I knew it was a good sign when my mother-in-law, Emily, started rattling off the ingredients for her go-to berry cobbler over the phone, then interrupted herself to say, This index card is so stained and old, who knows where on earth I got it from? Those of you who have read my book know about Emily’s Index Card Cache (a.k.a The Recipe Starter Kit) we inherited from her a few months after we were married. And those of you who have made her Meatloaf know that those index cards rarely disappoint. This cobbler — a flexible, non-fussy, absolutely-screams-summer kind of dessert — follows suit. My favorite thing about the recipe (besides the crunchy crumbling topping that somehow weaves all the way into the filling) is that it doesn’t involve getting butter to the right temperature, then smushing it into the sugar and flour, which I always find to be a somewhat perilous (and messy) proposition. You simply drizzle the melted butter on top at the end, which means the whole thing comes together fast and with minimal fuss.
My other favorite thing about it? The original recipe called for that butter to be margarine.
Summer Cobbler
I assembled this particular cobbler (made with peaches and blueberries) in about 10 minutes, shoved it into the oven, drove across town for a playdate pick-up, and was back in time to pull out the bubbly goodness just about a half hour later.
5-6 cups fruit (Any combo: peeled, sliced peaches or nectarines, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries; for this one I used 8 medium peaches, peeled and sliced, and 1 1/2 pints blueberries) enough to mostly fill a 13-by-nine inch baking dish.
juice from half a lemon
1 cup flour, whisked
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 beaten egg
5 tablespoons butter, melted
Place fruit in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish. Sprinkle on lemon juice and toss. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add egg, tossing with fork until mixture is crumbly. (It should not be mushy.) Sprinkle flour-egg mixture over fruit then drizzle as evenly as possible with melted butter.
Bake at 375°F for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Emily’s Index Cards. See page 15 of Dinner: A Love Story.
This looks/sounds divine! I made a similar crisp this morning for our weekend trip. I used 3 peaches, a bag of frozen blueberries, 2 cups of rhubarb, and two apples because that’s what I had at hand. I hope it’s good!!
That’s when you know it’s a good recipe, when the card
Is all stained with ingredients! Love that.
I have a huge bowl of apricots on my counter that are now screaming ‘cobbler!’ Thanks for the tip!!
I have been searching for a great cobbler recipe for years – it’s my day’s favorite dessert – and they never seem to come out quite right. Some are too gooey, some are too doughy… This one turned out just right! Thank you so much for posting! I will be making this recipe again 🙂
Awesome cobbler! I did not have an egg and it was still good! Thanks a lot! So perfect!
I made this today with my son for Father’s Day!
We put in blueberries, peaches, rhubarb and cherries. Hope Grampa likes it!
This is great for using up that fruit that’s a little past its prime. I made this up today using a bag of apples that had been lost in the back of the fridge. So wonderfully easy and delicious. I added 1/2 a cup of wheat germ to the topping to give a nuttier taste. This will be a regular in our house
Added a 1/2c cornmeal to the crumb topping. Used peaches and blueberries…delicious!
Made this tonight with pear, apple, cranberry and a little crystallized ginger in the crumble. Just as good for fall as it was with berries in the summer!
I’m late to this cobbler party, but I had to comment anyway because this is BY FAR the BEST cobbler I’ve ever made. The recipe absolutely lived up to the hype! Used 7 red haven peaches plus frozen blueberries from last year’s farmer’s market haul. Followed the recipe exactly except for doubling the topping (my favorite part to any cobbler), and it turned out amazing. Thank you for yet another fantastic, go-to recipe!
I have some old times recipes on cards that call for margarine too! I always change it to butter or olive oil depending on what it is.
Sounds great! If you were using frozen berries, would you thaw first or not?