

Pinch of salt

1 beaten, large egg

½ cup buttermilk

6 Tbsp. melted, salted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. salt

In a bowl, combine the blackberries, peaches, sugar, flour, lemon zest, and salt and blend. Pour into a greased 2-quart baking dish. In a mixer, combine beaten egg, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla until blended. Fold in flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt until a soft dough is formed. Drop heaping spoonfuls of dough mixture onto fruit. Bake in a 375-degree oven for 45 minutes or until browned and filling is bubbly.

CINNAMON-SUGAR SPRINKLE

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Combine sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle over top of cobbler and bake according to the recipe.

INFUSED WHIPPED CREAM

To 1 cup of heavy whipped cream, add 1 Tbsp. of sugar and 1 Tbsp. of fruit schnapps, liquor, or fruit liqueur, or 1 tsp. of any extract such as vanilla for flavored whipped cream.

Tips: Tent the top with foil if golden but cobbler is not done to prevent over browning. Reduce heat and continue baking. When baking anything, I always begin to check my oven at least 10 minutes prior to what recipe calls for to prevent over browning. Optional: When using fresh fruit, heating the fruit and sugar in a saucepan before assembling will help release the juices of the fruit. Recipes can be adapted to include any fresh or canned fruit, such as peach, blueberry, blackberry, pears, peach, apple, apricots, strawberry, or other. Just be sure to add ¾ cup of sugar per 1 quart of fresh fruit. To remove skins from peaches and apricots, boil in water for 1 minute. If you prefer thicker fruit filling, you can add 2 tsp. of cornstarch to recipes that don’t already call for it.