If you love an easy fruity dessert, like pie but so much easier, try this mixed berry crumble or simple apple crumble too.
The gooey, warm fruit filling in this instance is fresh plums and apples, stewed until soft and giving up their juices under a crunchy biscuit topping. You might also love this Raspberry Peach Cobbler.
The dough is enriched with cream and is so delectable. It turns out crunchy on top but soft enough to cut through.
Let’s recap
- Soft, warm, syrupy fruit
- Rich, melt-in-the-mouth biscuit topping
- A hint of cardamom and nutmeg for those comforting feels
- Cosy and insanely delicious
- Just begging for a scoop of ice cream
Table of contents
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What is cobbler?
A cobbler is a layer of fresh fruit, topped with a biscuit or scone-like dough and baked.
As it bakes, the fruit stews and releases juice that bubbles up through the cracks of the cobbler topping, while the cobbler topping becomes crunchy.
Supposedly, it’s that random cracked topping that makes it look like cobblestones, hence Cobbler!
How to make cobbler
The wonderful thing about a cobbler is it’s simplicity. It takes less than 20 minutes to put together, then the whole lot gets baked together in one pie dish.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Prep the plums: Remove the stones from the plums and cut them into 8ths before tossing them with some corn flour (cornstarch) in a pie dish.
- Prep the apples: Peel and core the apples, then dice them. Soften them just a little in a saucepan over heat with a little sugar, cardamom and a dash of water. Then mix them into the plums.
- Make the dough: Using a food processor makes this super simple but you can certainly do it by hand too. Mix together a few dry ingredients then add the butter
- Cut in the butter: Process the mixture until the larges piece of butter is around the size of a grain of barley or a lentil. This is known as cutting in the butter.
- Add cream: This is an enriched dough, which means it’s filled with rich ingredients like butter sugar and that glorious cream. Pour in the cream.
- Don’t process too long: You just want to mix through that cream evenly until the dough looks like chunky wet sand.
- Tip it out: onto a lightly floured surface and just gently use your hands to pull it together and then press it out to just under 1cm thick. Use a circle cookie cutter to cut out shapes.
- Top the fruit: Place the little disks of biscuit dough all over the fruit randomly. Brush them with a little egg wash and sprinkle over the sugar topping.
Now, just bake and patiently wait, ice cream scoop in hand.
Cooks Notes / FAQ’s
No. You could also use a pastry cutter or very light fingertips. My mum to this day uses a knife and cuts butter in by hand.
The key to this dough is not to let the butter melt or to be so finely mixed through that there are no small lumps left. Those lumps create steam as the dough cooks, making the dough light and fluffy.
No, you don’t need to use a cookie cutter at all. If you do, just keep the shape simple as it won’t hold a perfect shape as it bakes.
You could also just use a knife to cut squares of dough like this or even just break the dough up with your hands and drop clumps of it over the fruit randomly.
How to serve this apple and plum cobbler
Being filled with fresh fruit, this cobbler is great any time of year. Warm and cosy in Winter but still light in Summer.
From experience I can tell you it’s amazing with ice cream or just a dash of heavy cream but to really take me back to my childhood, I serve this with warm custard (crème anglais style).
Substitutions
Plums and apples: You can swap either of the plums or apples out and just use one type of fruit. If you decide to use only apples, there’ll be no need for the corn flour (cornstarch).
Other fruit: You could also use peaches, nectarines, berries, pears – just about any fruit you like.
I absolutely adore this Apple and Plum Cobbler – from the soft, warm fruit to that crunchy, rich biscuit topping this dessert just screams comfort. With all that fruit it’s also a healthier dessert choice.
Other recipes you might like
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Ingredients
FOR THE FRUIT FILLING
- 2 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored and diced
- ¼ cup caster sugar (or white granulated)
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamon
- 1 tablespoon water
- 6 small plums, pitted and cut into 8ths
- 2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch)
FOR THE SUGAR TOPPING
- 3 teaspoons white granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
FOR THE COBBLER TOPPING
- 130 g plain flour (all purp flour) (1 cup / 4.5oz)
- ¼ cup caster sugar (or white granulated)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 57 g unsalted butter, cubed and chilled (¼ cup / ½ stick / 2oz)
- ⅓ cup thickened (heavy) cream
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
FOR THE FRUIT FILLING
- Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / 160C and have a casserole or pie dish ready. * See notes
- Combine apples, sugar, cardamom and water in small saucepan over low-medium heat. Cook, stirring for 7-8 minutes or until fruit is slightly softened.
- In a pie dish, sprinkle the corn flour over the plums and mix to combine. Add the apple mixture and mix well.
FOR THE SUGAR TOPPING
- In a small bowl, mix the sugar topping ingredients and set aside.
FOR THE COBBLER TOPPING
- Add the flour, sugar and baking powder to the bowl of a food processor and blitz to mix.
- Add the butter and process until there are only small pieces of butter left (about the size of a grain of barley). * See notes if you don’t have a food processor.
- Add the cream and process until it becomes the texture of wet, chunky sand. On a lightly floured surface, press the dough out to just under 1cm thick. Use a circle cookie cutter to cut shapes. *See notes
- Drop the dough circles randomly over the fruit filling, layering a few here and there but leave some holes for the juices to bubble up.
- Brush the tops of the dough with beaten egg, then scatter over the sugar topping.
- Bake for around 45-50 minutes or until the top looks golden and crunchy.
- Serve with cream, ice cream or creme anglais.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- For best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- The pie dish shown in these pictures is an 8 inch pie dish about 2 inches deep
- No food processor? You can cut the butter into the flour mixture by hand using just your fingertips, a knife or a pastry cutter.
- After rolling out the dough, you can use a 5cm / 2 inch fluted cookie cutter like I have or cut it into random shapes with a knife, or just use your fingers to drop random chunks over the top of your fruit filling.
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5 Comments on “Apple and Plum Cobbler”
Oh I’m so jealous you’ve got fresh plums. I’m waiting for them to come into season and this is gonna be the first thing I make. It look so delicious!
I absolutely love cobbler! It’s such a comforting, delicious dish. I think it’s even good for breakfast!! Apple plum would be a terrific combo 🙂
I’d never thought of it for breakfast but you’re absolutely right
I’ve never made a cobbler, but this one looks like a great place to start! Loving the apple/plum combo. It definitely has some cozy vibes, and would be perfect for summer or fall!
You should definitely try it, Leanne. Super simple and can be quite light too while always been comforting.