Berry or Cherry Cobbler

Peach Cobbler (with Biscuit Topping)

By Cat, (Photo, right, from Wikimedia Commons)

Includes: 1. Berry Cobbler; 2. Cherry Cobbler; See also: 1. Peach Melba Cobbler; 2. Biscuit Toppings for Cobblers; 3.  Cobblers, Shortcakes and Crisps Menu

Cobblers are a quick and delicious dessert that kids and oldsters (and those in-between) love. The version I make has a fruit filling topped with a shortcake-like biscuit, but there is another type of cobbler common in the Southern states that has bits of pie crust mixed into the fruit filling, instead of a biscuit topping.

Berry Cobbler

This recipe is adapted fromBetty Crocker’s Cookbook, Eighth Printing 1989 (1) recipe for Fresh Blueberry Cobbler; I’ve modified it to reduce the quantity from 6 to 4 servings, and to presoak the flour in the topping. You can use any type of berry or a mix of berries. Here in Montana’s mountains, we love to use huckleberries. See below for a Cherry variation.

Ingredients & Equipment:

• 1 recipe biscuit topping for cobblers
• 3 cups blueberries or mixed berries
• 6 Tbsp Rapadura sugar (or ¼ tsp powdered stevia extract plus 3 Tbsp Rapadura sugar)
• pinch Unrefined sea salt
• 2 tsp Organic cornstarch or4 tsp tapioca starch
• 1 tsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed

Equipment

• medium bowl
• small bowl
• 2-quart saucepan
• 2-quart casserole or deep dish pie pan

Method:

Biscuit Topping

1. If using my presoak biscuit recipe above, start the day before you plan to serve the cobbler. Otherwise, prepare while berries are cooking with starch in saucepan.

Filling

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Put oven rack in middle position.
2. Wash the berries, then toss with lemon juice and stevia (if using).
3. Mix cornstarch/tapioca starch, sugar and salt in a 2-quart saucepan. Stir in the berry mixture, then cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. If using cornstarch, bring to a boil and cook, stirring, 1 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and pour into ungreased 2-quart casserole or deep dish pie pan. Place in oven to keep hot while you finish the topping.

Bake

1. Drop biscuit dough by 4 spoonfulls onto hot berry mixture. Sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp sugar.
2. Bake until topping is golden brown, 25 – 30 minutes. Serve warm.

Cherry Cobbler variation:

This variation is adapted from the same Betty Crocker cookbook, and an old recipe from Gourmet Magazine: Sweet Cherry Cobbler. This can be made with pitted dark sweet cherries (my fav) or tart pie cherries, but the amount of sweetener will be different.

• If using sweet cherries, reduce sugar to ¼ cup (or if using stevia/sugar combo, reduce stevia to ⅛ tsp and sugar). You need 2 bags frozen cherries.
• If using tart cherries, increase sugar to 1 ½ cups total (or if using stevia/sugar combo, increase stevia to ½ tsp, with no change in sugar amount).

You can add scant ¼ tsp ground cinnamon to the starch, if desired. You may also substitute scant ¼ tsp almond extract for the tsp lemon juice.

Use a 9” deep dish pie pan or round cake pan for baking the cobbler.

Testing

7/3 – 4/2011: For the biscuit presoak, I followed the Version-I recipe, using ¼ cup each whole spelt, oat and barley flours; otherwise, as written. For the filling, I used one 12-oz bag frozen sweet cherries, which is only about 1.5 cups fruit, but didn’t adjust the remaining ingredients to the lesser amount. It wasn’t enough filling for a regular pie pan, so I used my small 7.5” pie pan (ceramic). The presoaked flour mixture was too stiff to stir in the next-day dry ingredients, so I added a splash of milk (1 – 2 Tbsp). I forgot to add cinnamon. Just as I was about to put it into the oven, I remembered the ceramic pan could not handle the high heat (425°F), so I let the oven cool to 350°F.

This is very good, but too much of the biscuit, since it was a full recipe and I only used half the amount of cherries. I think if I’d made it as written (full recipe) it would have been perfect. Also the biscuits didn’t rise much; I think should increase the baking powder from ¼ tsp to 1 tsp, and baking soda from ¼ tsp to ½ tsp (based on my Scones and Banana Cake presoak flour recipes). Biscuit recipe has been adjusted accordingly.

Assembly or Serving Suggestions

• Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, homemade yogurt, or creme fraiche.

References:

1. Betty Crocker’s Cookbook, Eighth Printing 1989  (see Beloved and Oft-Used cookbooks for more info)
2. Gourmet Magazine: Sweet Cherry Cobbler recipe (epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sweet-Cherry-Cobbler-109546)