Cobbler isn’t pretty, but this bakery dessert tasted good and looks nice.

Fruit desserts are my favorite sweet option. I like the tiny jewel-like things that fancy bakeries always have on display, but those are beyond my repertoire. Cobblers are more my speed. My mom made a blueberry peach cobbler when I was growing up, usually in the winter, I think, because I remember that she used frozen blueberries and canned peaches. A note about blueberries: frozen or fresh, she always used the low-bush ones from Maine (for muffins, and pancakes, and on cereal, too) not the giant high-bush ones that are easily found in the grocery store each summer. It isn’t just a size difference. Have you ever compared an apricot with a peach? The flavor and texture and general soul differs. The same can be said for blueberry varieties. The little ones are sold frozen in the Midwest, if you do your research or manage to stumble upon them. I also suspect they grow in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but I don’t have a direct source for such delicacies.

In any case, I tried following the cobbler recipe a few times in my early years of cooking. I would go out of my way to obtain peaches and blueberries (canned and frozen, respectively), opting for a different recipe entirely if I didn’t have those two types of fruit on hand. Once I forgot to drain the peaches, which made the whole thing a bit more like soup than cobbler, though it didn’t harm the flavor. I’ve tried doubling the crust, because it is delicious – but then it comes out of the oven baked unevenly, with big spoonfuls of raw batter sitting in the boiling fruit. With patience and more attempts (or using a different recipe entirely), I could probably get the temperature and timing right to make the double batter version work, but in the meantime I’ve gone back to the original ratio.

Where I have successfully improvised with this recipe is through the somewhat recent realization that this is really a fruit cobbler recipe, and any 3 cups of fruit will do (though a combination of berries and stone fruit usually turns out best). Frozen, canned (remember to drain the fruit, in this case), or fresh is fine. This is ideal in summer, when you’re awash in berries you can’t eat fast enough – or in winter, when a fruit dessert is just the thing to boost your spirits. I have a “leftover strawberries and blackberries that won’t otherwise get eaten, topped off with a nectarine to make 3 cups” cobbler in the oven right now, and it smells incredible.

Over the weekend, I visited my sister in Seattle and she made an incredible apple-rhubarb cobbler, entirely using fruit freshly picked from her backyard. We discussed our mutual preference for fruit-on-the-bottom cobbler, as we’ve discovered that some people actually make fruit-on-top cobbler. Hers was delicious, but I forgot to get the recipe (which I think was from her King Arthur Flour Baking cookbook), and so I’m making my old standard this evening. Here it is, in case you’re inclined to give it a shot:

Blueberry Peach Cobbler 

• 1 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 cups peaches, cut into bite-sized chunks
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375.

Combine the cornstarch, brown sugar, and cold water in a saucepan on the stove. Heat on medium, whisking until thick. Add peaches and blueberries (or whatever 3 cups of fruit suits you), the butter, and the lemon juice. Stir together and heat until everything seems nicely mixed up and somewhat thick and bubbly and smelling nice.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix together the flour, 1/4 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt, stirring well. Add the milk and oil and stir until smooth. In yet another small bowl, stir together the 2 Tbsp of sugar with the nutmeg.

Pour the fruit into a casserole dish, and pour the crust over the top (spread out to cover all the fruit, so that it bakes evenly). Sprinkle the sugar/nutmeg mixture around the top, and bake for 30 minutes.

Eat while warm, with or without a splash of milk (or cream!). Save some leftovers for breakfast, if you have that sort of willpower.