After reading what feels like 1000 recipes and while the dough portion is usually the same everyone has a different opinion about the fruit
When making a peach & blackberry cobbler, if I'm using frozen berries and fresh peaches , should I thaw the berries? If so do I do a certain about of cooking to the berries and peaches before actually putting it all together? If thrown in while still frozen will that amount to a somewhat soggy or watery cobbler due to the frozen berries unthawing with a certain amount of water coming from being frozen?
Long question, I know.
Thanks!!
It depends…
There are two types of cobbler: biscuit top cobbler and fruit in a batter cobbler.
If the fruit is baked in a batter, the batter will absorb the moisture from fresh fruit.
If it is a biscuit top cobbler, the filling will be formulated to include a thickener. You may need to slightly increase the amount of thickener if you use a significant portion of high water content fruit like blueberries, blackberries, cherries, etc.
Some recipes call for heating some fruits like peaches to release and reduce the juice, before adding it into the recipe. If the juice is reduced, there’s no need to increase the thickener.
Below is a recipe by Deborah Madison, the legendary vegetarian chef who was founding chef of Green’s Restaurant in San Francisco. This recipe was printed in the Greens Cookbook. I made this cobbler years before I ever started baking. It remains one of my favorite cobbler recipes. I use fresh peaches and blueberries, but there’s no reason it can’t be made with frozen fruit. I always sprinkle the biscuit topping with sugar before baking.
Peach and Blueberry Cobbler
- Deborah Madison
The peaches are first heated on the stove to bring out the juices, then baked with the blueberries under a rich biscuit dough. Let the fobbler settle and cool a short while before serving with cold heavy cream, or the Peach or Vanilla Ice Cream.
THE FRUIT
2 pounds ripe, fragrant peaches
1 pint blueberries
¼ to ½ cup sugar, depending on the sweetness of the fruit
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons tapioca
Peel and slice the peaches. If the skins cling, place the peaches in boiling water for 10 to 15 seconds to loosen them. Remove the stems and leaves from the blueberries, rinse them, and set them aside. Combine the peaches with the sugar, spices, lemon juice, and tapioca. Set them aside in a saucepan while you make the biscuit.
THE BISCUIT
1 cup unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon sugar
⅓ teaspoon salt
1 vanilla bean or ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg
3 tablespoons light cream
Additional cream
Combine the dry ingredients and sift them together.
If you are using whole vanilla, halve the bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds with the tip of a knife, and add them to the flour, lightly rubbing the seeds between your fingers to distribute them, but don't worry if they clump together somewhat.
Cut the butter into small pieces; then cut it into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Beat the egg with a fork, and add the cream. If you are using vanilla extract, add it to the cream.
Pour the liquid into the dry ingredients, and bring everything together with a few light, quick strokes of a fork.
Flour your work surface, and turn out the dough. Shape or roll it into a circle or rectangle about ⅜ to ½ inch thick. Cut out six 2½-inch circles, and make a seventh circle out of the scraps.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Use a glass or earthenware baking dish with an 8-cup capacity-the top of the sides should be 1 inch above the fruit.
Heat the peaches on the stove until the juices boil; then pour them into the baking dish and stir in the blueberries. Lay the biscuit rounds over the surface and brush their tops with cream.
If desired, sprinkle them with sugar to make them sparkle. Bake the cobbler until the biscuits are browned, about 25 minutes.
SERVES SIX
