This easily adaptable recipe is a perfect showcase for fresh fruit.
When I asked Andrew for his recipe for this wonderfully homey dessert, he handed 
me one for Apricots and Blackberries. His version had neither. Instead, the glorious peaches, blueberries, and raspberries that are at every farm stand were the fruits of choice in his version. He said he could have swapped out the blueberries and raspberries for strawberries. Or Nectarines for the peaches. The only adjustment needed is the quantity of sugar. Sweetness is based on the fruit’s sugar content. In case you’re wondering, the sweetest fruits are 
watermelon, mango, papaya, pineapple, and orange. Strawberries are incredibly sweet –10 grams of sugar on average. Raspberries are even sweeter coming in at 11 grams. But Blueberries beat both. 1 cup has 15 grams of sugar. Then, believe it or not, the ripeness of the fruit comes into play. Riper equals sweeter. So go easy on the sugar. Most fruit doesn’t need much at all.
What exactly is a “Cobbler”?
What differentiates a cobbler from a pie is simply that the pastry batter is poured over the fruit filling. There’s no pastry underneath at all. Then to confuse matters, cobblers are also called pandowdies, grunts, slumps, buckles, crisps, croustades, bird’s nest puddings, or crow’s nest puddings. They 
were the invention of British colonists who lacked the ingredients and cooking equipment needed to make their suet puddings. Instead, they covered a stewed filling with a layer of uncooked biscuits, scone batter, or individual dumplings fitted together. The name cobbler first appeared in 1859. A “cobeler” was a “wooden bowl”. Another suggestion is that the top of the cobbler looked like cobbled stones rather than the smoothness of a pastry covering. Now on to the recipe with one suggestion: Top your cobbler with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream. It will be unbelievably good. Here’s the recipe and after it some other fruit desserts to try.
Peach Blueberry and Raspberry Cobbler
This incredibly adaptable recipe is really all you need to showcase virtually all your favorite fresh fruits
Ingredients
- For the Fruit “Filling”:
- 2 lbs. of peaches, peeled and sliced into wedges
- 1-8 oz. basket of blueberries
- 1-8 oz. basket of raspberries
- (Approximately 3 cups of berries in total)
- 1/3 to ½ cups granulated sugar—less for riper fruit, more for less ripe fruit.
- ½ tsp. coarse salt
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 2-1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
- For the Biscuit Dough:
- 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/3 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. coarse salt
- 6 tbsp. (3/4 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cubed
- ½ cup Buttermilk, plus more for brushing on the biscuit topping.
- Demerara Sugar for finishing.
Directions
- Step 1 In a large bowl, toss together the fruit, sugar, salt, lemon juice, and corn starch. Put the fruit mixture into a 13 x 9-inch oval gratin dish.
- Step 2 Set the oven rack in the middle position. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a nonstick, silicone baking mat.
- Step 3 To make the biscuit topping: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder., baking soda, and salt.
- Step 4 Working quickly so as not to heat the butter, use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coast crumbs. Add the buttermilk and fold with a rubber scraper or your hands until the buttermilk has been absorbed and there are no dry patches. Do not overwork the dough—it will be wet.
- Step 5 Spoon dollops of biscuit dough on top of the fruit. (As the cobbler cooks, the dollops will spread and join each other.) Brush the dough with the buttermilk and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake until the biscuit topping is lightly browned and cooked through 30 to 35 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. And don’t forget the vanilla ice cream.
Chez Panisse’s Blueberry Cobbler and a salute to the one and only Molly O’Neill
Raspberry Pistachio Cheesecake from John Barricelli of the SoNo Baking Company
