Hello and welcome to The Big Night In. We talk recipes, restaurants, and the occasional bit of drivel. If somehow you have slipped into my house and are still not subscribed, don’t worry, we can fix that:
I have made cobbler in a few different ways over the years (with either cornmeal crumble or cornmeal shortcakes). The crumble version tastes just as good as the shortcake version with half the effort and none of the wastage. Truth be told I don’t have a great picture of the crumble version so below is major false advertising. It’s very quick to throw together and takes about 40 minutes in the oven. You can eat it almost immediately and pairs incredibly well with a smooth vanilla bean ice cream.
The Recipe
Berry Cobbler
700g berries, hulled & halved or quartered
2 tablespoons cornflour
100 grams (1/2 cup) sugar
Juice of 1 large lemon or lime
120 grams (1 cup) flour
30 grams (1/4 cup) cornmeal
32 grams (1/4 cup) icing sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
115 grams (1/2 cup) melted butter
3 tablespoons demerara sugar or brown sugar
Vanilla ice cream for serving
Preheat oven to 180c (fan bake).
Mix berries, cornflour, sugar, and lemon juice in a large bowl, then pour into an oven dish or cast iron dish (about 20cm in diameter).
Whisk flour, cornmeal, icing sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, & salt together. Then pour in the melted butter and use your hands to bring the mixture together until there are no streaks of flour left.
Crumble the mixture over the top of the berries, making sure to keep mostly large chunks (the small crumbles will just sink to the bottom) then sprinkle over the demerara sugar.
Bake at 180 for 35-45 mins or until golden on top & fruit is bubbly. Serve with a really good vanilla ice cream; I recommend Appleby Farms, Kapiti, or Lewis Road Creamery if you’re in New Zealand.
Notes:
If you are a more-shortbread-less-fruit kinda person then increase the shortbread ingredients by a third. This will cover the fruit completely but will still cook at the same time.
You can use partially-thawed frozen fruit (winter cobbler yay!) just be wary that you may need to drain a little bit of the liquid that comes off the fruit. The cobbler bits may sink down a tad, but that’s okay.