Nectarine and Cream Cobbler
Written by joythebaker on June 22, 2009 – 11:41 pm -
I still write letters.
I still hand write letters in a festive card with a return address sticker. I might even decorate the envelope with a rubbe-stamped dolphin stampede.
I still write letters and I still have pen pals.
My favorite pen pal? My grandmother. I call her Mommom. She’s rad. I don’t know how she would feel about me calling her rad. She writes me short letters during the break she takes on her morning walk. These letters are usually written from her favorite bagel shop. Letters always include some sort of loving greeting, an update about her walking adventures and the bagel shop, something about an upcoming trailer trip, inquiries about my little sister, and an abrupt closing. Short, sweet and to the point.
The best part about being pen pals with Mommom is that she will not let me slack off. If I haven’t written her a letter in a few weeks, I’ll get another letter urging me to, if I know what’s good for me, write my grandmother back. If for some reason I don’t get to that letter in adequate time… well, I’m liable to hurt my grandmother’s feelings. Hurt grandmother feelings, of course, leads to all sorts of guilt from all sorts of family members. News of pen pal activity, or inactivity travels fast in my family.
Letter writing isn’t a chore. It’s a nice break from simultaneously writing an email and checking my blog stats and watching stupid cat videos. Letter writing is not technology multi-tasking. It’s easy, breezy, simple… all about just sendin’ a little love.
Then there’s cobbler, which couldn’t be any more simple and delicious. This easy cobbler is like letter writing, in baking form. Spend a little time baking up a little love with this cobbler. Sit down with a nice warm slice and write a letter to someone. It’s supreme.
This cobbler just couldn’t be easier to throw together. I used delicious golden nectarines as the filing, but feel free to use fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries or peaches in any combination. You can also use frozen fruit, although it should be thawed and drained before incorporated. Enjoy summer the easy way.
Easy Nectarine and Cream Cobbler
adapted from The Pastry Queen
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cloves
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup milk (low fat milk will work fine)
3 cups sliced nectarines, skins left on
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Melt the butter in a medium saute pan set over medium high heat until it bubbles and turns a nut brown color. Watch the butter closely, as it can go from browned to burnt in just a few seconds. The butter will have all sorts of browned bits in it. That’s good!
Pour the butter into an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking dish. Do not try a pie baking dish. I did. Overflow!
In a medium bowl, stir together the granulated sugar, flour, baking powder and spices. Add milk and stir.
Pour the mixture on top of the melted butter. Here’s the hard part: do not stir! Without mixing, arrange the fruit evenly over the top of the batter. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
Bake the cobbler for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top turns golden brown. Amazingly, the batter will migrate from the bottom of the pan to cover the fruit. Yum! Serve warm with slightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Tags: cobbler, easy recipe, nectarines, summer
Posted in Cakes, Fruit, In the Kitchen, Pie, Recipes | 69 Comments »
Hurrah for letter writers! I’m a letter and postcard obsessive. It’s just so much more personal and heart-warming to get a letter or card lovingly hand-written, then a rushed email.
And this cobbler looks just as heart-warming. I always make crumbles in the winter, but always forget to make things like cobblers in the summer with the golden fruits. Thanks for the prompt Joy!
So when I was in college there was this specific program for first-year students to go through the first week. It was like Orientation BootCamp. And every year the school always brought in this motivational speaker who made me cry – every year, for four years. And she always made me cry when she urged the students to write more letters. And she would whip out this story about this one girl who was so motivated by her speech that after the speech, she went back to her dorm room and wrote her grandmother a letter. And wrote her a letter every day for three more years until her grandmother passed away. It continues on a bit but then it ends with a R. Kelly’s “I Believe I can fly.” (no joke. who knew r. kelly could make people cry? not this kid!)
anyway, yes, everybody should write more letters.
Tats a Great tradition to keep!
Sadly, technology has make many small things obsolete….
I would love letter-writing if it weren’t for finding the damn stamps to send them off with. But if my nana sees this, I’m sure she’ll wrangle me into pen-paling (or at least cobbler baking!)
Oh goodness. Letter writing and cobbler–two of my very favorite things in this world! I’m supposed to be bringing a dessert to a cookout at my BFF’s house this weekend. I think this is it!
This looks awesome!
Living in UK, we don’t really use cup measurements – does anyone know the equivalent in grams?????
Thanks
i love the idea of letter writing but feel like, if i wrote someone a letter instead of an e-mail, they’d be like “what’s up with that? why didn’t u just write me an e-mail?” oy, how the world changes. now cobbler though – nothing wrong with cobbler.
I’m so inspired by you! I’m going to find some really pretty staionary and start writing to my nana and my grandma. I’m going to make them write me back just like your grandma does when you’ve gone too long without writing. Thank you so much for bringing back the art of letter writing!
I love to hear that people still write letters! I still write to my grandma too, like I’ve been doing since I was a kid. And I get just as excited to get a letter in the mail as I did when I was 7, lol. Heyyyy…I think you should arrange some sort of foodie pen-pal exchange program on here, haha.
this looks SO yummy!! i happen to have bought 3 nectarins yesterday so im hoping it will be enough because i really want to make this today. thanks for the recipe!!
