ISO Your Favorite Hot Fruit Dessert (Cobbler, slump, crisp, etc)

[slknight]

We're doing "comfort food" for our Supper Club Friday night. We've got all the major bases covered (meatloaf, mac-n-cheese, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake), and I volunteered to bring a hot fruit dessert.

I'm thinking of some kind of cobbler or crisp. I know there have been a number of ones in CL lately, but I haven't tried any of them. What are your recommendations? It definitely can't have nuts. If possible, I'd prefer one without dairy too.

Thanks!
-Susan

[DmOrtega]

This is from November 2001 Family Fun. It's very easy and really good. Pardon any typos.

Pear and Cranberry Crisps

Pears make a good choice for these single-serving fruit crisps because their skins are so soft, your child won't even need to peel them. Plus, their sweet flavor combines nicely with the tangy cranberry sauce.

Filling

3 ripe pears
1/2 cup whole-berry cranberry sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Crisp Topping

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons cold buter, cut into 8 or 10 pieces
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon milk

Kids' Cooking Skills: This recipe teaches kids how to dice fresh fruit and how to blend butter-crumb topping with their fingertips.

1 Show your child how to grease four 1-cup ovenproof custard cups or crocks, smearing the butter with crumpled waxed paper to keep her hands clean. Place the cups on a baking sheet.

2 If your child is old enough to use a knife, have her dice the pears. halve the pears first and then hollow out the cores with a spoon. Place the pears flat side down on a cutting board and dice them. Measure 3 1/2 cups of the diced pears into a mixing bowl. Enjoy any extra pieces as a snack.

3 Add the remaining filling ingredients to the bowl with the pears, mixing well. Divide the fruit mixture evenly among the 4 custard cups or crocks.

4 Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Meanwhile, combine all of the topping ingredients except the milk in a large bowl. have your child rub together the ingredients with her fingertips to create large buttery crumbs. Drizzle the milk over the mixture to moisten it, then divide the topping evenly amongh the cups, patting it down lightly.

5 Bake the crisps for 30 to 35 minutes or until they start to bubble and the topping is golden brown. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack for at least 20 minutes before eating.

Serves 4.

Tip: When dicing pears, show your child that it's important to keep her fingers away from the blade and to cut straight down, not on a slant.


Kids' Cooking Skills: When dicing pears, show your child that it's important to keep her fingers away from the blade and to cut straight down, not on a slant.

[sjs9601]

Susan - this is my "old faithful" of fruit cobbler recipes. It was
from the 7/2000 issue (the cover recipe). (It's also on recipe finder at the CL site.

My DH and I prefer the oatmeal "crisp" topping versus the biscuit version of cobbler. I've made this with a number of fruit combinations, including blueberries, cranberries (and apples), peaches, etc. It always turns out and gets raves when I serve it to company. I also put some spray butter on the crisp topping - this ensures even browning. Hope you enjoy!

Blueberry Crisp (a la Mode) from 7/2000

Ingredients
6 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup regular oats
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 1/2 tablespoons chilled butter or stick margarine, cut into small pieces
2 cups vanilla low-fat frozen yogurt


Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F.


Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl; spoon into an 11 x 7-inch baking dish. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup, and level with a knife. Combine 2/3 cup flour, 1/2 cup brown sugar, oats, and cinnamon, and cut in the butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over the blueberry mixture. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Top each serving with 1/4 cup frozen yogurt.

[KValley]

Susan,

The Mixed Berry Cobbler from March '01 is wonderful! There was a lengthy thread on this last spring, so I'm certain the recipe is floating around here somewhere if you don't have the issue. The Apple-Cranberry Crisp from October '01 is also terrific, but cranberries can be an acquired taste, so it may be a bit risky for a group.

Oh, what I wouldn't give right now for a bowl of warm Mixed Berry Cobbler with vanilla ice cream.....

[Peeps]

There is a Peach and Blueberry Cobbler from Jan/Feb 1997 that I've made a zillion times and is great, its got all of about 4 ingredients in the topping, takes 5 minutes to make and works great with frozen fruit. I've also made just about all the crisps/cobblers from the July 2000 issue and they were all great, and as mentioned you can really use any fruit combo you like. The Mixed Berry Cobbler was also fantasic...OK, I'm not helping here am I? I've made just about every cobbler CL has had because its my favorite dessert and I don't think I've ever found one I didn't like! I've made all of them with frozen fruit (Trader Joe's has a great selection) so don't be turned off by out of season recipes. Something about Comfort Food makes me think maybe an apple cobbler would be best though - something about warm apples that everyone loves, right?

[slknight]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'd have to say I'm leaning toward the Apple-Cranberry crisp, mainly because it appears to be the only one that is non-dairy. Most of them have butter in the topping, and this one has canola oil. For anyone who's made it, how does the topping taste compared to the usual "crisp" topping? I know that several of us in the group like cranberries, so I don't think it is too risky.

[Pat]

I would have to second and third the Mixed Berry Cobbler! It is my favorite. I also like the Peach Cobbler with a Cinnamon Crust and one of my son-in laws said when he ate it for the first time: If I had known you could make this, I would have been asking for this for my birthday. And he is a chocolate lover and usually wants a chocolate cheesecake for his birthday. We'll see in April what he asks for.

* Exported from MasterCook *

Peach Cobbler with a Cinnamon Crust(Best)

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 10 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Desserts

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon -- divided
6 cups peaches (or 2 {16 oz} packages of frozen -- peeled and sliced
Cooking spray
2 tablespoons sugar
1 pie crust
1 large egg white -- lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 350º.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine the flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Place the peaches in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with sugar mixture; let stand 30 minutes.

Combine 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Unfold 1 pie dough. Brush with egg white; sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Cut the dough into 16 wedges. Place the dough wedges, coated sides up, on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350º for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside.

Bake peaches at 350º for 30 minutes or until bubbly. Arrange crust over peaches. Serve warm.

Calories 236 (22% from fat); Fat 5.7g (sat 2.4g)

Source:
"CL, August, 2001"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


NOTES : I did not use the packaged refrigerated pie dough that the recipe calls for but made my old favorite which would make the fat content quite a bit lighter.
Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 4390 0 0 0 0

[Peeps]

I think the oil works fine in crisp toppings - I've made the apple cranberry one and can't tell any difference from the ones made with butter, but maybe that's just me, maybe others can. In any event, they are all fantastic and I can't imagine it wouldn't be a hit.

Also - feel free also to mix and match topping recipes with the fruit parts - I often find a crisp topping I like and then use it in place of the toppings on other crisp recipes - so if you're looking for no dairy especially there are a number of good ones with oil in the topping you could use over whatever apple base you like. I tend to like older CL recipes better as they tend to be lighter, it seems they've had a number of oil based crisp toppings over the years and you could probably find one that sounds best to you.

[KValley]

Originally posted by slknight
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'd have to say I'm leaning toward the Apple-Cranberry crisp, mainly because it appears to be the only one that is non-dairy. Most of them have butter in the topping, and this one has canola oil. For anyone who's made it, how does the topping taste compared to the usual "crisp" topping? I know that several of us in the group like cranberries, so I don't think it is too risky.

Susan- I made this with butter instead of oil- the thought of all of that oil really grossed me out- I just envisioned a slimy topping! I think I used 1 TBl of butter instead...

[slknight]

I did make the apple-cranberry crisp exactly as the recipe stated. The topping wasn't slimy at all. In fact, I had a hard time mixing all the topping into the oil; it even seemed a little dry. The dessert was fairly well-received, but was definitely over-shadowed by 2 fabulous chocolate cakes that another member made. Oh well!