Joy the Baker » cobbler

Peach Cobbler for One (or two if you’re nice)

joythebaker — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 07:35:51 +0000

Update! Check out the latest Joy the Baker Podcast! Episode 13 is LIVE!

Things I Say Too Often:

- Duh. Totes.

- How you livin’?

- Why is this orange juice making me more thirsty!?

- Shut it.

- Huh?

- Dddrrrriiiiiiiiivvveeeeee (faster please)!

- Small coffee. Room for cream, please.

This I Don’t Say Often Enough:

- Hey Mom. Thanks for birthing and raising me. That couldn’t have been easy. You did a great job.

- Hey Dad. Thanks for working so hard to 35 years to support your family. I appreciate you so much.

- Oh geez. Was I being passive aggressive just then? I’m sorry. I understand that that’s totally annoying. I’ll try to be aggressive aggressive next time.

- Thank you for reading my blog. I appreciate you so much.

- I understand where you’re coming from.

- I love you. From on the inside. It’s major.

- More pie, please.

I’m learning. Life is short. Say what you mean. Stop saying DUH all the time.

I’ve also learned how to make myself a fake-out pie on the quick.

A ripe peach is cut in half and pitted. A bit of peach flesh is scooped out… we need to make room for mega amounts of coconut almond streusel. Priorities.

When baked, the fruit softens and sweetens. When baked, the topping melts, browns, and crisps.

Two mini peach cobbler/crumbles in about 25 minutes flat.

This is a quick and hearty summer dessert. It’s totally breakfast meets dessert… meets I just made myself dessert at midnight when I’m supposed to be falling asleep reading The Help.

Do you have ice cream at home? I don’t. I pretend that cold milk is ice cream. Close enough in a pinch.

Consider making this dessert with nectarines, plums, or apricots this summer. Pick a stone fruit and get baking. It’s so warm and satisfying.

It’s a mini version of this Strawberry Pineapple Crumble.

Simple and delicious. I understand if you don’t want to share.

Peach Cobbler For One (or two if you’re nice)

Print this Recipe!

1 ripe peach

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoons old-fashioned oats

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

pinch of salt

1 tablespoon shredded coconut

1 tablespoon slivered almonds

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cubed

Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Slice a peach in half and remove the pit. With a small spoon, scoop out the the dark red pit center, creating just a bit more room for the crumble topping.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, salt, coconut, and almonds. Add butter and, with your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients. Quickly break up the butter until it is well combined. Some of the butter bits will be the size of oat flakes, others will be the size of small peas.

Place peach halves, cut side up, in a small, oven-safe dish. Top each peach half with a generous portion of crumble topping. Heap it on!

Bake for 20 minutes, until topping is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve warm with vanilla ice cream or cold milk. Peaches are best served warm from the oven.

Red Plum and Browned Butter Skillet Cobbler

joythebaker — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:16:47 +0000

Well, don’t I just feel like an ungrateful brat.

I’ve got a skillet full of beautiful red plums. I’ve got gorgeous, nutty browned butter. I’ve got flour and sugar.

I’ve married everything and made just the most lovely skillet cobbler on the block.

And all I can think about? The Pioneer Woman’s Cinnamon Rolls.

I dream about those cinnamon rolls. I keep her cookbook within arms reach just because of that cinnamon roll recipe.

The only problem? The only thing I can’t seem to negotiate?

The recipe makes seven pans of cinnamon rolls. Seven!

I can’t get my mind around that….

You and I both know that I’d gladly devour all seven pans. I have no ranch of cowboys to feed. This seems dangerous.

So for now… I’ll stick the the Ree’s cobbler recipe and wait for the day… patiently wait for the day when I’m called by the good Lord to make those rolls. I hope it’s soon. Dang.

This is one of those church goin’ cobblers.

Do you know what I mean?

This is the kind of cakey, fruity, moist cobbler that Lord lovin’ church ladies bring to the Sunday picnic.

You can use just about any summer fruit like berries, peaches or apricots for this cobbler.

But you must… MUST… muuuust…

… brown your butter.

Browned butter must in the Bible somewhere.

It’s holy. For real.

To brown your butter, place it in a skillet over medium heat. Let it melt and cook down until just after it stops crackling. That’s the water cooking out of the butter. Once the crackling stops, the butter will begin to brown. It’ll smell rich and nutty… like you want to stick your face right in the pan. Don’t do that, though… duh.

Be sure to remove the pan from the heat just before the butter browns to a burn. The pan sill stay hot and continue to cook a bit.

Beautiful, sweet, summery and so easy fruit cobbler. Amen.

