No doubt about it, everyone’s favorite part of meal time is dessert time and there is nothing quite like homemade fruit puddings. This berry an d peach cobbler recipe is easy to make and the ingredients (particularly the berries) can be substituted to reflect the availability of seasonal produce.

In these tough economic times saving every penny really does count and basing your culinary adventures around locally grown and produced seasonal ingredients is such a simple way to reduce your food bills while not foregoing on those little pleasures in life. Fruit in particular is always cheapest whenever local produce is readily available.

So a trip to your local farmer’s market is a worthwhile and rewarding adventure as the majority of produce on offer is local and generally cheaper than from retail outlets. The reason is simple; you are generally buying direct from the grower thereby cutting out the middlemen.

Fruit Filling Ingredients

4 Ripe Peaches (apricots also go down well here)

2 Pints of Mixed Berries (blackberry, blueberry, raspberry, cranberry etc.)

¾ Cup of Sugar

1½ Tablespoons of Corn Starch

1 Teaspoon each of Salt and Ground Cinnamon

Cobbler Crusty Topping Ingredients

1½ Cups of All Purpose Flour

½ Cup of Whole Milk

1/8 Cup of Sugar

1 Stick of Butter

2 Tablespoons of Whipping Cream

2 Teaspoons of Baking Powder

½ Teaspoon each of Salt and Ground Cinnamon

1 Pinch of Powdered Ginger

Preparation

Peaches – Peel and slice the peaches

Butter – Make sure that the butter is very cold and then cut it into ½ inch cubes

Oven – Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Baking Dish – Lightly butter a glass or ceramic baking dish

Preparing the Fruit Filling – Using a glass mixing bowl; add all of the filling ingredients, and then gently toss to combine. Don’t be too heavy handed here as we do not want to pulp the fruit (the intent is for the berries in particular to retain their form). Now pour all of the filling mixture into your already buttered baking dish.

Preparing the Topping – Preparing the topping mixture can be done as the fruit is cooking. Firstly take a mixing bowl (it’s OK to use the same one as that in which you prepared the fruit filling mix.

While stirring add the flour, sugar, salt, ground cinnamon and the baking powder. Once these ingredients are combined add the butter cubes to the mixture. Blend the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a course meal (use your finger tips or a pastry blender). Once done; add the milk and cream to the mix. Continue stirring until the mixture just becomes moist and mixed through. Don’t over mix as the end result is meant to be lumpy.

Cooking

Place the buttered baking dish with the fruit filling mixture into your already preheated oven (425 F) and bake for about 15 minutes.

Now take the par-baked cobbler fruit mix out of the oven and spoon the topping mixture of the top of the par-baked fruit (about 12 to 15 equal sized scoops).

Return the cobbler complete with topping back into the oven (still at 425 degrees).

TIP: You might want to place a sheet pan or rack underneath the cobbler to catch any spillage. Taking the removable tray out of the oven for cleaning is considerably easier than cleaning the mess directly out of the oven.

Continue baking the cobbler until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling (usually takes between 30 to 40 minutes depending upon the fruit used).

Once ready remove from the oven and let cool a little for about 20 minutes prior to serving.

To Serve:

Place portions of the berry and peach cobbler onto plates. Now top each with a generous scoop of ice cream (butterscotch ice cream works wonderfully). Top this with a generous dollop of whipped cream and finally sprinkle crushed peppermint chocolate over the cream and ice cream. Add a wafer, a splash of passionfruit pulp and enjoy.