Strawberry/Peach Cobbler

I should have taken a photograph, but it was late, dark, and we were hungry. Don't let the lack of a photo discourage you from making this excellent cobbler. Quick, easy, and not overly rich-just the way cobbler used to be (before Martha Stewart, and her ilk got hold of the fruit and biscuits).

I made a few changes, but they are minor. The recipe is based on the one in my 1950 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook. I used peaches and strawberries because that was what I had-you could use any fruit you like. Fresh cherry cobbler can be pretty fantastic, you know.

You Will Need:

For the Dough:

2 cups AP flour
2 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter. Add the milk. Drop by tablespoons atop the fruit (see below)

For the Fruit:

3/4 cup sugar (use more or less depending on what fruit you have)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
3 cups cut-up fruit plus any juice from cutting
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon ginger (or cinnamon, etc.)

In a saucepan combine the sugar and cornstarch. Add the boiling water and and bring to a boil. Cook, boiling for one minute. Remove from heat, and add the fruit. Pour into a large baking dish. Dot with butter and sprinkle with ginger. Top with biscuit dough. Bake in a preheated 400 degree F. oven for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm (but it is pretty darn good cold for breakfast the next day).

Blueberry Cobbler

I really dislike summer, but I sure do love blueberries. Thinking about it, they are probably what makes this miserable season tolerable.

This recipe is from the New York Times Heritage Cookbook (aka, The Big Blue Cookbook), but I changed the spices from a large quantity of cinnamon to vanilla, lemon zest and nutmeg. Cardamom would be nice as well. I have no reason to think cinnamon wouldn't be lovely-I just don't care for it with blueberries-particularly in-season sweet ones. Maybe with frozen it would make more sense.

The cobbler is very soupy (which I prefer to heavy and gloppy) and although the recipe calls for a nine inch pie plate, I would caution against it. I just barely avoided disaster in a spill over. Use a larger pan and play it safe.

You Will Need:

2 tablespoons cornstarch
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
3 cups blueberries
1 teaspoon plus three tablespoons cooking oil
Grated zest of a lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup whole milk
Whipped cream (I sweetened mine a bit with sugar and extra vanilla)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Mix the cornstarch and sugar in a saucepan. Add the water and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, zest and blueberries.

Turn berry mixture into baking dish and sprinkle with the teaspoon of oil. Sprinkle on the nutmeg.

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the remaining oil to the milk and pour at once into the flour mixture. Mix until it comes together in a ball.

Top cobbler by the spoonful with batter and bake about twenty minutes or until dough is nicely browned.

Serve warm with whipped cream.

Peach Cobbler

Easy does not necessarily mean good and this cobbler was not-good. Because I do not wish to hurt the feelings of the person that posted it, I won't link to the recipe, but take my word for it, yuck.

The idea is to brown a stick of butter, place it in the bottom of the pan, then pour on a batter that gets topped with fruit and brown sugar. Too sweet, bad texture, yuck again..

Admittedly, this may be my own preference for biscuit dough topping that gets dolloped on rather than this cake/pudding idea. No-after considering it further, it really isn't any good.

Oh well, you win some you lose some when trying recipes off the Internet. Have I mentioned how much I miss my cookbooks that were ruined in the tornado? By the way, we had 90 (not a typo) mph winds blowing through our county this afternoon. There wasn't any rotation so technically it was a tornado but dang if that wasn't stronger than some hurricanes I lived through back East. Have I mentioned how sick I am of this weather? Oh yeah, I guess I have.

Tomorrow I'm making apricot jam and the following day, cherry preserves. I have so much fruit in my house right now the kitchen looks like a farm stand. Too bad I had to waste peaches on this crappy cobbler.

Ick.