Red Plum and Browned Butter Skillet Cobbler

inspired and adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cookbook

makes 1 10-inch cast iron of cobbler

Print this Recipe!

1 stick plus 2 Tablespoons (10 Tablespoons) salted butter, browned

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup milk

3 medium ripe, red plums sliced into eight slices, or 2 cups of fresh berries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, melt and brown the butter. Since cast iron is black bottomed, and you can’t see the butter browning, be sure to keep a close eye on it, and remove the butter from the pan as soon as it browns. If you keep the butter in the hot cast iron, it may continue to cook and burn.

Let just a smidge of butter remain in the cast iron pan to act as a non-stick agent.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Whisk in the milk.

Whisk in the melted butter.

Add the batter to the prepared cast iron skillet.

Arrange the plum slices around the batter.

Bake for 35 minutes, until slightly golden and bubbling.

Remove pan from the oven and sprinkle with 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Return the pan to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes to finish cooking. Remove pan when a cake tester inserted in the cobbler comes out clean.

Serve slightly warm with vanilla ice cream. Store covered, at room temperature for two or three days.

Vegan Peach Berry Crumbles

joythebaker — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 06:48:32 +0000

I’m not allowed to be vegan because:

I sometimes carry a pound of butter around in my purse.

I stir fry my tofu in bacon fat.

I seriously consider grating cheese on my pillow before I go to bed at night.

(ok… not really. that’s just weird.)

I think heavy cream should be awarded its own national holiday. I’d like that day off work too… sweet, thanks.

If a stranger handed me an egg. I’d eat it. I would.

Just because I’m not allowed to be vegan doesn’t mean that I can’t make a stellar vegan dessert from time to time.

This cobbler is such a delight… I’ll tell you what!

I made the whole recipe without measuring a thing. Not one thing! I looked at the recipe, read it through, then estimated the amounts. A little of this. A little of that… and BINGO! Success!

I encourage you to do the same thing. This recipe is loose enough for such brazen actions.

This vegan cobbler is simple and delicious.

Seasonal peaches and berries are baked with a bit of spice and loads of oat and maple topping.

Feel free to use any combination of summer fruit that excites you.

I made six mini cobblers, but you might want to bake up a9-inch square pan. Don’t be shy.

Beautiful and simple summer food. With cinnamon. Do this.

And the bubbled over berry goodness? Be still my heart.

Vegan Peach Berry Crumbles

inspired by my friends on Twitter and Post Punk Kitchen

makes 6 1/2-cup size ramekin cobblers

Print this Recipe!

For the fruit:

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

2 medium sized ripe peaches sliced into 1-inch chunks

(if you’d like to use frozen fruit, just defrost and drain the juice.)

2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

a big pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

(pinch of ground ginger and ground cloves are also encouraged, but not entirely necessary)

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

For the topping:

1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats (i used quick cooking steel cut oats… mostly because i just bought the wrong kind… it worked out yummy!)

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 Tablespoons canola oil

2 Tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, toss the berries and peach chunks with flour, spices and maple syrup. Set aside while you assemble the topping.

In a separate medium sized bowl, combine the oats, flour, salt and spices. In a small bowl whisk together the oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract and water. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and blend with a fork. Make sure all of the dry ingredients are moistened by the oil and maple syrup mixture.

Add half a cup of the topping mixture to the fruit mixture and toss together. Scoop fruit into ramekins, being sure to fill each cup to the top. Spoon and pat topping onto each cup. Sprinkle with an additional dose of ground cinnamon if you’d like. Place the six ramekins on a clean baking sheet and place in the oven. Bake for 35 minutes, or until bubbly and delicious.

Serve with vanilla ice cream topped with honey if you’re not vegan after all.

Berry Cobbler Pie Bars

joythebaker — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:02:02 +0000

We’re all friends here, right?

I can tell you things.

I can tell you things like… how I put sour cream on just about everything that I ate yesterday.

Sour cream on my granola. Sour cream on eggs. Sour cream on kale. Sour cream in my dessert. Sour cream… everywhere.

I feel a little guilty.. but certainly not guilty enough to stop.

I also feel a little guilty about how I’m equally obsessed with watching The Real Housewives of New York City and wearing chipped gunmetal silver nail polish on my nails. Both are tacky as all heck… still though… I’m all up on it.

Today… berry cobbler bars. Because it’s just about summer and you should. They have sour cream in them. Of course they do. Welcome to my obsession.

These pie bars are my favorite way to make a summer pie, without actually having to make a pie. I’m a huge fan of a good, old press in shortbread crust. So buttery and crisp. The filling is creamy and berry studded with an alluring tang from the sour cream.

