Nectarine Cobbler

Oh, this morning was not one of my best mornings for baking. After much debating over the amount of sugar needed for a certain recipe - which included not only my dad, but our neighbor across the street - I discovered that my main ingredient had gone bad. Hmph.

But I knew I wanted to make this. We bought some nectarines, since all of the fruit-eaters in this house agreed on them, and I thought I'd surprise them with this. Cobblers are a great dessert for this time of year, especially with so many different fresh fruits in season and readily available.

After some searching, I found this recipe over at Melissa's, which seems to be similar to Whole Foods? I should probably explore the site more when I have the time. Pretty easy to put together, but next time, I would definitely add more nectarines. I'm not sure how visible in the picture (taken right after it came out of the oven), but it's a very thin fruit layer. I also used brown sugar in most places, instead of the regular white sugar.



Ingredients:
2 nectarines
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp. cornstarch
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
½ tsp. ground ginger

Topping:
3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup butter, cold
1/3 cup milk
3/4 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400F. Grease an 8-inch baking pan.

Slice nectarines thinly. Stir together with sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Spread onto bottom of prepared pan.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt together. Cut in butter, until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk, and stir just until combined. (This will be very sticky.) Drop over fruit.

Mix cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl, then sprinkle over the dough and fruit.

Bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool, and serve either warm or at room temperature.

Peach Cobbler

Since it was Valentine's Day and all yesterday, I decided to make Dave a giant heart-shaped cookie. It didn't go well, and that's all we're going to say on that subject!

A couple weeks ago, we were watching Good Eats (I have a huge non-sexual crush on Alton Brown.), and the episode was on peaches. Dave mentioned he really liked peach cobbler. Now, the boy may eat almost anything, but he's kinda fussy about baked goods (Don't tell him I said that LOL). So, anyways, I jumped on this knowledge.

I know fresh peaches would have been best, but they're not in season and were a bit pricey, hence the use of the frozen ones. In my defense, at least they're the Whole Foods brand of frozen fruit. ;)

Unfortunately, they didn't come out to be as pretty as I'd like them to be. In fact, if I based it off of what it looked like, I probably wouldn't have even eaten them. But we decided to go for it anyways, and I'm glad we did. It tasted a WHOLE lot better than it looked. Thankfully.

I found the original recipe over at Tartelette and altered it for my peaches.

Ingredients:
Filling:
16 oz. frozen peaches
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 Tbsp. cornstarch

Streusel topping:
½ cup butter, cold
½ cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
Cinnamon (I just shook it in, no measuring)
Nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

Filling: Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Divide between four rammekins. Place the rammekins on a baking sheet, in case the fruit spills over. Set aside.

Topping: In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and spices. Add the butter, cut in small pieces, and mix with your fingertips until it appears crumb-like. Sprinkle evenly over the dishes.

Bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes.

Triple Berry Cobbler

derived from Goddess in the Kitchen by Margie Lapanja

I think my only complaint with this recipe was the waiting period. Waiting for it to bake (and it creates the yummiest scent, too), then waiting for it to cool (oh, the agony!). Simple, as cobblers often are, and hey, there's health value - there's fruit! ;)

Ingredients:
Filling:
7-8 cups strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup flour
2 Tbsp. quick-cooking tapioca
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg

Topping:
1½ cups brown sugar
1½ cups rolled oats
1 cup flour
3/4 cup butter, chilled and cut into pieces
2 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. nutmeg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large (15x10x2½-inch) baking pan.

Toss the filling ingredients together in a large bowl and then spoon into pan.

For the topping, mix sugar, oats, and flour. With a large fork, cut in the butter, then blend in the spices. Sprinkle the topping over the fruit mixture.

Bake, uncovered, for 50 minutes to an hour. (Cover the pan with tinfoil if, toward the end of the baking time, the top of the crisp begins to brown too much).

Serve, slightly warmed, with honey and/or ice cream on top.