Serves
6
servings

Intro

Cobbler is the least fussy pudding I know and one of the most comforting — soft, jammy fruit under a craggy, scone-like topping, best eaten warm with something cold poured over. This is peach and berry, but it’s really a template: whatever’s ripe and going soft, this rescues it beautifully.

At a glance

  • Serves: 6–8(base for the scaler)
  • Prep: 20 min ·Bake: 35 min
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Pillar: The Bake → Quick Bakes
  • Themes (dietary): contains gluten, dairy(dairy-free option below)

Ingredients

Fruit

  • 600g peaches, sliced(fresh or tinned, drained)
  • 200g raspberries or blackberries
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 1 tbsp cornflour
  • juice of ½ lemon

Topping

  • 200g self-raising flour
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 90g cold unsalted butter, cubed
  • 120ml buttermilk(or milk + squeeze of lemon)
  • demerara sugar, to finish

Method

  1. Heat oven to 190°C / 170°C fan / gas 5 / 375°F.
  2. Toss the fruit with sugar, cornflour and lemon juice, and tip into a baking dish.
  3. Rub the butter into the flour, sugar and baking powder until crumbly, then stir in the buttermilk to a soft, shaggy dough.
  4. Drop rough spoonfuls over the fruit — leave gaps so the fruit bubbles through. Scatter with demerara.
  5. Bake 30–35 minutes until the topping is golden and the fruit bubbles at the edges.

Allergens & swaps

  • Contains: wheat/gluten, milk.
  • Dairy-free: use a block plant butter and a plant buttermilk (plant milk + lemon) — works well.

Baker’s notes

Cornflour thickens the fruit juices so it’s jammy, not watery. Leave gaps in the topping — that’s what makes it a cobbler, not a pie.