Fresh fruit cobbler is an American classic. Simple, homey and dream-worthy when made well.

Made of warm, baked sweetened fruit chunks topped with a buttery, lightly sweet drop biscuit, topped with a swirl of whipped cream – a sure fire crowd pleaser. This master recipe is adaptable to several delicious fruit combinations. The lightly sweet buttermilk drop biscuit topping remains the same for each version, but the fruit filling is given wider parameters: sugar, spices, and thickener will need to be adjusted to suit the fruit you have on hand.  Always taste your fruit before sweetening to get the flavors spot-on.

Fruit Cobbler Topping
1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz) flour
1/3 (2.5 oz) cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt, fine
1/2 cup (one stick, 4 oz) cold unsalted butter, diced
6 oz buttermilk

Measure the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. Use your fingers to distribute the butter evenly in the flour mixture.  Smash the butter pieces between your fingers in the flour — your hands get a little messy, but this will give you a wonderful light textured biscuit and takes less than a minute.  When all the butter has been rubbed into the flour mixture, add the buttermilk and gently mix just until barely together.  This will yield a light, scoopable batter.

Fruit Mixture:
6 generous cups fresh fruit, cut into 1 inch or smaller chunks if needed
1/2 – 3/4 cup sugar – depends on sweetness of the fruit
2 TB corn starch
spice (optional)

Mix together above ingredients, and put in a medium baking dish or 9 X 13 baking dish.Scoop the biscuit topping using a 2 oz scoop onto the fruit mixture.  Bake for 30 – 40 minutes at 375, or until fruit is bubbling and the biscuit topping is baked through and golden brown on top.

Strawberry-Rhubarb:  Use 1/2 fresh strawberries and 1/2 rhubarb, cut into 1 inch chunks.  Use up to 3/4 sugar.Rhubarb: rhubarb chunks, 1 cup sugar

Peach:  Use peeled, pitted, fresh peach chunks.  Use 1/2  – 2/3 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Plum: Use pitted fresh plum chunks, 2/3 cup sugar, and 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

Blueberry:  Use fresh blueberries, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 TB fresh lemon juice

Raspberry, blackberries or combo: Use fresh or frozen berries, 2/3 cup sugar.  If using frozen berries, prebake until thawed before adding cobbler topping.

Tart cherry: Use pitted sour cherries, 3/4 – 1 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp almond extract

Apple:  Use 2/3 cup sugar for tart apples, less for sweeter apples, with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon and only 1 TB corn starch.  Prebake the apple/sugar mixture for 10 minutes before adding the biscuit topping, then finish baking.