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
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.
gene wheeler
Made this recipe this evening for dessert – after a nice lasagna dinner! I cut back on the brown sugar and since I didn’t have any unsalted butter in the house I used regular butter instead. This is a great recipe and the little bit of salt in the butter was actually kind of a nice balance to the sweetness of the nectarines.
celesul
I just made this tonight, but with a mix of berries (mostly blueberries), in a rather larger quantity than is probably recommended. It came out really, really well. It seemed like it had more butter than it actually did, which was nice. For the fruit I used, I definitely would have decreased the granulated sugar by about 1/4 or 1/3 cup. Regardless, the dessert was a huge hit, and this will probably be one of my go-to recipes for a tasty cobbler, although I’ll probably modify the amount of sugar next time, depending on what fruit I’m using. This recipe seems calibrated to using a somewhat tart fruit. The cakey part was particularly divine.
Pancakes For Recess (Pawan)
I don’t know the first thing about cooking or baking or anything – why I decided to make this divine dessert, I’ll never know – but I’m sure glad I did! It was a cinch and such a hit with my friends. Thank you! Now that I know your recipes cooperate with my non-existent culinary abilities, I’ll be back to try something else!
carrie
Just made this……. Delicious! Thanks for posting.
Dena
by far the BEST peach cobbler I’ve ever tasted! You beat my granny’s recipe girl! Way to go!
Becca Dean
I made this for my family on mother’s day and it went down a treat! Thank you!
I think I put in too much butter because sticks are different in the UK- and I had to use muscovado sugar because that’s all my grandma had… but it still worked and I got lots of compliments and a smiling mum so thank you!
xxx
http://tumblr.com/xho207ew8u
joythebaker
pretty blog.
guaranteed car finance
Whoa particularly alluring sharing. Gratitude executive this particular.
Krisla
Just wanted to tell you. I made this for the first time like a couple months ago and have been making it every week (twice this weekend). FREAKING DELCIOUS. I even went over to a friend’s new apartment and saw peaches and couldn’t help myself to making the cobbler for everyone.
You’re the bee’s knees and the cat’s pajamas
T.J.
Ooooooo, now this IS good! Made it with thawed nectarines last night and brought it in to work. There are some very happy people here!
I upped the quantities by 1 1/2 times, except for the sugar. Used just over a cup of sugar, and subbed in buttermilk. The result is a lot like a French pastry, where the fruit and spices are just barely sweetened by the sugar. It’s WONDERFUL!
Both the fruit and the cobbler part are terrific on their own, so increase the fruit if you love the fruit and leave it be if you like cake. And as for the butter . . . well, you can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much butter in a dessert, but that’s just my opinion. Thanks again!
T.J.
Just found this recipe while trying to find something to do with last year’s nectarines in the freezer (got to clean it out for this year’s stash!) This looks fantastic, and easy-peasy, which I love. The comment about pie vs. cobbler is so true. I usually make fruit crisps with a topping of 1/3 oatmeal, 1/3 flour, and 1/3 brown sugar, with just enough melted butter to make the dry ingredients stick together, but this looks fast enough to give it a try (I am hopeless at pie crust). I love the mix of spices you’re using. So many recipes just use straight fruit and sugar, which is nice, but I like a little spice in things. Also appreciate the comments advising less sugar and using buttermilk, and had a good laugh at the idea of any dessert being “too buttery” (is that possible???) Thanks!
Daniel
Surprisingly, I was horribly disappointed. After reviewing the steps multiple times, I still don’t know what I did wrong! I’m thinking that 1/2 c of butter was way too much for the amount of batter. My cobbler turned out like fried dough. =/
Daniel
Or maybe I’m just a freak…my family went nuts over it =P. So it must have been good then. Haha.
N
I just made this using plums. I cut the white sugar by 1/2 and it still turned out plenty sweet. Thanks for the great recipe!
victoriao
Hi Joy! i just found your site, and just in time. I had 6 nectarines about to go bad and I made this recipe tonight, and oh my gosh, so good. I didn’t have any whip cream but ate it up with TJ’s tart frozen yogurt. So delicious. Thank you for your recipes, I am definitely going to try more of them!
Valerie
I am making it right now. Smells delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Best,
IDreamInCake
MoonRidr
Once again, when I hit “print” all I want is the recipe,
joythebaker
try the “print this recipe” link that is within the recipe up top. it works.
Rachel
I couldn’t get hold of any nectarines, so I made this with plumbs and it was FANTASTIC! I love this recipe. With a dollop of cold creme fraiche this makes me the happiest woman alive. Total comfort food.
