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January 27, 2001
Cobblers are a collection of ingredients "cobbled"
together - basically whatever fruit is handy and a sweet baking powder
biscuit - which is called a shortcake. I always call them Momma's biscuits.
Shortcake is baking powder biscuits. with a little sugar stirred in. The
biscuits. alone are great baked on a pan and split with butter and/or
honey or jam. They are served as a fruit dumpling in a cobbler with the
hot fruit sauce bubbling beneath them. Be sure to include the juice in
the serving.
Mix together in a heavy saucepan or in the top of a double boiler - with
the water boiling in the bottom pan. (Don't have a double boiler? Put
a small sauce pan inside a much larger one that has at least 2" water
in it. Bring the water to a boil. Be careful of the steam. Use an oven
mitt or pans with cool handles. Before the next time, run to the nearest
store with kitchen pans and get a double boiler!!!!):
2/3 - 1 Cup sugar
1 Tblsp cornstarch
Sir in gradually:
1 C boiling water
Boil 1 minute, bring to a rolling boil while stirring constantly. No
kidding. Use a wire whisk (priceless kitchen tool).
Then add:
3 Cups sliced fruit with any juice from them (do not
drain). Apples and peaches should be peeled. Cherries pitted. Raspberries
and the like should be stemmed and washed.
Pour into a 10x6 2" baking dish (nonstick preferred or use Pam on
a glass one)
Sprinkle with:
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 Tblsp. butter, broken up
Top with this shortcake (small version of the basic biscuit):
Mix together:
1 Cup all-purpose flour
1 Tblsp. sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cut in (pastry fork or dinner fork):
3 Tablespoons cold butter or margarine or shortening
Use a fork or a pastry blender to cut the butter
into and other ingredients until it is a crumbly mixture. A pastry blender
is a handle with a loop of multi-wires attached to it in a 3/4 circle
- flattened at the sides - like a flattened-out whisk. Makes cutting in
shortening very fast. Or, use a little food processor (the baby Oscar)
and put the thing in with the blade and cover and process - it will do
a real fine meal-like texture in under a few seconds. You will, however,
have a lot more clean up! I prefer the fork or the blender. Faster in
the end.
Stir in:
1/2 Cup milk
Drop by spoonfuls on to the batter.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes - until
the apples are tender (stick them with a fork) and the topping is golden.
Bake in the center of the oven.
Of course serve hot with French Vanilla Ice Cream
or fruit juice and cream. Notice I always like French Vanilla but regular
vanilla will work. Even low-fat vanilla works. However, if you
are having this, you are not counting calories.
Peach or Apricot Cobbler
Use 1 Cup sugar in the above.
Blackberry or Boysenberry Cobbler
Use 3/4 Cup sugar in the above
freash Cherry Cobbler
Use sweet cherries - and 3 drops of Almond Extract.
Amount of sugar will depend on the ripeness of the cherries and their
tartness (as well as your preference).
Canned Fruit Cobbler
2 1/2 Cups canned fruit, already sweetened to taste.
(Heavy syrup in the can.)
Omit the boiling water and sugar but mix the cornstarch
with a little juice from the can.
Another trick - use Minute Tapioca - 1-2 Tablespoons - in place of the
cornstarch for a sparkling filling.
Lower Fat, Lower Sugar Versions:
- To use a low-fat biscuit mix, see the bottom of the page.
- You can also use a baking-specific low-fat margarine (must say
can be used in baking - same cannot).
- Also, use 1/2 the amount of shortening and relace the rest with
unsweatened applesauce.
- Instead of ice cream, use a low-fat dairy or dairy-free topping
like CoolWhip.
- Reduce the amount of sugar in the fruit by at least 1/4 cup.
- You can also make the shortcake without sugar - the original version
of the cobbler.
This is the version I found in a cookbook
from 1908:
Cobbler's Peaches or Peach Cobbler
AhA! That's where the name comes from!
Scald (put in boiling water for 1 minute or so),
pare (remove the peel) and slice (remove from the stone) 3-4 large peaches.
Place evenly layered in a baking dish. Cover with a rolled-out sheet of
biscuit dough (baking powder biscuits or the shortcake - the original
does not use sweetened dough) - dough should be 1-2 inches thick. Place
in oven and bake about 20 minutes until golden brown on top.
Note: the recipes call for 400 degrees, in 1908 they
didn't even say! I use 350-375 - slower cooking but no burning. At 400
and up, you must watch the oven more carefully.
An here's one from the Good Housekeeping Collection:
Country Plum Cobbler
2 1/2 lbs of ripe plums - pitted and sliced in quarters.
Toss with:
1/2 Cup sugar
2 Tablespoons flour
Place in a 2-Quart glass or ceramic (CorningWare) baking dish.
Bake at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until the plums are tender.
Remove from the oven and dot with this batter:
Low-Fat Batter
1 1/2 cups reduced fat baking mix
3/4 Cup water
1/4 Cup cornmeal
Dot over the plums and put back in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until
the biscuits are turning brown. Serve with cream (we assume low-fat).
Peaches, apples and plums are easy to grow and have been around a long
time. Berries are harder to prepare so it is not as quick - but raspberries
and blackberries are worth the effort. Besides, today they can be had
cleaned in a basket (for a small fortune). But they don't have quite the
same taste as a they do when you scratched yourself silly picking berries,
sat around stemming and removing the inchworms, washing and measuring,
and then starting the baking. Then, they taste absolutely superb.
Served with milk, a cobbler can be used as supper. And often was when
I was a kid on a farm. Bread, fruit and milk - good enough for me!
Scones are biscuits to which an egg has been added. They can be used
as the batter as well (richer, not as "rough" looking). Be sure
to reduce the water or milk in the biscuit recipe you choose by the amount
of liquid in the egg. Omit the typical currants and raisins that are normally
added to scones if you are using them for a cobbler.
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