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Blackberry, Apple and Almond Cobbler

Blackberry, Apple and Almond Cobbler

The cobbler is a classic English pudding – a close cousin of the crumble, yet for some inexplicable reason not as well known. It’s hardly any more time consuming to make, and the crusty, scone-like topping is quite wonderful. Next time you’re about to make a crumble, stop yourself, and try a cobbler instead. Blackberry and apple is a classic late-summer filling, as the last of the blackberries overlap with the first of the Bramleys and other dissolving cookers, such as Lord Derby. You can easily omit the blackberries once the season is over (but the apples are still going strong) – or use frozen blackberries throughout the winter. This cobbler can easily be adapted for all kinds of fruit – plums and damsons make a particularly fine one, as do rhubarb and gooseberries. Just slightly sweeten the fruit, cook it until you have a good, juicy compote, then pile the cobblers on top and bake.

Ingredients:

Serves 6

1kg Bramleys or other dissolving cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
100g sugar
a small knob of butter
about 500g blackberries

For the cobbler topping:
100ml whole milk, slightly warmed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
100g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
75g butter
100g ground almonds
50g caster sugar
1 tablespoon flaked almonds (optional)

 

Put the apples into a saucepan with the sugar, butter and a couple of tablespoons of water. Heat very gently until the juices begin to run. Cook at a very gentle simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until you have a smooth compote. Taste for sweetness and add more sugar if you like, but keep it on the tart side. Then stir in the blackberries and pile the mixture into a pie dish or other ovenproof dish, leaving a good couple of centimetres spare at the top. Now make the cobbler topping. Mix the warm milk with the lemon juice and set aside. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the butter until you have fine crumbs. Stir in the ground almonds and sugar, then mix in the milk to give a soft dough. You can do all this in a food processor, pulsing first the flour, baking powder and butter, then the almonds and sugar, then the milk.
Pile generous dessertspoons of the mixture, (each one a ‘cobbler’ not quite touching its neighbour) over the surface of the fruit in the dish. Aim for 6–8 cobblers in all. Scatter over the flaked almonds, if you like. Place the dish in the centre of a moderate oven (180°C/Gas Mark 4) and bake for about 30 minutes, until the cobblers are puffed and golden, like crusty scones. Leave to cool for 15 minutes or so (otherwise it will be scalding hot when you serve it). Serve plain, or with cream, custard, or ice-cream.
Note
If you want to part-make the pudding a few hours in advance, prepare the fruit compote and mix the cobbler ingredients up to the point where you add the milk. Then about 45 minutes before you want to eat it (just before you sit down to lunch or dinner) whisk in the warm milk, make the cobblers, and put in the oven.