MoonRidr
PLUMBS?!!! SERIOUSLY?!! I truly think you’d be better off not “sharing” if all you can do is advertise your own ignorance!!!!
joythebaker
you’re mean. maybe you shouldn’t “share” if you’re only going to advertise how mean you are.
Rachel
I really don’t think you should be so rude. Are typos not allowed anymore? If it offends you, you should keep it yourself. All I was doing was complimenting a great recipe that I loved, as apparently did you. Rudeness and assumptions about character are not what this about; it’s simply about great food and talking about it. Next time you make a typo, please remember that.
Rachel
I tried this recipe and everyone LOVED IT!!!! I make it again and again and its awesome! Thanks for sharing!!!
P.S. I am only 13!!!
Geraldine
Another perfect recipe. I so pleased.I have made 4 dessert in 3 weeks and they just come out so grea……t no more wasted ingredients. I have made more blueberry muffins then I can count. They disappear before I get one. I was beginning to think that I couldn’t bake to save my life. But Joy you saved me. Really thanks
Rhona
I’m new to your blog and have been sitting reading back through posts. I love this one, it’s made me think that I need to write to a dear friend of mine who takes the time to write to me and I email back. I need to sit down and write – perhaps from my favourite coffee shop! There’s something about this post that has made me think of “You’ve got Mail”, I love that DVD and somehow I could picture you living in a place like Meg Ryan’s. Isn’t it funny what images words can bring up. Keep up your wonderful blog (and writing to your mommom) and I will continue to drop by to read it. Thank you!!! I must also try the cobbler, it sounds delicious and looks simple to make. Another Thank You!!!
Ruby
JOY!!! I’m so happy to have found you! After reading this recipe I realized that for the first time in a very long time I actually had everything on the recipe list just sitting in my kitchen waiting to come together for this loveliness… So, I just had to tell you that I tried this recipe last weekend for a poolside picnic type affair…3 things: 1) Incredibly delicious, 2) SUPER EASY 3) A NEW FAVORITE.
Thanks so much! P.S. we served it with a scoop of vanilla, honey & graham frozen yogurt….YUMMMMMM!!!!
Jennie
I’ve never been much of a cobbler person, but this sounded and looked too good to resist! Tried out the recipe this weekend with peaches and it’s delicious! My husband asked if I could just make him the dough, he doesn’t even need the fruit. Me, I want it all! We’ll definitely be trying this one out repeatedly all summer long with different fruit. YUM!! Thanks for sharing. :)
Ellen
This is also absolutely great with halved Italian prune plums (skin on) and some fresh ginger juice added as well as the other spices. Maybe it’s heresy, but a cobbler is not only so much easier to make than a pie, it is at least as delicious!
Karen
Yum! I just finished making (and then devouring) this cobbler!. I used peaches instead of nectarines and substituted buttermilk for the milk because I had it. I would definitely reduce the white sugar as the fruit is so sweet. I can see where is might be needed if you are dealing with something less ripe like store bought strawberries.
Thanks for a great recipe!
Leah
Thanks for the recipe and the beautiful photos, Joy! I just made my own and I can’t wait for it to come out of the oven! Thanks again.
Sarah
Made this cobbler for a dinner party the other night. It was a huge success! Totally delicious. We ate it with gobs of vanilla bean ice cream. Is there anything better in this world? I THINK NOT.
Thanks Joy!
Shelly
I almost cried when I smelled this cobbler cooking in the oven, seriously. I was rushed back to my childhood and all of the wonderful cobblers my mother baked. Thank you for sharing the recipe. I scaled the sugar back to 1/2 cup and substituted buttermilk for the milk. Delish!!!!
jolynn@thedish
Your combination of letter writing and cobbler reminded of a story where a grandma sends her grand daughter a very thin pie in the mail.
Does anybody know why you don’t stir?
The Pear Dish
I agree with “Minnesotamom,” your writing, food and photos make me happy too! Gorgeous!
Minnesotamom
Good garsh, your writing, your food and your photos make me so happy. Today was actually like visiting my grandma’s house. Thanks for the refreshment!
Christine
I just made this and it came out fairly decent, but I think I made a mistake somewhere… hmmmm. I got confused by the measurements and it came out waaay too buttery! Otherwise, it tastes amazing! I’m gunna have to try it again and get it absolutely perfect the second time ’round. Thanks, Joy. :3
Leila
i never bake. ever. i actually avoid the oven at all costs. but i was really in the mood for a summery dessert, and this looked so easy i thought i’d give it a try. it came out perfect. my roomie and i killed it in less than 24 hours. thanks for such a yummy, simple recipe. and for making me a baker.
