Apricot Blackberry Cobbler

What a perfect time of year for this recipe. I lucked out and found both apricots and blackberries at the store, and this was a great combination of flavors. The fruit wasn’t quite at full ripeness so I went for the full amount of sugar. The cobbler was great and easy to put together, though I might spice it up a bit next time by adding some cinnamon or nutmeg to the dry ingredients. This recipe is great with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream on top.

This cobbler was delicious and took just minutes to prep for baking. I halved the recipe and the whole thing fit nicely in a 10-inch deep-dish glass pie plate. I didn’t think the biscuit dough was very wet (as the recipe alerts it will be). In fact, it didn’t even stick to the bowl and was very easy to handle—I certainly didn’t need to “spoon dollops” of it. I instead used my already-sticky hands to randomly place torn pieces of the dough on top of the fruit.

Keep in mind that apricots have less juice than other stone fruits like peaches and plums, so the cobbler may not have the usual hot and bubbly appearance one would expect. But after precisely 35 minutes in the oven, mine was perfectly done, with just enough juice on the bottom and a golden-brown biscuit on top. The topping was just sweet enough and had a lovely, delicate texture. The apricots were sweet and tender (even the skin!), and the blackberries still had a little tang, just the way I like them.

This is a great cobbler that bakes up beautifully in 30 minutes. The cobbler part is buttery, crumbly, and crisp, and pairs well with the soft fruit beneath (and some ice cream). It was so quick to pull together that I’d make it again in a heartbeat. The only note I have is that the dough certainly isn’t as “wet” as the recipe claims. It’s a moist, stiff dough that doesn’t spread too much but is still easy to drop onto the fruit.

Though fruit cobblers are one of those comfort desserts that have been served for generations and reinvented countless times, I can honestly say that this recipe for Apricot and Blackberry Cobbler reigns supreme. It’s simple and easy to make. The biscuit topping is by far the best I’ve ever tasted. The buttermilk activates the baking powder and baking soda and causes the dough to expand into a light, airy mass. It was so moist that I literally took nugget-sized pieces of dough with my fingers and dotted the top of the fruit with it.

I assembled the cobbler in a 10-inch soufflé dish. The topping melded into a single biscuit with a golden brown color that was delicately sweet and had a tender, flaky crumb. The apricots and blackberries were tender, sweet, and tart. These flavors carried into the syrup that coated them and tasted heavenly with the biscuit. The best part of the filling is that it was made with over three pounds of fruit—it was such a treat not to have to skimp on fruit when portioning it out. A blue-ribbon winner to me.