Sunday Dessert: Blackberry Peach Cobbler

I have mixed feelings about Sundays. I’m not scheduled to work weekends, and sometimes that pans out, but much too often, I end up working, for a variety of reasons that never fail to make me grumpy. If I do have the full day off, however, I love to spend it making delicious food. If time and energy allow, that includes dessert as often as possible.

Extra time doesn’t have to mean extra complication, though. This blackberry peach cobbler is relatively simple, somewhat rustic even. The topping involves easy quick-bread techniques and no complicated pastry procedures. I don’t even bother peeling the peaches. (You could if you are fussy.) The fat blackberries and sweet peaches melded together in a dark, jewel-toned, extra-juicy filling that soaked just enough into the slightly tangy buttermilk biscuit topping. Altogether it’s sweet enough to be unmistakably dessert, but the natural tartness of fresh fruit kept it flavorful and satisfying.

Just about any bake-able fruit would be at home under this soft biscuit lid, so I strongly encourage you to use the cobbler vehicle to feature what you like. Peaches and blackberries have strong tradition behind them, and would be just great individually, but other berries, other stone fruits, and rhubarb, alone or in combinations, would also be delicious.

I adapted Grandmama’s Buttermilk Biscuits to make the drop biscuit topping for my cobbler. It’s half a recipe with enough extra buttermilk to make it spoon-able rather than cut-able, and that’s it. I didn’t add any sugar to the topping, and it wasn’t needed. You could brush the top with egg wash or cream and sprinkle it with coarse sugar, though, and that might be pretty fabulous. There’s enough biscuit topping in this recipe to completely cover the fruit when it bakes, so if you like your cobbler more, well, cobbled, you may not want to use all of the dough. (Drop any extra on a baking pan, bake it off, and just eat it!)

  

I can’t remember that I ever made a fruit cobbler before I put this one together. I usually make fruit crisps instead. Unless I have the streusel for a crisp already in the freezer, however, I don’t see any reason why not to switch up to cobbler when sweet seasonal fruit is looking for an appropriate home. 

If there’s something sweet and comforting to help savor a waning Sunday, maybe Monday morning won’t hit so hard. Especially if there’s some leftover dessert to eat for breakfast. I won’t tell if you don’t.

Blackberry Peach Cobbler

Based on recipes in The Joy of Cooking

All 2-quart baking dishes aren’t the same! Make sure you use one that’s wide enough to spread lots of biscuit dough over the top, but deep enough to hold all of your cobbler without bubbling over.

Filling

4 cups blackberries

2 cups chopped peaches

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Biscuit topping

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon fine salt

2 ½ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup cold butter (1/2 stick)

1 cup buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Prepare a 2-quart baking dish by spraying it with cooking spray or greasing it with butter or oil.

2. In a large bowl, combine the blackberries and peaches. Add the sugar and cornstarch and toss together to combine well. Pour the filling into the prepared baking dish.

3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Whisk or sift together to combine well. Cut the butter into small pieces. Add the butter and cut it into the flour with a pastry blender or with a fork or your hands until the butter is in small, well-coated pieces. Stir in the buttermilk until the flour mixture is just moistened.

4. Drop the biscuit batter onto the fruit mixture in large spoonfuls. I you want a more cobbled appearance to your baked dessert, you can hold back some of the biscuit mixture. As written here, it will cover the dish as it bakes.

5. Place the baking dish on a sheet pan if desired. This will help insure against drips on the bottom of the oven. Bake at 375 F for 45-50 minutes or until the top is golden brown and baked through, and the fruit mixture is bubbling and thickened. Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Other recipe like this one: Fruit Crisp on Demand, Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp with Graham Cracker Topping, Cherry Plum Crisp, Grandmama’s Buttermilk Biscuits

One year ago: 5 Fabulous Potato Salads

Pear and Blackberry Galette

When I found some lovely locally-grown Summercrisp pears at about the same time that the local apple harvest was coming into the markets, I was planning to make both a fancy pear and almond tart and some kind simple apple pie. Time (not to mention calorie budgets) did not allow for both, so I ate the apples one at a time for week-day lunches and put the pears into a pie. Finding some nice blackberries as well put in mind a recipe I had bookmarked for an apple and blackberry galette, which was easily adapted for pears.

The original recipe called for peeling and partially cooking the apples before baking them in the galette. Since the pears were quite ripe, soft, and thin-skinned, I could skip both of those steps. If you have larger pears with thicker skins, you could peel them if you’d like. You shouldn’t have to pre-cook them. Just slice them thin and they should bake up just fine.

I’m absolutely addicted to the combination of pears and cardamom, so there was no way I was going to miss an opportunity to celebrate it here. I kept the vanilla extract from the ingredient list in the inspiration recipe, and its harmony with the cardamom, pears, and berries was wonderful: floral, but not cloying, and a little exotic. The ginger in the original recipe would also be very good, I’m sure, as would cinnamon or a combination of warm spices, such as Pumpkin Pie Spice.

I didn’t make a pastry from scratch for this dessert (*disappointed sigh*). I used a store-bought refrigerated crust instead and, while the galette was good this way, I can’t help thinking that a good homemade crust would have made it even better. Use whatever you like or whatever helps you celebrate seasonal fruits and your favorite spices in the time that you have.

I served this galette with lightly sweetened whipped cream, and, when I had some left, Vanilla Ice Cream. I think it would be great with Ginger Spice Ice Cream. I also served it plain, which was very good, too, but a bit of something cold and creamy is a nice accompaniment to a warm and fruity autumn dessert. Don’t you agree?

Pear and Blackberry Galette

Based on a recipe in Food Network Magazine

This pie is great served with whipped cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, or Ginger Spice Ice Cream

1-1 ¼ pounds ripe pears, thinly sliced (peeled if you like)

1 cup blackberries

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

¼ teaspoon freshly ground cardamom

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pastry for a single-crust pie, homemade or store-bought

Milk for brushing the crust

Coarse sugar for sprinkling the crust

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the pears, blackberries, sugar, and cornstarch. Gently toss to coat the fruit well. Add the cardamom and vanilla and gently stir to distribute.

3. Roll the pie crust into a about a 12-inch circle. Place the pastry on the prepared baking sheet.

4. Mound the pear mixture onto the center of the pastry leaving about a 2-inch border. Fold the border pastry up over the edges of the fruit filling. Brush the pastry with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

5. Bake at 400 F for 40-50 minutes, or until the fruit filling is tender and bubbling and the crust is crisp and golden brown. Cool on the pan on a wire rack. Carefully transfer the galette to a cutting surface to cut and serve. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.

Makes about 6 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Apple Turnovers with Dried Fruit, Pear Apple Crumble Pie, Plum and Grape Galette with Almonds