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Crazy cobbler is a winner at harvest time

Recipe: Summer peaches, nectarines featured in this version of Blue Ribbon Cobbler

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 28, 2019

Blue Ribbon Cobbler is put together differently than most.
(Photos: Debbie Arrington)

One of the great pleasures of midsummer is a rich and satisfying fruit dessert that makes the most of a sweet-tart bounty.

My favorite is this cobbler: easier than pie and flexible to what’s ripe.

I discovered this recipe 35 years ago when I first started writing about food. “Blue Ribbon Peach Cobbler,” which according to accompanying recipe notes won top prize at an unnamed state fair, was part of Ronald Johnson’s wonderful “The American Table: A Festive Sampler of Regional Cooking at its Savory Best.” Johnson encouraged readers to substitute other fruit or combinations for the peaches, which I have done often.

In honor of closing day of our State Fair, this Blue Ribbon Cobbler will win smiles at summer gatherings. (Just use the correct size pan.)

The example here uses yellow peaches and nectarines, peeled and sliced. Strawberry-rhubarb, peach-blueberry, apple-rhubarb, mixed berries; all these combos work well, as do straight peaches or other fruit.

The recipe itself looks out of whack with way more sugar than flour, plus lots of butter. That’s what makes it delicious. The batter bubbles when it’s spooned over the melted butter, and the fruit is dropped on top, not layered underneath. As the cobbler cooks, the fruit sinks down into the batter. The top and sides develop a rich, brown crunchy crust, wrapped around sweet-tart syrupy filling.

All that sinking and rising needs some room. Use a DEEP baking dish (3 inches preferred), not a shallow pie pan. Place a cookie sheet under the baking dish to catch overflow, just in case.

Blue Ribbon Cobbler
Adapted from “The American Table,” by Ronald Johnson (Pocket Cookbook, 1984)

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients:

The prepared fruit is spooned over the batter before baking.

½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
¾ cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 cups sugar (divided)
1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¾ cup milk
2 cups fresh fruit (such as peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries, apples, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, boysenberries, rhubarb or mixed)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Put the stick of butter in a deep, square baking pan (8- or 9-inch). Place pan in the oven and let butter melt as oven heats. (Remember to take it out.)

Meanwhile, mix flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and 1 cup sugar. Stir in milk to make a batter. Set aside.

Prepare fruit. If using peaches, nectarines or apples, peel and slice; halve and pit apricots or cherries; string and chop rhubarb; or hull berries.

Mix prepared fruit with remaining 1 cup sugar.

Pour batter over melted butter in pan. Spoon fruit evenly over the batter. Bake for 1 hour.

Serve warm with cream, whipped or plain.

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RECIPE

A recipe for preparing delicious meals from the bounty of the garden.

Keywords:

baking recipes gardening Sacramento farmers markets peaches summer fruit backyard produce farm to fork produce mangement

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

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Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

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June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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