The Old-Fashioned Cobbler -
A Classic American Dessert
by Hope Pryor

The comforting, old-fashioned cobbler is a classic American fruit dessert that lends itself to variation from its crust to its filling. Basically, a cobbler is a deep-dish baked fruit dessert with a top crust only.

A traditional cobbler's crust is made with biscuit dough rather than pastry (although this point may be argued in some parts of the country where the pastry topping is preferred). Biscuit dough may either be rolled, cut-out and placed on top, or simply dropped by spoonfuls onto the filling. Pastry can be rolled to cover the entire top or cut-out in various shapes, or simply crumbled over the top of the filling. There are also less traditional variations on a cobbler's crust. For example, there's the crust that starts out as a batter that is poured into the baking dish before the fruit is added. During baking, the crust "creeps up" to the top. Then there's the "short-cut" crust that is made by sprinkling a dry cake mix on top of the fruit filling and then drizzled with melted butter.

Cobbler fillings are traditionally made with fruits such as peach, cherry and berry, but almost any type of fruit will do, even the thought-of-as-a fruit, but botanically a vegetable, rhubarb. There are also much less traditional cobblers that boast a pudding-type filling flavored with chocolate or nuts such as pecans. Fresh, in-season fruit is certainly the best choice for a fruit filling, but when a favorite fruit isn't available, frozen or canned fruit makes a cobbler that can be just as good. For the ultimate in convenience, one can even use canned, ready-made fruit filling, although flavor is sacrificed a bit for the time saved.

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