Blackberry-Peach Cobbler with Sour Cream Biscuits
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 40 mins
Active: 10 mins
Makes: 6 servings
By Aida Mollenkamp
The ultimate expression of summer, this cobbler is filled with berries and stone fruit, and topped with low-fuss sour cream biscuits. We like the combination of floral peaches with bright blackberries, but mix and match stone fruit and berries as you please. As with most cobbler recipes, this is even better when drizzled with heavy cream or served à la mode.
For the biscuits:
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), frozen
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
For the filling:
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped, seeds reserved
- 1 1/2 pounds peaches, pitted and cut into sixths (about 5 cups)
- 12 ounces blackberries (about 2 1/2 cups)
Assembly:
- 2 teaspoons sour cream
- 1 tablespoon coarse sanding sugar (can substitute granulated sugar)
- Heat the oven to 375°F and arrange the rack in the middle of the oven.
For the biscuits:
- Combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps.
- Using the large holes of a box grater, grate frozen butter into flour mixture and toss to coat. Smear in sour cream and heavy cream and, using your hands, knead until dough just comes together. Divide into six pieces and flatten into disks; cover and reserve in the refrigerator.
For the filling:
- Mix together flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, and vanilla seeds. Add peaches and blackberries and mix until fruit is evenly coated.
- Turn fruit into a 2-quart baking dish and stagger biscuits evenly across the top.
Assembly:
- Brush tops of biscuits with sour cream and sprinkle with coarse sanding sugar.
- Bake until mixture bubbles, peaches are tender when pierced with a knife, and biscuits are golden brown and cooked through, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool at least 5 minutes before serving.
Beverage pairing: Saracco Moscato d’Asti, Italy. Sprightly and buoyant on the palate, Moscato d’Asti, a light, sparkling sweet wine from northern Italy, is a refreshing match for the cobbler. Light carbonation and texture make it a welcome contrast for the rich heaviness of the cobbler, while its flavors of pear, peach, and spice accent the fruit.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
Okay, maybe I'm nit-picking here, but this isn't a cobbler. When you put the biscuit on top of the fruit, you're making a slump. When you put a lid on a slump, you're making a grunt. If you want cobbler, the batter goes in the pan first, then fruit on top, and the crust cooks up through the fruit. For a perfect example, look at Paula Dean's recipe here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/pa...
I think it's important to use the proper name for a dish, even if the definitions are kind of loose and traditional.
I wonder if it's a regional thing, hoosier...? The name "cobbler", I mean. I grew up & spent most of my adult life in the coastal South (which is NOT South Florida, by the way--South Florida, where I live now, is southern only by the strict geographical definition)--and I never heard this kind of dish called a "slump" or a "grunt." (Those are things your mother or your aunt chastises you for doing at the dinner table, not something you eat.) Where I come from--the land of pig roasts, crab boils, potluck dinners, and Wednesday night church suppers--any dessert consisting of a mess o' fruit baked with batter or soft dough until its golden, bubbly and delicious is called a "cobbler," whether it's batter poured in first...sweet "biscuits" or dumplings dropped on top... It's all delicious, and it's all called "cobbler". There are even those who will roll out their dough, drape it over the whole pan, and we'll accept that--though mostly out of politeness, as secretly its somewhat frowned upon as something that Northerners do. ;-)
Anyway, between this recipe and the "Tipsy Summer Peach Pudding" I saw on Serious Eats the other day (http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/20... I'm going to have to keep my eye out a the farmer's market for a bargain on a big ol' mess o' peaches...
I think nitpicking is never good. This is a recipe I am going to try RIGHT NOW, and I don't care WHAT you want to call it. Those biscuits sound amazing, and I'll bet they will become my go-to recipe for any shortbread I make from now on, as well as a topping for cobblers et. al. I have been cooking for so long now, that I can usually tell a great recipe just by reading it. I'm not ALWAYS right, but I'd say at least 99% of the time I am. I can already taste them. I have all the ingredients at hand, and so am going to go cook now, and look forward to desserts and snacks for a while. Thanks for sharing this. I will report back later to let you know if my snap judgment was correct.
and then there are pandowdys! I'm a native New Englander, and for us, cobblers are fruit on the bottom and something biscuitish on top (and by that, I mean US biscuits, not UK biscuits, which are really cookies). Serve it with a pitcher of fresh cream, or whipped cream, neither of which need to be sweetened, as the fruit and biscuit (whatever you call it) are plenty sweet enough.
Dowdy, Slump, or cobbler....It could be anyone of these depending on where you are from. All I know is that it is good. I didn't have enough peaches so I mixed it up and used what I had-- about 3 cups peaches about 1 cup nectarines and plums, and about 2 pints of blackberries and blueberries. Served it with high quality vanilla ice cream It was the best cobblerdowdyslump I've ever had.
...When peaches are in season here I am certainly making one of these cobblerdowdyslumps!