COLONIAL STYLE FRUIT COBBLER
Here is my version of an old fashioned early American fruit cobbler dessert. Cobblers
come with a simple biscuit-like topping. Underneath lies a sugary confection of fresh
baked fruit. Cobbler has always been my favorite. Simple yet formal. If one could
consider a dessert cozy, then cobbler would be it. You can picture the early American
family sitting around the family hearth eating their apple cobbler with delight after a
hearty, savory meal. Keep in mind though, that you can substitute almost any other fruit
in your cobbler recipe. Serve warm right out of the oven with a dollop of ice cream.
Simply the greatest!
7-9 apples peeled and cut into long thin slices
1 cup of sugar
3 cups of flour
One and three-quarters cups of water
4 tsp. of double acting baking powder
One-half tsp. salt
1 egg
First prepare your filling by peeling and cutting up seven apples into long thin slices
avoiding the core.
Then put one-half cup of sugar into a large skillet.
Then put your
sliced apples into the skillet on top of the sugar.
Then sprinkle a little ground cinnamon
over the top of the sliced apples.
Do not use any shortening at all.
Cook over low heat
for twenty minutes turning the contents of the skillet over occasionally.
Do not cover.
When done, spray the inside of a twelve by eight inch rectangular cake pan lightly with
cooking oil spray.
Then put the cooked apples from the skillet into the cake pan
spreading them out evenly to cover the bottom of the cake pan.
Next you will prepare your pastry topping.
To do so, into a mixing bowl put three cups
of flour, one cup of water, four tsp. of double acting baking powder, one-half tsp. of salt,
one egg, and one-half cup of sugar.
With clean hands mix these ingredients by hand
using your fingers until you get a dry clumpy mixture.
Then add one-half cup of water
and mix using your fingers again.
Then add one-quarter cup of water and mix using your
fingers once more.
You should end up with a wet, lumpy mixture. The lumps are okay
and impart a special character to this recipe.
This mixture is your pastry topping batter.
Now using a dinner tablespoon dollop this topping batter mixture, one spoonful at a time,
at regular intervals evenly over the sliced apples in the pan.
Usually there are five
dollops across the LENGTH of the pan in rows, and about three or four rows down until
you run out of batter.
It doesn’t matter if there are open spaces between dollops. This is
the character of cobbler!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees for five minutes. Then put
your pan in the oven and bake your cobbler for 30-35 minutes until slightly golden.
Served best warm right out of the oven! Great served with a dollop of ice cream!
NOTE:
You can substitute any fresh sliced fruit in place of apple in this recipe.
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