Cobbler Cobbler, Mend My Heart

I hardly ever find anyone who is as peculiarly interested in cooking as I am. I say peculiar because I like to pick up unusual dishes, usually from another geographical origin and then instead of fusing them with local or existing cuisine surrounding us, I deliberately try finding better kinks and bobs keeping it within the bounds of its own cuisine, so with the exception of family heirlooms of recipes, I will always have some sort of departure from the original recipe. I don’t think I’ve ever really followed a recipe to the T.

However. If a different way of doing the same thing already exists I will be the first one to pounce at it. Which is what happened here.

I’m known in my social circle for my Apple (or any fruit) crumble. I can quite literally make it in my sleep (and I have! Half asleep. Eyes closed, hands in flour). When recently at a relatively new (but dear) friend’s dinner party I discovered a twist on cobbler, I HAD to ask the proverbial bhabi question, “how did you make this”.

It was only when I googled it I realised it is actually a well revered technique! Nevertheless since it was the crumble/ pie/ cobbler family I HAD to add my own little “touch” here and there.

I present to you my version of

SUMMER STONE- FRUIT COBBLER with Hot Sugar Crust

So you can make it with Plums, Apricots, Peaches, anything! I’d love to try it with cherries but feel that it will become way too runny. Anyway. That is an experiment for later.

Yesterday I made this from the few peaches and apricots (Khubaani and Aarroo) that were lying around from my toddler’s stash. I wish I had added Plums but I didn’t since I had recently made a Plum Torte (a recipe for another post!) to DIE for and wanted to save them for it.

I made half the quantity because we were fewer dessert eaters at dinner and will share the full recipe here. This makes enough for 6-8 heavy eaters or 8-10 lightweight ones.

  • 10 large, ripe peaches and/ or apricots or plums (roughly 2kg), pitted but not peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks. Prick the skin lightly with a fork though. It prevents any unwelcome “fun” in the oven.

  • 1 large lemon or a few small ones.

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature.

  • 2 1/2 cups ground (powdered) sugar. I like keeping ground sugar because most angrezi recipes that ask for granulated sugar have no idea what gargoyle sized granules our Pakistani sugar has. Look at it lovingly and it might just pop into a sugar cube tomorrow morning! Okay that’s a bit much but our granulated sugar cannot be used where non desi recipes ask for it.

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose/ plain flour (Maida)

  • 2 teaspoons baking powder

  • 4 tablespoons Ground Almonds

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (original recipe asked for 1 teaspoon kosher salt which isn’t as strong as our desi namak. To be honest in making HALF of this recipe I merely used a fat pinch and it was fine. You can use 1/2 a teaspoon or less)

  • 3/4 cup whole milk (no low fat milk please. It’s an abomination. Either remove dairy from your diet or have it whole fat. No middle ground here!)

  • 1/2 cup hot water (I quite literally just poured it straight from the kettle, eyeballing the quantity.

  • Heavy cream, for serving

Instructions.

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), with a rack in the center. Line a large baking sheet or tray with aluminum foil.

  • I took this up by instinct. The peaches I had were a bit hard. Not exactly ripened to the juicy stage so I took 1/4-1/2 cup of sugar from the quota in here and tossed it with it adding a splash of lemon juice and cooking it for 10-15 minutes WITHOUT adding any water to it. Let its own juices emerge and then just take it off heat. If your fruit is soft and juicy, you can totally skip this step

  • Arrange the peaches in a 9 by 13-inch or similar-size baking pan or gratin dish. Zest about 2 teaspoons of lemon zest evenly over the fruit if you’re using the large imported lemons, in case you’re using the desi/ Chinese lemons, don’t bother. If you haven’t precooked the fruit as I mentioned in the previous step and the lemon juice has not been added, Cut the lemon in half and squeeze about 1⁄4 cup of lemon juice or less over the top. I don’t like my fruit to go sour with it given that our lemons are far stronger. I’ll be honest I am always a little light handed when adding lemon to fruits in a dessert. This time was no exception.

  • Using the hand held beater (or if you have a stand mixer), cream the butter and sugar (leaving 1/2 cup aside for the crust) on medium speed until creamy but sandy, about 1 minute. Add the flour, baking powder, 2 tablespoons of ground Almond, and salt and beat on medium speed until all the flour is incorporated and the mixture is evenly crumbly, about 30 seconds more. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. With the beater on low speed, slowly pour in the milk. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the batter is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

  • Scoop the batter in about 6 large blobs over the peaches. With an offset spatula or the back of a big spoon, carefully spread the batter evenly over the fruit so it’s no more than about 1/2 inch thick in any one place.

  • Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup sugar (mixed with a teaspoon of cinnamon powder and 2 tablespoons of ground almonds) over the batter. Drizzle the hot water evenly over the sugar, using it to melt the sugar topping.

  • Set the pan on the foil-lined baking sheet and bake the cobbler until the top is golden brown and cracked, 70 to 80 minutes. (This will need to be adjusted according to your oven. I have a silly oven and a new cook, an eager and inquisitive little beaver who would keep opening the oven every now and then despite my signature ghoori! If you have such a specimen around you, increase the time. Mine took 1.5 hours to be fully ready) A toothpick stuck in the topping should come out clean or with just crumbs clinging—be sure to check in a few places.

  • Usually in our normal gas ovens the top won’t go brown enough in time. So once the cobbler is sufficiently cooked, switch on the top grill for 5-10 minutes, watching it like a hawk for depending on your oven it goes from raw to charcoal black in less than a minute if not watched closely.

  • Let the cobbler cool for about 30 minutes to firm up. Serve warm, scooping it into big bowls and pouring a little heavy cream over the top. Refrigerate any leftovers airtight.

Give it a try. The market is full of such lovely summer fruit. Make it make it make it.

I particularly LOVE the crisp top and the squidgy cakey batter underneath labyrinthed around the fruit.

Uff. Maybe I’ll make it again next weekend.