Feel free to use fresh berries, or frozen berries, or a combination of fresh and frozen. I love the combination of raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. I would stay away from strawberries for this recipe. They hold lots of water that might interfere with the sour cream filling.

Berry Cobbler Pie Bars

adapted from The Pastry Queen

makes one half sheet pan of bars

Print this Recipe!

Crust and Topping

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes

zest of two lemons

Berry Filling

4 large eggs

2 cups sugar

1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

pinch of salt

2 (16-ounce) packages frozen mixd berries, defrosted and drained

(You can also use 6 cups of fresh berries, or 1 (16-ounce) package frozen berries and 3 cups of fresh berries)

To make the crust and topping-

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a half sheet baking pan (12×17-inch) with butter or cooking spray and set aside. If you use a 9×13-inch baking pan you’ll have thicker bars. Zest two lemons. Measure out the sugar onto a clean work surface. Rub the lemon zest into the sugar with a bench scraper or the back of a spoon. Rubbing the zest into the sugar will release oils from the zest and create a lemon scented sugar.

Combine lemon sugar, flour, salt and butter in an electric mixer fit with a paddle attachment. Beat the ingredients on medium speed until the mixture looks dry and crumbly.

Reserve 1 1/2 cups of the crust mixture to use as the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake the crust for 12 to 15 minutes until it is golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes while you make the filling.

To make the filling-

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl. Add the sugar, sour cream, flour and salt. Gently fold in the berries. Spoon the mixture evenly over the crust. You may have to distribute the berries evenly around.

Sprinkle the reserved crust mixture evenly over the filling. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until the top is lightly browned. Cool for 1 hour before slicing.

**If you’re using frozen berries, be sure to defrost and drain the excess liquid. Place the frozen berries on a plate in the refrigerator overnight. They’re defrosted and ready for bar baking!

Nectarine and Cream Cobbler

joythebaker — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 06:41:03 +0000

I still write letters.

I still hand write letters in a festive card with a return address sticker. I might even decorate the envelope with a rubbe-stamped dolphin stampede.

I still write letters and I still have pen pals.

My favorite pen pal? My grandmother. I call her Mommom. She’s rad. I don’t know how she would feel about me calling her rad. She writes me short letters during the break she takes on her morning walk. These letters are usually written from her favorite bagel shop. Letters always include some sort of loving greeting, an update about her walking adventures and the bagel shop, something about an upcoming trailer trip, inquiries about my little sister, and an abrupt closing. Short, sweet and to the point.

The best part about being pen pals with Mommom is that she will not let me slack off. If I haven’t written her a letter in a few weeks, I’ll get another letter urging me to, if I know what’s good for me, write my grandmother back. If for some reason I don’t get to that letter in adequate time… well, I’m liable to hurt my grandmother’s feelings. Hurt grandmother feelings, of course, leads to all sorts of guilt from all sorts of family members. News of pen pal activity, or inactivity travels fast in my family.

Letter writing isn’t a chore. It’s a nice break from simultaneously writing an email and checking my blog stats and watching stupid cat videos. Letter writing is not technology multi-tasking. It’s easy, breezy, simple… all about just sendin’ a little love.

Then there’s cobbler, which couldn’t be any more simple and delicious. This easy cobbler is like letter writing, in baking form. Spend a little time baking up a little love with this cobbler. Sit down with a nice warm slice and write a letter to someone. It’s supreme.

This cobbler just couldn’t be easier to throw together. I used delicious golden nectarines as the filing, but feel free to use fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries or peaches in any combination. You can also use frozen fruit, although it should be thawed and drained before incorporated. Enjoy summer the easy way.

Easy Nectarine and Cream Cobbler

adapted from The Pastry Queen

Print this Recipe!

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 Tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

pinch of cloves

pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

3/4 cup milk (low fat milk will work fine)

3 cups sliced nectarines, skins left on

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter in a medium saute pan set over medium high heat until it bubbles and turns a nut brown color. Watch the butter closely, as it can go from browned to burnt in just a few seconds. The butter will have all sorts of browned bits in it. That’s good!

Pour the butter into an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish. Do not try a pie baking dish. I did. Overflow!

In a medium bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder and spices. Add milk and stir.

Pour the mixture on top of the melted butter. Here’s the hard part: do not stir! Without mixing, arrange the fruit evenly over the top of the batter. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

Bake the cobbler for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top turns golden brown. Amazingly, the batter will migrate from the bottom of the pan to cover the fruit. Yum! Serve warm with slightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.