Joy you are just the cutest. Whenever I read your blog, I am instantly in a better mood, and almost always inspired. Thank you so much for this cobbler-it looks delicious!!!!
In your second instructional paragraph in the recipe, you have “Pour the batter”, and I think you mean “Pour the butter”… I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the butter went in between browning and having the fruit put on top of it!
This sounds delicious, I feel the need to rush out and buy fruit a.s.a.p.!
I’ve never had nectarine cobbler–this sounds really good! I love your letter writing with your grandma:) My cousin and I wrote letters to each other long after the beginning of email too, but we have slacked for about five years now. Might be time to revive that!
this looks wonderful. i will have a BUNCH of strawberries and blueberries in the freezer from this summer’s bounty so this is a great one to have on hand.
sadly i have not actually written a letter in a very long time…:(
Aw, writing letters I find more intimate and persona. They are very cute and simple like you said. Everyone is so caught up with technology these days.
I need to find myself a pen pal
I just about melted reading this piece. I called my grandmother Mommom as well. Just reading that name gave me chills…and smiles. I cherish the birthday cards she used to send. Most still have the silver dollars taped to the inside. I was Teany Doll #2 and my sister was #1. My mom recently found a letter from Mommom about a car ride we shared. She said I blabbed on and on the whole trip. We used to count buses and v-w beetles and count the belly buttons on the Rollos candies. I miss that lady. Thanks for sharing Joy!!
Lauren- your comment totally warmed my heart! Hugs!
Looks positively delicious! And I, too, love the art of letter writing. Sometimes I feel like I have so much stationery that I can’t even keep up…
I still write letters to my grandmother (although she writes a lot more regularly than I do). I love the break from the computer, too. She always writes on the back and fills in every square inch of space. So sweet!
I still write letters to one of my friends from school, even though we see each other regularly. It just seems nice to relive the old tradition of passing each other little notes in boring classes, hoping the teacher won’t take heed or notice. Although, admittedly, nowadays there’s no risk to it anymore.
Anways, that recipe sounds really nice and the result looks nice, too – although I have to say it’s the first time I ever came across the term “cobbler” (I’m German, you see). Shame on me? Probably. I’ll try it out just the same and have a little surprise when I finally taste it (for the first time).
All the best, Eva
(By the way I totally love your blog. Just so you know.)
Made this cobbler on Saturday for Father’s Day using fresh peaches from the farmer’s market! So yum. Especially good with a generous dollop of vanilla ice cream on top. I actually forgot to put the brown sugar on top and it was still delish!
This looks absolutely delicious. I would love a warm slice right now!
I love writing letters and postcards!! I have too much stationery to count…and monogrammed note cards entrance me.
And whenever I travel, I always write postcards to all my friends around the world. Like when I went to Vietnam this past January, I wrote 26 people (I know, 26!! I only remember because I had to count to make sure I didn’t miss anyone who was promised a postcard.)
I need to get me some nectarines! I love cobbler! This looks like tomorrow night’s dessert (only because we have strawberry tart for later).
oh mama – that looks so yummy!
Mmmm delicious! It reminds me of a picnic.
I still write letters, too. Especially to my grandparents, but when I had a long distance relationship my boyfriend at the time and I wrote letters back and forth. It’s so much more personal than emails. And it’s lots of fun!
I writing letters too. The only problem is that while I often write, I only receive mail from friends tri-monthly at best. It’s something special to receive hand written post. I wish more ppl appreciated it.
ummm YUM!! I just bought a flat of ripe nectarines.. this recipe couldn’t be more perfect- in timing and deliciousness.
p.s Your rad
I love writing letters! It is a lost art and I wish more people did it… I have saved mine over the years and go back and reread, often with a tear in my eye. It is too easy to delete an email and never have that memory kept.
Oh, isn’t that a fantastic idea that Sara from ourbestbites mentioned in a comment above? A foodie pen-pal exchange program started on the blog of one of the most joyful foodbloggers I have come across! Really – I’d be first to sign up. This sounds fantastic. One could send each other favourite recipes … and other ramblings, short, sweet and to the point. Think about it, will you!!
Foodie pen pal exchange!? Wooooooow! I’m loving this idea. Let me get my wheels turning!
Joy, I’m going to move to Cali so we can be best friends or adoptive sisters and exchange baked goods! this looks amazing. really amazing. once again inspired
DeAnne- let’s do it! I’m in!
This pie has been a family recipe for ages but I had forgotten it. Can’t wait to break it out again for the 4th…so easy and so delicious!
Thanks.
That cobbler looks amazingly delicious! And your grandmother sounds so lovely and special – what a wonderful relationship for you.
YUM! Ive not had nectarine cobbler, just peach and other fruits. This looks SO good!!
