Tuesday, October 7, 2008

VeganMoFo: Cobbler

B and I went to a friend's for dinner on Saturday and I was asked to bring dessert. Cobbler is always popular, so I decided to make individual ones. They are easy to reheat and you can make as many or as few as you need. This version is also done, start to finish in about a half hour from things you probably have on hand, making in great for last minute company or cravings.

I usually make my cobbler southern style with a crust that bakes up through the fruit, but I used a biscuit topping for this one, both because it is pretty and it is easier to portion out individually.

Individual Berry Cobblers
This recipe makes enough for four, but it is super easy to scale to your needs. Basically you need 1 cup of frozen berries, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon liquid for each serving. It is important that everything be hot when you put the biscuits on so that they cook thoroughly from top and bottom.

Filling
2 cups frozen blackberries (no need to thaw)
2 cups frozen raspberries
1/2-3/4 cup sugar (up to you depending on how sweet you like your dessert)
1 tbsp orange liquor, or 1/2 tsp orange extract
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup orange juice (juice of one orange)

Topping
1/3 cup soy milk
1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
1 cup biscuit mix (I used a homemade mix. It's good, but I want to work with it some more before I post it)
1 tbsp turbinado sugar

Place 4 6-8oz ramekins on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and place in oven. Preheat to 425.

Mix soymilk, vinegar, and vanilla together and set aside to curdle.

Place 1 1/2 cup of each of the berries and the sugar in a sauce pan over medium heat.  Cook until berries are thawed completely, stirring frequently. Add liquor or orange extract and allow to simmer while you make the cornstarch slurry. Mix the orange juice and cornstarch together until completely smooth. Add to berries and cook, stirring frequently, until it bubbles and thickens. Add last cup of frozen berries and turn heat all the way to low.

Pour soymilk mixture into biscuit mix and stir just until evenly mixed.  Take baking sheet out of oven. Working quickly, portion out 1/2 cup berry mixture into each ramekin then top with three scoops, a generous tablespoon each, of biscuit dough. Try to keep them from touching so they bake evenly. Sprinkle lightly with turbinado sugar and return pan to oven. 

Bake 15-18 minutes, until biscuits have puffed and turned golden brown and delicious and filling is bubbling.  Remove from oven and let cool 20 minutes before serving.  If you are making these ahead of time just place them in a warm oven for 15-20 minutes to reheat.  Serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream or tofu whip.
Yes, I made five and the recipe is for four.  I scaled the berries as I explained and I just doubled the biscuit topping and plopped the extra dough on the baking sheet next to the ramekins as drop biscuits. Yummy warm and slathered with apple butter.

8 comments:

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

The perfect fall food-- cobbler!

Lisa -- Cravin' Veggies said...

They look really, really good! I love cobbler!

Anonymous said...

Mini Cobblers sound so easy and look so good! Why haven't I made them before???

Bethany said...

They look really cute in their own little baking dishes. I am a huge fan of cobbler, crisp (as long as there is ice cream), and all the other variations. I think I have an issue of Martha Stewart (when I still bought it) where she has a recipe of many variants like buckle, etc. the type of reading where you read it, then go eat something simple like a PB & J sandwich because all that fantisizing about food is so draining. Sort of like reading food blogs ;-).

Monique a.k.a. Mo said...

Those look so oozy and delicious.

Barbara said...

Found your blog on PPK-Vegan MOFO. I clicked on quite a few and yours is one of the best! Good info and recipes. I will be back!
Barb

Bex said...

those look great, if only I had one.

Lily Girl said...

Bethany: I know exactly what you mean. I'm overly guilty of spending so much time looking at recipe books that I end up making one of my easy "usuals" instead of whatever it was I set out to make in the first place.

Barb: Thank you so much, that is such a nice compliment! I'm glad you like it :)