(Any) Fruit Cobbler

A silver lining for me during this pandemic has been having my daughter home. She's been living and studying overseas for the last 5 years, and is now finishing up her Masters in Sociology from our garage apartment. We celebrated her 25th birthday a few weeks ago (a birthday together for the first time in 6 years) and when I asked her what kind of cake she wanted she said she wanted cobbler. Cobbler, for Hannah, carries the nostalgia of growing up in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Her stepmother used to serve cobbler for breakfast (best stepmother ever).

I had never actually made a cobbler so I did a practice cobbler the week before her birthday and chose our White Spelt (aka 85 Spelt) for the flour. Id read about the cuppa cuppa cuppa cobbler method (1 cup flour; 1 cup sugar; 1 cup milk) but I almost always measure our flours by weight, as a cup of roller milled flour (industry standard is 125grams) is not the same weight as a cup our our flour (I got 147 grams for a cup of our white spelt but because this is a stoneground sifted flour, I wouldn't swear by it every time). 

For the practice run, I decided to keep it simple and just stick to the cup method because the recipe is so easy. The results were good though I noticed during the week that the leftover cobbler was not aging well. It'd become a bit more toothsome than I thought it should be. So for her actual birthday, I decide to do the recipe by weight, measuring 125grams of White Spelt. I made two cobblers--a strawberry rhubarb and a blackberry. Total success and the leftover cobbler seemed to only improve with time.  

My take away-- this is an incredibly forgiving recipe and totally works either by weight or by volume measure, so if you are somewhere without a scale but with good flour and an abundance of summer fruit, forge ahead with the cuppa cuppa cuppa method... but if you have a scale and you expect there to be leftovers, it's worth the  precision. 

Blackberry (top)

Strawberry (bottom)— the strawberries were not very sweet so I actually tossed them with a little sugar and pomegranate liqueur

THE RECIPE!

Adapted from Virginia Willis's Meme's Blackberry Batter Cobbler (Food 52 Genius Desserts, Ten Speed Press)

Serves 8
10- cast iron skillet or other ovenproof baking dish

1 stick unsalted butter 
4 cups fruit (for strawberry rhubarb, I actually used 4 cups strawberries + a cup of rhubarb, chopped into 1 inch pieces)
125 grams (or 1 cup if you opt for the Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa method) Carolina Ground White Spelt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup granulated sugar** (ideally unrefined, organic)
1 cup whole milk 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (if choosing peaches, almond extract too, works lovely)

Whipped cream for serving

** If your fruit is especially sweet, you can use less sugar; or if your fruit is lacking, toss in a tablespoon of sugar, and even liqueur. 

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Put stick of butter in skillet and place skillet in preheated oven for about 7 minutes, until butter is melted, though if it browns a bit, that too works as it adds flavor.

Put fruit in a bowl. This can be any fruit, shy of melon, really.. If strawberries, cut into halves or quarters, depending on the size. Peaches, slice into wedges. Apples, wedges. Berries, don't slice... If the fruit is lacking in sweetness, toss in a bit of sugar to taste. 

In a separate bowl measure the dry ingredients. Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Next whisk in milk and vanilla. Stir until well combined, but don't over-mix, as over-mixing can develop the glutens in the flour which would cause a less delicate crumb. 

Remove skillet the oven, pour melted butter into your batter, swiftly stir to combine and then pour batter into the hot skillet. Next pour your fruit into the center of the batter (resisting the urge to stir in the fruit) and place in the oven.

Bake for about one hour, until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Served topped with whipped cream.