Birthday Highjinks - Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

This is the last of my birthday recipes and the second of the two cobblers I made, this one is a more American version and was so so good. Whereas the English version was a little too sweet and the scones a little firm for a pudding topping the cake batter mixture was perfect. It would also be easier to make smaller versions of this, which I will definitely be doing! I've also filled up all week on leftover puddings, it's been fantastic!
Although the outlay for the party was a fair bit, actually I've had so many leftovers and things that it's practically fed me for the week. I bought a very good quality piece of pork and even so my Mum and I worked out that the pork was just over £1 per portion, which is pretty good value really. None of anything else was particularly expensive and a lot of it simply used up things I already had and at the end of the day I had a fantastic night with good friends and good food and that's what really matters.

Peach and Blueberry Cobbler (from Hairy Biker's Mississippi Adventure)
(Serves 6-8)

2 x 410g tins sliced peaches, in juice
75g granulated or golden caster sugar, plus 4 tbsp       
2 tbsp cornflour
75g butter, softened
1 large egg
150ml semi-skimmed milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
125g blueberries

Preheat the oven to 190C. Drain the peaches, reserving the juice from just one of the cans - you’ll get about 110ml.

Put the peaches and the juice in a medium saucepan and add 2 tbsp of the sugar. Cook the peaches and sugar for three minutes, or until they reach a gentle simmer.

Mix the cornflour with 4 tbsp cold water and stir into the pan. Cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes or until the peach juice has thickened and looks almost clear, stirring constantly. Tip into a 1.5 litre shallow ovenproof dish.

To make the topping, put the 75g of sugar in a large bowl and add the soft butter, egg, milk, vanilla extract, flour and baking powder.

Beat like hell with a wooden spoon or electric whisk. The batter should be thick and smooth and drop easily from the spoon. Don’t worry if there are a few small lumps of butter in the mix. Stir in the blueberries.

Put big spoonfuls of the batter on top of the fruit. There will be a few gaps but the cobbler mixture will soften to fill them.

Sprinkle with the remaining 2 tbsp sugar and bake for 35 minutes until the fruit is bubbling and the topping is well risen and golden brown. Serve with cream or ice cream.     

Birthday Highjinks - Apple and Blackberry Cobbler

I made two puddings for Saturday night, both cobblers to keep with the American theme. However, this is actually an English style cobbler using a scone like mixture to form the topping rather than the more American cake batter topping. At least I think I have that right! I tried a bit of both and although I liked this one I preferred the Peach and Blueberry cobbler.

Apple and Blackberry Cobbler (adapted from Market Kitchen)
(Serves 4)

700g bramley apples, peeled, cored and sliced
200g blackberries
75g caster sugar
1 vanilla pod, seeds only
25g butter, plus extra for greasing 
      

For the cobbler topping

450g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch ground ginger
200g chilled butter, diced
100g caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
60ml milk
1 tbsp demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 200C. Generously butter a deep, 1.5 litre ovenproof baking dish.

Put the apple slices, blackberries, caster sugar and vanilla seeds into the prepared dish and mix gently to coat the fruit in vanilla and sugar. Dot with the butter.

For the cobbler topping: sift the flour, a pinch of salt, ground ginger and ground cinnamon into a bowl. Add the diced butter and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then stir in the sugar.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg and milk until combined.

Add the milk mixture to the dry ingredients, reserving a little to brush on the top of the cobbler. Mix well (a dinner knife works well for this) then remove from the bowl and knead lightly on a floured surface into a smooth dough.

Roll out the dough until 1.5cm thick and, using a cookie cutter, divide it into 12 rounds. Arrange these rounds over the apple mix – it doesn’t matter if there are gaps. Brush the tops of the cobbler with the reserved milk/egg mix and sprinkle with the demerara sugar and a little pinch of salt.

Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the cobbler topping has risen and turned golden and the filling is bubbling. Serve with ice cream.