Annie
Hey Joy, I just found your site, and I am HOOKED! Today I broke down and made this cobbler (cut the recipe in half!). It is GLORIOUS…. and, gone! I will be back to try the Vegan Avocado Chocolate Cake for my Birthday soon!
Wyles
I realized the other night that we had a bunch of mangoes hiding out in our fridge, so I decided to make something out of them. Your recipe seemed to fit the bill, so, ignoring the doubtful looks my family sent my way, I made a mango cobbler. It was good. Really good. Have you ever noticed that dried mangoes have a vaguely cinnamon-like flavor to them? Yep, this makes them extra tasty in a cobbler. Thanks for the recipe, I’ll definitely be using it again soon!
Anna
Joy, you are my hero. I’ve always wanted a pen pal; there’s something so wonderfully nostalgic about writing letters and I wish I had reason to do it (i.e. people to write letters to). The cobbler looks great, haven’t seen a cobbler recipe in a while. I’m thinking of trying this for my birthday (we’re having a murder mystery party).
Jenny
I made this cobbler last night, and it was amazing. Thank you for posting, I will make this again and again! And today I will write a letter to my grandma :) I’ve been inspired by you, I love your blog.
Jamie
Through high school and college I was a great letter writer, but sadly I have gotten lazy and taken advantage of everyone being on internet. But I still write lengthy, chatty e-mails!
I absolutely love cobbler and yours is magnificent!
Sabrina
I made this cobbler last night. It was VERY yummy! I used about a cup of blueberries in place of some of the nectarines. I also cut out 1/4 cup of the white sugar. Next time, I will cut out more sugar as the nectarines themselves were quite sweet. Since my sister had some buttermilk in the fridge from a recipe she made, I used that instead of white milk, but it didn’t really impart a buttermilk-y flavor like I had hoped. Next time, I think I’ll try adding some oats to the batter to see if I can get an oatmeal cookie feeling out of it. Yum yum!
Kate
I just made this and finished a heaping portion…so good! I used apricots from my dad’s tree and my CSA box, and it’s delish. Kinda soupy (in a good way) beneath the yummy crusty top. Great recipe, and so so quick and easy.
When Pigs Fly
I think letter writing has been sorely overlooked in recent years. It’s a lost art. The cobbler looks amazing. It is such a simple and easy thing to do I think people forget about it.
LeAnn
my 3 yr old son calls my grandmother mummum! how cool!
Susan
Funny you should mention letter writng. I had just been musing as to why I dread opening my email, yet I still run to the mailbox the minute it hear the postman! I do! I dread opening my email the way I used to dread opening the mail box..and it’s all because of the junk mail. I still get junk both places, but on that rare occasion that there is a ‘real’ post marked, delayed, stamped and handwritten letter from a friend (as if and email letter from a friend weren’t real..what makes me think this?) I get so much more excited! Is it a hangover from the days when my Grandmother or Aunt would slip those $2.00 bills in a card to me, do ya think? I guess a handwritten letter is still more personal feeling or is it just so rare anymore that it’s gained a certain extra value? Fun topic!
Oh, and the cobbler sounds great!
Muneeba
Just made peach & blueberry cobbler the other day – used almost the same kind of recipe and technique as you did. Found that broiling the top for the last 5 mins or so, makes the edges more crispy and caramel-y!!! Gorgeous – I love love love cobblers. It’ll always be a part of my comfort food list.
Jodye
I must make this, now!
Christine
This looks fantastic! I have some fresh peaches. Do you think I have to peel them or can I leave the skins on?
Love your blog–always makes me smile!
Tigli
Also, I would totally be down for the foodie penpal thing!
Meghan
I write letters to my husband every night and send them in weekly batches. He is completing 16 months of Army training on the east coast, and we live in Vancouver, BC. I am 29 weeks pregnant with our first child and even though we speak by phone daily, it’s nice to document every day’s baby activity and record how I feel and what’s going on in our lives. One day, our daughter will read them and understand exactly how much we loved and valued her from the day she was conceived. Until then, it makes my husband feel special every time he gets a “mail call” on the base.
unconfidentialcook
I get so excited on the rare occasion I see a hand-addressed letter in my mailbox. Certainly is the down-side of email, texting, etc. to have lost the whole epistolary part of communicating….
