My Recipes I Brianna Wray

All sorts of stories aim to explain how this dessert got its name, but we have not come to any consensus (according to Wikipedia, anyway). I’ve heard the pastries were invented by a shoemaker’s wife who stared down the cobblestone lane waiting for her sweet to return. She put together a smattering of sweet and tart fruits for her husband, the cobbler, to gobble.

Similar desserts have been and are still called by various names such as tart, pie, etc., with only subtle differences between them. There are people in the south who will argue all day about acceptable crust composition, whether it be attached for floating, etc. Me? I’d rather eat it than define it. Is a rose not a rose by any other name? I think we can agree that cobblers are an American deep-dish fruit dessert with a thick crust. The rest is up to you.

INGREDIENTS:

12 red plums

1 pizzazz apple, grated

3/4 cup white flour

1 cup white sugar

¼ cup brown sugar

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 beaten egg

1 cup melted butter, divided

1 sleeve graham crackers, pulverized

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°

Combine ½ cup of the melted butter and ¼ cup of the white sugar with graham crackers and press into an ungreased 8x8 baking dish. Bake for 10 min, then allow to cool before filling.

On the stove, cook plums and grated apple until skins fall off and all water is cooked out of the fruit. Add white sugar to taste. Add vanilla extract and vanilla bean paste. Once cooled, spoon compote over graham cracker crust.

Mix the remaining sugars, flour, baking powder, and salt. Then combine this dry mixture with the egg. Spoon this mixture over plums. Drizzle with remaining butter.

Bake for 40 minutes or until the crumble crust on top is brown.

Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

NOTES:

The fruits can easily be substituted by season and preference. Combinations I’ve tried are apricot-pear and peach-mango.