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Fruit Cobbler

by Matt Kennard

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Batter poured over hot melted butter, jam spooned into the middle, and it sorts itself out in the oven. Gluten-free flour works without changing anything but the milk.

Serves
10
Total
1h 5m
Baked
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The batter goes over the butter, the fruit goes over the batter, and you don't stir any of it. In the oven the batter rises up through the fruit and the butter fries the bottom and the edges. It looks wrong going in and comes out right.

The one thing that matters is that the pan is properly hot when the batter hits it. Melted butter in a warm pan gives you a soft, pale bottom. Melted butter in a hot pan gives you the fried edge that makes this worth making.

Cook the fruit down first rather than using it raw. Raw fruit releases water into the batter and you get a wet middle; jammy fruit sits where you put it.

If it's not right

  • Wet in the middle: the fruit wasn't cooked down far enough, or it was spread to the edges.
  • Pale, soft bottom: the pan wasn't hot when the batter went in.
  • Dry: overbaked. Some jiggle in the middle is correct, and it sets as it cools.
  • Flat: the baking powder is old. It's the only leavening here.

Ingredients

10

Method

  1. 15 min

    Fruit, sugar, salt and lemon juice in a pan over medium heat. Cook until it's jammy and has stopped being watery. Do this first; it's the slow part.

  2. Oven to 350°F. Put the butter in a 9x13 pan and put the pan in the oven to melt while it heats.

  3. Whisk the flour, sugar and baking powder together, then stir in the milk until smooth.

  4. Pull out the hot pan. The butter should be melted and hot, not just soft.

  5. Pour the batter over the butter. Don't stir it. Tilt and shake the pan to run the batter into the corners.

  6. Spoon the jam over the middle. It doesn't need spreading and it shouldn't reach the edges.

  7. 40 minutes

    Bake 40 minutes, until the edges are fully set and there's still a little jiggle in the middle.

  8. Ice cream, while it's warm.

From the journal

  • Make the dessert — We skip it because the meal already feels like enough work. It's the course people remember, and it's the easiest one to get right.

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