Welcome to cobbler season!
It’s that time of year when we put the best of summer’s fruit into a buttered baking dish, top it with any sort of buttered crumble and bake it until everything browns and bubbles.
There are about a millions ways to cobbler and this is my favorite of the unfussy versions.
My dad recently sent me a family heirloom – his mother Drucilla’s double-crusted peach cobbler – a MEGA cobbler of buttery crust and peeled peaches. It’s a labor of love and well… we’re absolutely into it, but for this cobbler situation we’re taking the labor out of our cobbler baking.
Today’s cobbler topping might just be my favorite. It’s not an oat streusel or a fussy pie crust. This cobbler topping is essentially a sugar cook atop our bubbling juicy fruit. Crisp but soft, flavored with browed butter and brown sugar. It’s the easiest way to cobbler with whatever fresh fruit you have on hand.
Have a most wonderful holiday weekend, friends! Keep it easy.
Here’s what you’ll need for this easy summer cobbler.
• fruit – I chose heaps of fresh strawberries and blueberries though you can choose anything you’d like! Peaches, cherries, raspberries, and blackberries are also wonderful options. If you’re using frozen fruit just thaw and drain it first.
• brown sugar, cornstarch, salt and ginger to sweeten, thicken, enhance the flavor and add warmth.
• flour, sugar, leavening, salt, egg yolk, vanilla and browned butter to make a very simple cookie crumble top. I’ve also made this very same recipe with a gluten-free flour blend with delicious success.
Start by mixing together sugar, cornstarch, salt and ginger. Give it a little whisk to incorporate evenly before tossing it into the fruit in a buttered dish. Toss until the cornstarch disappears and let the whole mixture sit at room temperature.
The fruit will start to create juice in the bottom of the pan. Correct. Heck yes. Well done.
Quick stir the cookie topping together.
Whisk together the dry ingredients before adding the browned butter, egg yolk and vanilla. Stir into a sandy wet dough.
Pinch and press the dough to cover the fruit. There will be plenty of cookie dough to layer it all together.
Brush lightly with egg white – you’ll mostly be dabbing egg whites and that’s alright. Sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar.
Bake until soupy soft fruit bubbles under a golden brown crisp cookie top.
Scoop into bowls while the cobbler is still warm and top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. It’s irresistible – you’ll have to tear yourself away from the dish and that’s only if you plan on playing nice and sharing with others.
Let’s consider this the first of many summer 2021 cobblers. You know I wouldn’t leave you here hangin without Drucilla’s famous peach cobbler. More soon, certainly.
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The Easiest Strawberry Blueberry Browned Butter Cobbler
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: Serves 8
Description
The easiest cookie-topped fruit cobbler made with any summer fruit and flavored with browned butter and brown sugar.
Ingredients
For the Fruit:
- 1 tablespoon of softened or melted butter to grease the pan
- 1/3 cup (65 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- Pinch of salt
- 1 1/2 cups (250 grams) fresh blueberries
- 2 pints fresh strawberries, rinsed and sliced a scant 1/2-inch thick
For the Cobbler Topping:
- 3/4 cup (169 grams) unsalted butter, melted until browned
- 1 cup (200 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 (190 grams) cup all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large egg divided, yolk for the dough and egg white to brush on top of the dough
- Splash of milk
- 1/3 cup (65 grams) turbinado sugar (optional but nice)
- Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream for serving
Instructions
- Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking dish with softened or melted butter and set aside.
- In a small bowl stir together brown sugar, cornstarch, ginger, and salt until evenly combined.
- Place the blueberries and sliced strawberries in the prepared baking dish. Add the sugar mixture and toss gently until evenly coated. Set aside while you prepare the topping. The strawberries will start to get juicy – that’s perfect!
- To prepare the topping, start by melted the butter just past when it pops and sizzles. The butter will become fragrant and the milk solids will toast and brown. Remove from the pan and place in a medium bowl to cool slightly.
- Add the sugar, vanilla, flour, baking powder, and salt to the bowl with butter. Add the beaten egg yolk and use a fork to work the ingredients into a shaggy dough. I found it easiest to also use my fingers to work the dough together to combine the ingredients evenly.
- Press the dough into rough coins, this can be messy and layer atop the prepared strawberries and blueberries. Cover the dish though of course fruit bits will peek through.
- In a small bowl whisk together egg white and a splash of milk. Lightly brush the cobbler top and sprinkle generously with turbinado sugar. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the top is lightly golden. Rotate the dish in the oven halfway through baking to evenly brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes to cool just slightly before scooping and serving with vanilla ice cream. Cobbler is also delicious at room temperature or cold from the fridge. There’s no wrong way to enjoy it! Cobbler will last, covered in the refrigerator, for uo two 3 days.
Sara
Hi Joy! I made this with a gluten free blend and it was delicious but I baked it the night before and when we went to eat it at room temp the next day the topping had really melted into the fruit and wasn’t crisp anymore. Did you have this experience when you made it with GF flour? Not sure if it’s the flour or not baking it enough or something else but the flavor was amazing so I’d like to make it again with more aesthetic success!
Megan Darrow
Omg Joy this was amazeballs! Had to adapt a bit here given its winter here in NZ, so I used tinned apricots and peaches and a pack of frozen raspberries. The topping is absolutely delicious, though next time I’ll use a larger pan for browning the butter as it foamed up alot and almost overflowed. Have never had a better cobbler!
★★★★★
Emily
This cobbler looks absolutely delicious! It is So beautiful, thank you! Can’t wait to try it.
Alanna Martin
I jumped in head first. Never had a cobbler before but took a look at the recipe and decided, “Deconstructed pie? Well, don’t mind if I do!” I made it on Memorial Day and it was a bit with family (even with the father-in-law who insists he hates pie because of cooked fruit…he loved it).
joythebaker
SUCCESS!
Rita
This was a breeze to make. Wow! So delicious!!
★★★★★
Leah
Wow! This was so, so good!
Everyone loved it.
Thank you, Joy!
★★★★★
Mary Beth
What size baking dish do you recommend? Is there too much filling for an 8×8?
Shannon Loys
My family loved this last night! Thanks Joy! Spotted a measurement error, just a head’s up: 3/5 cup of butter should be 180 grams, not 85.
Sarah
I made this today and it was delightful. My grandma already requested it again, but maybe with peaches. Thank you, Joy!
★★★★★
Charlotte
Thank you for the recipe. Sounds great. I would really love it if you put the number of servings in your recipes. I looked the whole thing over, and simply can’t find it. I apologize if it’s there.
Stephanie
Sooooo… this looks delicious. (Also, fun note, I misread ” fussy pie crust” by mixing up the letters. LOL!)
Eva
First cobbler of the year for our first backyard barbecue of the year… it has been a success !
Mary
To make this GF, what flour would you use?