Roasted Strawberry Cobbler
A simple summer dessert
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Who gets flu whilst on holiday, whilst it is regularly 35ºC? Me, thats who. I woke up this morning, my last day here in Crete, still suffering from a nasty bout of flu, a cold, maybe a bad case of man flu, who knows, that has been haunting me for the past week. I have felt pretty damn rubbish but thankfully the beautiful weather and the pool has been able to distract me somewhat, the fabulous Greek food has also helped. Last night we visited, what had been on previous visits, my favourite restaurant in the area, called Arismari. The village, that the restaurant is located in, is a tiny affair, a small central square with two restaurants, a bar and a shop selling local pottery. It is picture perfect, everything you’d imagine for a greek village. The food in the restaurant may not have been what it once was, thanks to a change in ownership, but we had an excellent night under a beautiful tree, covered in hanging lights, eating and drinking until late into the night; it was pretty perfect regardless.
As I am clearly in the mood for summer, not really wanting to come home to reality, I thought this week we would look to the near future and think of summertime desserts. I say the future because I’ve heard it’s decidedly un-summery back home. Thankfully the desserts on offer today are just as delicious if the weather is cold, but they’re also worth keeping in mind for those days when the sun decides to finally show its face. Both recipes today, for free and paid subscribers, centres the strawberry. For free subscribers we have an incredibly simple but satisfying Roasted Strawberry Cobbler and for paid subscribers we have a really fun Strawberry Tres Leche Sundae. The sundae is a glorious amalgamation of multiple elements, including roasted strawberries, homemade malt ice cream, chunks of sponge cake that are soaked in a classic tres leche cake mixture and still more!
First let’s talk cobbler. The reason I love this cobbler is two fold, firstly it could not be easier to prepare, you could even consider this a last minute dessert, not even the butter needs to be brought to room temperature before you can get started. The second reason I love this dish is simply that is delicious, the strawberries roast and cook down as the cobbler bakes, atop that juicy, roasted strawberry layer sits a bed of soft and plush cobbler. Made with ground almonds to keep the cobbler soft and tender, this dish is exactly the sort of simple summer dessert I crave. To serve, you can keep things simple and pour over lashings of cream, add a dollop of creme fraiche but I actually served it with a few scoops of ice cream, the malt ice cream from this weeks paid newsletter, to be specific.
Roasted Strawberry Cobbler
Serves 8
Strawberry Layer
600g strawberries, hulled and halved
75g caster sugar
1 1/2 tbsp cornflour
1 lemon
Cobbler
125g plain flour
50g ground almonds
100g caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
85g butter, diced
75ml whole milk
To make the cobbler you will need a 9-inch round cake pan or pie plate or some other similar over safe dish.
Once all of your ingredients are measured and prepped, making this cobbler is very quick work so make sure you pre-heat the oven, setting it to 180ºC (160ºC Fan).
To make the strawberry layer add the strawberries to the cake pan and in a smaller bowl whisk together the sugar and the cornflour. Sprinkle this mixture over the strawberries and use your hands or a large spoon to toss everything together. Grate over a little lemon zest, roughly a third of a lemon and stir briefly to combine. Set aside for the moment. At this stage you could also add a few drops of lemon juice if you want the dessert extra zingy or add a whisper of vanilla if that strikes your fancy.
To make the cobbler add the flour, almonds, sugar, baking powder and salt to a large bowl and use your hands or a whisk to stir everything together. Add the diced butter and use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour mixture, until it resembles coarse and uneven breadcrumbs. Stir in the milk and mix to form a stiff cake-like batter.
Using a cookie scoop or a large spoon, drop mounds of the batter atop the strawberries, spacing them as evenly apart as you can be bothered. Sprinkle the cobbler batter liberally with Demerara sugar and flaked almonds.
Bake in the preheated oven, set on a baking tray to catch any overflowing strawberry juices, for about 30-35 minutes or until the cobbler is golden and the strawberry juices and bubbling. Allow to cool ever so slightly and then serve warm with lashings of cream or a few scoops of ice cream.
How wonderful 😍
Can I make it ahead and keep in the fridge and when I want just put it in the oven to bake?