Summer is definitely beating down on me today and I am seriously craving for an old-fashioned dessert with ice cream. I guess no one really turns down a dessert with ice cream. Just one little spoonful is enough to break down those walls and it’s a done deal!
I was thinking of some fruit to go with ice cream and some pastry too! And what instantly came to mind was a cobbler! Gee, that just makes my mouth water right now and I can’t wait to hit the kitchen and get to it. A cobbler is … well now let’s see. It’s name is taken from which this baked dessert resembles a cobbled street in the pan. There are many variations of it, depending on where you’re from.
They are called the Betty, the Grunt, the Slump, the Buckle, the Sonker, and the Crisp. I don’t know if the finished baked dessert actually appears to be what they are named, but I trust there is something in there that earned them their titles. Okay, that’s certainly a lot to reckon with right now, but let’s stick to the essentials here.
In the deep south of the US, cobbler is made of any one fruit filling, topped with a pastry dough and baked. It is commonly served with vanilla ice cream. Now tell me, doesn’t that just sound heavenly?
I’ve scoured the virtual highway and my cookbooks in search of my one true cobbler. I don’t like anything too fancy, as I always enjoy an old-fashioned and timeless recipe.
You can try this recipe at home and you may just agree with me.
Old Style Blueberry Cobbler
Ingredients:
Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut in bits
3/4 cup buttermilk
Filling
1 cup sugar
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp each lemon juice
2 cans blueberry pie filling (8 cups total)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions:
Place oven rack in lower third of oven. Heat to 450°F. Use a 13 x 9-in. baking dish or a shallow 3-qt baking dish.
Dough: Mix together flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl until blended. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until coarse crumbs form. Refrigerate flour mixture and buttermilk separately until ready to top cobbler.
Filling: Stir in vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice mixture with blueberry filling . Spread in baking dish.
Stir flour mixture and buttermilk with a fork until a biscuit-like dough forms. Drop eight 1/4-cupfuls, evenly spaced, over filling. Sprinkle biscuits with 2 Tbsp sugar.
Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until biscuits are golden and filling is bubbly. Cool in dish on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoops of vanilla ice cream or frozen yoghurt.
Photo Credit: jeffreyww
Photo Credit: perspicacious