Pear Cobbler

Pears are probably my favorite winter time fruit after the apple. My favorite pear is the Bartlett because it is firm, crisp and very sweet; though they are too firm to be used in desserts or other cooked recipes. Pears can be eaten right off the core, baked into pies and cobblers, made into a chutney, soup, or turned into jam. If you store the fruits well, they'll keep for several months in the refrigerator. I store apples and pears in the fridge in the same plastic bag they came in, except I press out as much air as I can and spin the bag so that the opening is closed at the top. Even though aging fruit gives off nitrogen, what makes them rot faster in the fridge is the exposure to moisture and oxygen.

This is a simple pear cobbler recipe. If you would like to add a variety of other colors and textures, then up to 1/4 unsweetened dried cranberries or raisins, raw or lightly toasted pumpkin seeds can be added to the filling or the streusel-like topping. If you don't care what color the pears are after baking, you may add lemon juice to the pears

Ingredients

2-3 lbs ripe anjou pears, chopped into 1/2" slices
up to 2 tbsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice (optional)

1/4 c. brown sugar
1 c. old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
1/4 c. unsalted butter, softened or cut into chunks

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Directions

1.  In a large bowl, combine chopped pears, granulated sugar, nutmeg, and optional items. Mix well so that the pears are evenly coated with sugar and spice and everything nice.

2. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, butter, and brown sugar. Cut the butter into the flour so that it resembles coarse crumbs, or something.

3. In an 8" x 8" baking pan, add pear mixture and top with the oat mixture.

4. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes.

Peach Cobbler II

The ingredient ratio for the basic dough recipe (no egg) comes from the Joy of Cooking, and I tried something new by rolling out and using cookie cutters on the biscuit dough. I was making a smaller cobbler batch. This one fills a 1.75 qt round glass baking dish. If you don't have a 2 qt round dish, you could also use an 8" x 8" baking dish.

In my haste, I forgot to add the cinnamon, cornstarch, and sugar to the fruit layer. Since it is peach season in the Pacific Northwest and these peaches are really ripe and sweet, it doesn't matter about the lack of added sugar in this recipe. Sugar is generally added to even out the sweetness of ripened fruit. But yeah, missing the cornstarch is definitely noticeable after the fact.

Biscuit dough:
1 1/2 c. unbleached wheat flour
1/2 c. unbleached cane sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp baking powder (aluminum free)
5 tbsp unsalted butter, cold
less than 3/4 cup heavy cream

Fruit filling:
4 ripe peaches, sliced
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tbsp unbleached cane sugar or brown sugar (optional)
1-2 tbsp cornstarch

1. Mix the fruit, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cornstarch together in a bowl and pour into a clean baking dish.

2. Sift the dry ingredients together and cut in the cold butter until it resembles a crumbly texture. Gradually stir in the heavy cream until the dough just sticks together.

3. Turn out the dough onto parchment paper and cover with another sheet of wax or parchment paper. Roll out to about 1/4" to 1/2" thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters. I used heart-shaped cutters for this. Place biscuits on top of peaches.

4. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Before and after baking photos: