The Cook's Illustrated Cookbook (346 page)

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Most cherry cobblers are no more than canned pie filling topped with dry, heavy biscuits. We wanted a filling that highlighted the unique, sweet-tart flavor of sour cherries and, on top, we wanted a tender, feather-light biscuit crust. Because fresh sour cherries are so hard to find most of the year, we picked jarred Morello cherries—easy to find and available year-round. Embellishing the cherries with cherry juice, cinnamon, and vanilla was a step in the right direction but the filling still tasted a bit flat, so we switched out some of the juice for red wine and replaced the vanilla with almond extract. The resulting sauce was better, but a little thin. A small amount of cornstarch thickened the filling nicely. As for the topping, we favored buttermilk biscuits, which have a light and fluffy texture. To ensure nicely browned biscuits that didn’t become soggy over the filling, we parbaked them on their own ahead of time, then slid the biscuits over the warm cherry filling and put it in the oven to finish cooking.

SERVES 12

Use the smaller amount of sugar in the filling if you prefer your fruit desserts on the tart side and the larger amount if you like them sweet. Serve with vanilla ice cream or
WHIPPED CREAM
.

BISCUIT TOPPING

FILLING

1.
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. FOR THE BISCUIT TOPPING:
Pulse flour, 6 tablespoons sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in food processor until combined. Scatter butter pieces over top and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 15 pulses. Transfer mixture to large bowl; add buttermilk and stir until combined. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces, each about ¹⁄
₄
cup, and place on prepared sheet, spacing them 1¹⁄
₂
inches apart. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar evenly over top of biscuits and bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. (Do not turn oven off.)

3. FOR THE FILLING:
Meanwhile, arrange drained cherries in even layer in 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt in medium saucepan. Stir in reserved cherry juice and wine and add cinnamon stick; bring mixture to simmer over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard cinnamon stick, stir in almond extract, and pour hot liquid over cherries.

4. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE:
Arrange hot biscuits in 3 rows of 4 biscuits over warm filling. Place baking dish on aluminum foil–lined rimmed baking sheet and bake until filling is bubbling and biscuits are deep golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer baking dish to wire rack and let cool until warm, about 10 minutes; serve.

Morello or Montmorency cherries can be used in this cobbler made with fresh sour cherries. Do not use sweet Bing cherries. If the cherries do not release enough juices after 30 minutes in step 1, add cranberry juice to make up the difference.

1.
Whisk sugar, cornstarch, and salt together in large bowl; add cherries and toss well to combine. Pour wine over cherries; let sit 30 minutes. Drain cherries in colander set over medium bowl. Combine drained and reserved juices from pitting cherries; you should have 3 cups (if not, add cranberry juice to make this amount).

2.
Meanwhile, prepare and bake biscuit topping.

3.
Arrange drained cherries in even layer in 13 by 9-inch baking dish. Bring juice mixture and cinnamon stick to simmer in medium saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Remove and discard cinnamon stick, stir in almond extract, and pour hot liquid over cherries.

4.
Arrange hot biscuits over filling and bake as directed.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

Too often, blueberry cobbler means a filling that is too sweet, overspiced, and unappealingly thick. We wanted a not-too-thin, not-too-thick filling where the blueberry flavor would be front and center. And over the fruit, we wanted a light, tender biscuit topping that could hold its own against the fruit filling, with an ingredient list simple enough to allow the blueberries to play a starring role. We started by preparing a not-too-sweet filling using 6 cups of fresh berries and just half a cup of sugar. Cornstarch worked well to thicken the fruit’s juices. A little lemon and cinnamon were all that we needed to enhance the filling without masking the blueberry flavor. For the topping, ease of preparation was our guiding principle, so we made light, rustic drop biscuits enriched with a little cornmeal. Adding the biscuit topping to the cobbler after the filling had baked on its own allowed the biscuits to brown evenly and cook through. A sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on the dropped biscuit dough added a sweet crunch.

SERVES 6 TO 8

While the blueberries are baking, prepare the ingredients for the topping, but do not stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just before the berries come out of the oven. A standard or deep-dish 9-inch pie plate works well; an 8-inch square baking dish can also be used. Serve with vanilla ice cream or
WHIPPED CREAM
.

FILLING

BISCUIT TOPPING

1. FOR THE FILLING:
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Whisk sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and salt together in large bowl. Add berries and mix gently until evenly coated; add lemon zest and juice and mix to combine. Transfer berry mixture to 9-inch pie plate, place plate on prepared baking sheet, and bake until filling is hot and bubbling around edges, about 25 minutes.

2. FOR THE BISCUIT TOPPING:
Meanwhile, whisk flour, ¹⁄
₄
cup sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla together in small bowl. Combine remaining 2 teaspoons sugar with cinnamon in second small bowl and set aside. One minute before berries come out of oven, add wet ingredients to dry; stir until just combined and no dry pockets remain.

3. TO ASSEMBLE AND BAKE:
Remove berries from oven; increase oven temperature to 425 degrees. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces and place them on hot filling, spacing them at least ¹⁄
₂
inch apart (they should not touch). Sprinkle each mound evenly with cinnamon sugar. Bake until filling is bubbling and biscuits are golden brown on top and cooked through, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating pie plate halfway through baking. Transfer pie plate to wire rack and let cool 20 minutes; serve warm.

Add 3 tablespoons minced crystallized ginger to flour mixture and substitute ¹⁄
₈
teaspoon ground ginger for cinnamon in sugar for sprinkling on biscuits.

Thaw 36 ounces frozen blueberries (6 cups) in colander set over bowl to catch juices. Transfer juices (you should have about 1 cup) to small saucepan; simmer over medium heat until syrupy and thick enough to coat back of spoon, about 10 minutes. Mix syrup with berries and other filling ingredients; increase baking time for filling to 30 minutes and increase baking time in step 3 to 20 to 22 minutes.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

A soggy topping and watery, flavorless filling are the norm for the simple, humble peach crumble. The problem is the peaches—you never know just how juicy or how flavorful they will be until you cut them open. We wanted a peach crumble that consisted of fresh-tasting, lightly sweetened peaches topped with a buttery, crisp, and nutty-tasting crumble—no matter how sweet the peaches were (or weren’t). Solving the peach problem involved letting peeled, sliced peaches macerate in sugar before draining them and measuring out the amount of peach juice that would be added back to the filling: always ¹⁄
₄
cup. The sweetness of the filling was adjusted by adding more or less lemon juice as needed. One challenge remained: getting a crisp, well-browned topping required too much oven time for the peaches, which turned to mush. Instead, we baked the topping separately and then married it to the filling, baking the combination just until the fruit bubbled around the edges.

See “TRANSFERRING BAKED CRUMBLE TOPPING” illustrations that follow recipe.