I still write letters to. And the best letter exchange I’ve had was the one with my mum , when we were still living together at one home. Evry morning my mum used to leave a small letter for me, obligatorily with some funny picture . So when I’ve woke up I have some hand-written surprise. The when I was leaviing for school I left her my note, so when she come back from her work earlier than me from my classes she will find one. And so on and on. I don;t live with her since 6 years now but recently I’ve found some stack of those morning-afternoon letters (aorund 120 of them!). And I flipped them throug, smiling to funny pictures. Live my mum.!
PS. The idea of foodie/bakingcookin pay-pals is GREAT (as the cobbler is – it’s just baking in my oven right now and smell amazingly already!) Im totally in and I hope it will work up!
Okay, so I have to write another comment ’cause this idea is just so fantastic and I love how everyone is sharing their letter stories here. My grandma was my most faithful penpal, too … thanks for reminding me of this precious bit of memory.
Now ~ let’s get this exchange thing rollin’!
Joy’s blog is up for “Tastiest Blog” in the Blog Luxe awards: http://www.socialluxelounge.com/blogluxe/. Go vote for her tasty tasty blog… you know it’s tasty. When you get to the Tastiest Blog category, you might want to do a ctrl+F (for PC) to find her… they’re in no logical order!
Yay Joy! Good luck!!!
PS – You can vote once per day until the voting ends on July 6th. What are you waiting for?!?
I get so excited on the rare occasion I see a hand-addressed letter in my mailbox. Certainly is the down-side of email, texting, etc. to have lost the whole epistolary part of communicating….
I write letters to my husband every night and send them in weekly batches. He is completing 16 months of Army training on the east coast, and we live in Vancouver, BC. I am 29 weeks pregnant with our first child and even though we speak by phone daily, it’s nice to document every day’s baby activity and record how I feel and what’s going on in our lives. One day, our daughter will read them and understand exactly how much we loved and valued her from the day she was conceived. Until then, it makes my husband feel special every time he gets a “mail call” on the base.
Also, I would totally be down for the foodie penpal thing!
This looks fantastic! I have some fresh peaches. Do you think I have to peel them or can I leave the skins on?
Love your blog–always makes me smile!
I must make this, now!
Just made peach & blueberry cobbler the other day – used almost the same kind of recipe and technique as you did. Found that broiling the top for the last 5 mins or so, makes the edges more crispy and caramel-y!!! Gorgeous – I love love love cobblers. It’ll always be a part of my comfort food list.
Funny you should mention letter writng. I had just been musing as to why I dread opening my email, yet I still run to the mailbox the minute it hear the postman! I do! I dread opening my email the way I used to dread opening the mail box..and it’s all because of the junk mail. I still get junk both places, but on that rare occasion that there is a ‘real’ post marked, delayed, stamped and handwritten letter from a friend (as if and email letter from a friend weren’t real..what makes me think this?) I get so much more excited! Is it a hangover from the days when my Grandmother or Aunt would slip those $2.00 bills in a card to me, do ya think? I guess a handwritten letter is still more personal feeling or is it just so rare anymore that it’s gained a certain extra value? Fun topic!
Oh, and the cobbler sounds great!
my 3 yr old son calls my grandmother mummum! how cool!
I think letter writing has been sorely overlooked in recent years. It’s a lost art. The cobbler looks amazing. It is such a simple and easy thing to do I think people forget about it.
I just made this and finished a heaping portion…so good! I used apricots from my dad’s tree and my CSA box, and it’s delish. Kinda soupy (in a good way) beneath the yummy crusty top. Great recipe, and so so quick and easy.
I made this cobbler last night. It was VERY yummy! I used about a cup of blueberries in place of some of the nectarines. I also cut out 1/4 cup of the white sugar. Next time, I will cut out more sugar as the nectarines themselves were quite sweet. Since my sister had some buttermilk in the fridge from a recipe she made, I used that instead of white milk, but it didn’t really impart a buttermilk-y flavor like I had hoped. Next time, I think I’ll try adding some oats to the batter to see if I can get an oatmeal cookie feeling out of it. Yum yum!
Through high school and college I was a great letter writer, but sadly I have gotten lazy and taken advantage of everyone being on internet. But I still write lengthy, chatty e-mails!
I absolutely love cobbler and yours is magnificent!
I made this cobbler last night, and it was amazing. Thank you for posting, I will make this again and again! And today I will write a letter to my grandma
I’ve been inspired by you, I love your blog.
Joy, you are my hero. I’ve always wanted a pen pal; there’s something so wonderfully nostalgic about writing letters and I wish I had reason to do it (i.e. people to write letters to). The cobbler looks great, haven’t seen a cobbler recipe in a while. I’m thinking of trying this for my birthday (we’re having a murder mystery party).
I realized the other night that we had a bunch of mangoes hiding out in our fridge, so I decided to make something out of them. Your recipe seemed to fit the bill, so, ignoring the doubtful looks my family sent my way, I made a mango cobbler. It was good. Really good. Have you ever noticed that dried mangoes have a vaguely cinnamon-like flavor to them? Yep, this makes them extra tasty in a cobbler. Thanks for the recipe, I’ll definitely be using it again soon!