Tigli
Joy’s blog is up for “Tastiest Blog” in the Blog Luxe awards: http://www.socialluxelounge.com/blogluxe/. Go vote for her tasty tasty blog… you know it’s tasty. When you get to the Tastiest Blog category, you might want to do a ctrl+F (for PC) to find her… they’re in no logical order!
Yay Joy! Good luck!!!
PS – You can vote once per day until the voting ends on July 6th. What are you waiting for?!?
Johanna
Okay, so I have to write another comment ’cause this idea is just so fantastic and I love how everyone is sharing their letter stories here. My grandma was my most faithful penpal, too … thanks for reminding me of this precious bit of memory.
Now ~ let’s get this exchange thing rollin’!
Malgosia
I still write letters to. And the best letter exchange I’ve had was the one with my mum , when we were still living together at one home. Evry morning my mum used to leave a small letter for me, obligatorily with some funny picture . So when I’ve woke up I have some hand-written surprise. The when I was leaviing for school I left her my note, so when she come back from her work earlier than me from my classes she will find one. And so on and on. I don;t live with her since 6 years now but recently I’ve found some stack of those morning-afternoon letters (aorund 120 of them!). And I flipped them throug, smiling to funny pictures. Live my mum.!
PS. The idea of foodie/bakingcookin pay-pals is GREAT (as the cobbler is – it’s just baking in my oven right now and smell amazingly already!) Im totally in and I hope it will work up!
Jennifer
YUM! Ive not had nectarine cobbler, just peach and other fruits. This looks SO good!!
CookiePie
That cobbler looks amazingly delicious! And your grandmother sounds so lovely and special – what a wonderful relationship for you.
NJ
This pie has been a family recipe for ages but I had forgotten it. Can’t wait to break it out again for the 4th…so easy and so delicious!
Thanks.
DeAnne
Joy, I’m going to move to Cali so we can be best friends or adoptive sisters and exchange baked goods! this looks amazing. really amazing. once again inspired :)
joythebaker
DeAnne- let’s do it! I’m in!
Johanna
Oh, isn’t that a fantastic idea that Sara from ourbestbites mentioned in a comment above? A foodie pen-pal exchange program started on the blog of one of the most joyful foodbloggers I have come across! Really – I’d be first to sign up. This sounds fantastic. One could send each other favourite recipes … and other ramblings, short, sweet and to the point. Think about it, will you!!
joythebaker
Foodie pen pal exchange!? Wooooooow! I’m loving this idea. Let me get my wheels turning!
Shelley
I love writing letters! It is a lost art and I wish more people did it… I have saved mine over the years and go back and reread, often with a tear in my eye. It is too easy to delete an email and never have that memory kept.
Jessanna
ummm YUM!! I just bought a flat of ripe nectarines.. this recipe couldn’t be more perfect- in timing and deliciousness.
p.s Your rad
April
I writing letters too. The only problem is that while I often write, I only receive mail from friends tri-monthly at best. It’s something special to receive hand written post. I wish more ppl appreciated it.
Sagan
Mmmm delicious! It reminds me of a picnic.
I still write letters, too. Especially to my grandparents, but when I had a long distance relationship my boyfriend at the time and I wrote letters back and forth. It’s so much more personal than emails. And it’s lots of fun!
Deanna
oh mama – that looks so yummy!
Loulou
I love writing letters and postcards!! I have too much stationery to count…and monogrammed note cards entrance me.
And whenever I travel, I always write postcards to all my friends around the world. Like when I went to Vietnam this past January, I wrote 26 people (I know, 26!! I only remember because I had to count to make sure I didn’t miss anyone who was promised a postcard.)
I need to get me some nectarines! I love cobbler! This looks like tomorrow night’s dessert (only because we have strawberry tart for later).
Megan
This looks absolutely delicious. I would love a warm slice right now!
Sarah
Made this cobbler on Saturday for Father’s Day using fresh peaches from the farmer’s market! So yum. Especially good with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. I actually forgot to put the brown sugar on top and it was still delish!
Eva
I still write letters to one of my friends from school, even though we see each other regularly. It just seems nice to relive the old tradition of passing each other little notes in boring classes, hoping the teacher won’t take heed or notice. Although, admittedly, nowadays there’s no risk to it anymore.
Anways, that recipe sounds really nice and the result looks nice, too – although I have to say it’s the first time I ever came across the term “cobbler” (I’m German, you see). Shame on me? Probably. I’ll try it out just the same and have a little surprise when I finally taste it (for the first time).
All the best, Eva
(By the way I totally love your blog. Just so you know.)
Cara
I still write letters to my grandmother (although she writes a lot more regularly than I do). I love the break from the computer, too. She always writes on the back and fills in every square inch of space. So sweet!
Jessica
Looks positively delicious! And I, too, love the art of letter writing. Sometimes I feel like I have so much stationery that I can’t even keep up…
Lauren
I just about melted reading this piece. I called my grandmother Mommom as well. Just reading that name gave me chills…and smiles. I cherish the birthday cards she used to send. Most still have the silver dollars taped to the inside. I was Teany Doll #2 and my sister was #1. My mom recently found a letter from Mommom about a car ride we shared. She said I blabbed on and on the whole trip. We used to count buses and v-w beetles and count the belly buttons on the Rollos candies. I miss that lady. Thanks for sharing Joy!!
joythebaker
Lauren- your comment totally warmed my heart! Hugs!
Sharon
Aw, writing letters I find more intimate and persona. They are very cute and simple like you said. Everyone is so caught up with technology these days.
I need to find myself a pen pal :)
tigress
this looks wonderful. i will have a BUNCH of strawberries and blueberries in the freezer from this summer’s bounty so this is a great one to have on hand.
sadly i have not actually written a letter in a very long time…:(
Cara
I’ve never had nectarine cobbler–this sounds really good! I love your letter writing with your grandma:) My cousin and I wrote letters to each other long after the beginning of email too, but we have slacked for about five years now. Might be time to revive that!
Liz
In your second instructional paragraph in the recipe, you have “Pour the batter”, and I think you mean “Pour the butter”… I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the butter went in between browning and having the fruit put on top of it!
This sounds delicious, I feel the need to rush out and buy fruit a.s.a.p.!
Kellie
Joy you are just the cutest. Whenever I read your blog, I am instantly in a better mood, and almost always inspired. Thank you so much for this cobbler-it looks delicious!!!!
nicole
this looks SO yummy!! i happen to have bought 3 nectarins yesterday so im hoping it will be enough because i really want to make this today. thanks for the recipe!!
Sara @ Our Best Bites
I love to hear that people still write letters! I still write to my grandma too, like I’ve been doing since I was a kid. And I get just as excited to get a letter in the mail as I did when I was 7, lol. Heyyyy…I think you should arrange some sort of foodie pen-pal exchange program on here, haha.
Katrina
I’m so inspired by you! I’m going to find some really pretty staionary and start writing to my nana and my grandma. I’m going to make them write me back just like your grandma does when you’ve gone too long without writing. Thank you so much for bringing back the art of letter writing!
bakingepiphanies
i love the idea of letter writing but feel like, if i wrote someone a letter instead of an e-mail, they’d be like “what’s up with that? why didn’t u just write me an e-mail?” oy, how the world changes. now cobbler though – nothing wrong with cobbler.
Highland Lass
This looks awesome!
Living in UK, we don’t really use cup measurements – does anyone know the equivalent in grams?????
Thanks
robyn
Oh goodness. Letter writing and cobbler–two of my very favorite things in this world! I’m supposed to be bringing a dessert to a cookout at my BFF’s house this weekend. I think this is it!
Codfish
I would love letter-writing if it weren’t for finding the damn stamps to send them off with. But if my nana sees this, I’m sure she’ll wrangle me into pen-paling (or at least cobbler baking!)
Singapore Short Stories
Tats a Great tradition to keep!
Sadly, technology has make many small things obsolete….
Emily
So when I was in college there was this specific program for first-year students to go through the first week. It was like Orientation BootCamp. And every year the school always brought in this motivational speaker who made me cry – every year, for four years. And she always made me cry when she urged the students to write more letters. And she would whip out this story about this one girl who was so motivated by her speech that after the speech, she went back to her dorm room and wrote her grandmother a letter. And wrote her a letter every day for three more years until her grandmother passed away. It continues on a bit but then it ends with a R. Kelly’s “I Believe I can fly.” (no joke. who knew r. kelly could make people cry? not this kid!)
anyway, yes, everybody should write more letters.
Rebecca
Hurrah for letter writers! I’m a letter and postcard obsessive. It’s just so much more personal and heart-warming to get a letter or card lovingly hand-written, then a rushed email.
And this cobbler looks just as heart-warming. I always make crumbles in the winter, but always forget to make things like cobblers in the summer with the golden fruits. Thanks for the prompt Joy!