Peach & Plum Cobbler with Cinnamon Sugar Dumplings
Let me tell you a little something about me: I don’t grocery shop. Well, I do some shopping but it is mainly limited to the Braum’s Fresh Market store & occasional invitations to join David for a shopping trip “date”. The tiny Braum’s market keeps me from buying things not on the list and, more importantly, not in our budget. Yes – I have a problem staying on a budget, oops.
Wondering why I don’t grocery shop?? Well, let me tell you the story … A few years ago, David and I noticed a trend in our grocery expenses: the majority of the spending was made by me. It would seem like that is a reasonable trend, given the fact that I am the “stay at home person” and David is the “go to work person” but in reality I was viewing the grocery shopping experience as entertainment. Wondering what grocery shopping for entertainment looks like?? Here are a few examples:
- Wandering beyond food aisles into the trendy home decor aisles and buying all of the cute non-essential “essentials”.
- Trying every new food product on the shelves. Yes, I see sparkly, shiny and new and I lose control.
- Stocking up on the sale ((and clearance)) items. Sure, one or two is reasonable — but 10 or 12 is a budget buster. But really, who knew??
- Shoes, clothes, toys… yes, they are too tempting, but they have no business joining the tomatoes in the grocery cart. Or do they??
After a few years of battling the budget, I accepted my shortcomings and “suggested” that David do the grocery shopping by himself, and the rest is history.
Even though we have established this money saving routine, every once in a while, David asks me to grocery shop with him. For some strange reason, those invitations are becoming fewer and fewer…
You see, this time of year, plums, peaches and nectarines are like candy. While on a recent grocery store date, I passed by the juicy fruits and their heavenly aromas hypnotized me. Before I knew it, I had multiple bags FULL of red plums and black plums, white peaches and yellow peaches and white nectarines and yellow nectarines and was searching for twist ties. Yes, I bet I had $40 worth of fruit in the basket before David knew what hit him.
Can a person really eat $40 worth of stone fruit before it goes bad?? No. No they can’t.
Thankfully, there is a wonderfully delicious solution to the problem of having an abundance of over-ripe fruit — a fruit cobbler. Unfortunately, I also affirmed the need to re-revoke my grocery shopping privileges. Ho hum.
To make this stone fruit cobbler, I quartered and diced the over ripe fruit, making sure to contain the fruit juices and add them to the saucepan.
I brought the diced fruit, ½ stick of butter, a pinch of salt and ¾ cup of granulated sugar to a low boil.
While the fruit was coming to a boil, I combined the cinnamon sugar dumpling dough using:
- self-rising flour
- melted butter
- milk
- sugar
- cinnamon
- vanilla
Using a fork, I worked the ingredients into a light dumpling batter. It is important to add enough milk in order to combine the ingredients but not too much that the dumpling dough turns to pancake batter.
For this recipe, I made two smaller cobblers, but a 9″ x 13″ dish will work perfectly. Be sure to prepare the dish before adding the fruit.
Using a 2-tablespoon sized scoop, I dolloped the most yummy cinnamon sugar dumpling dough atop the ruby colored peach & plum filling.
I had to restrain myself from diving into this pre-baked cobbler. The smell of the warm sweet peaches ((and plums)) as they were topped with the cinnamon sugar dumpling dough was almost too much to resist.
Into the oven these cobbler beauties went, but not before I took out a little insurance policy, in the form of parchment paper. Be sure not to skip this step, or I believe you will be sorry.
I expected, due to the expanding nature of the dumplings, that these cobblers would overflow — and as you can see, I was right.
Parchment made clean up a breeze and saved me from an oven cleaning nightmare!
The dumplings stayed soft and fluffy on the inside while turning into a crisp crust on top. The bottom of the dumplings puffed into the cobbler filling, soaking up some of that delicious sweet plum and peach juice. And check out that gorgeous color!! We can thank the black and red plum skins for that, I do believe!
- 10 to 12 ripe ((or in my case, overripe)) stone fruit of your choice, diced and unpeeled*
- 1/2 to 3/4 c granulated sugar depending on the sweetness of the fruit
- 1/2 t kosher salt
- 1/2 stick salted butter
- 2 1/2 c self-rising flour
- 3/4 c sugar
- 3 to 4 T melted butter
- 3 t ground cinnamon
- 4 to 5 T milk ((added incrementally until proper consistency is reached))
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease 2 approximate 7"x9" or 1, 9"x13" baking dish. Add diced fruit, sugar, butter and salt to a medium sauce pan. Bring to a low boil over a medium flame for 5 to 8 minutes, until juices are fully released and fruit is softened (stir occasionally).
- While the fruit filling is simmering, using a fork, combine all of the dumpling ingredients except for the milk. Add the milk in 2 tablespoon increments until the dumpling dough forms (see picture in post for the right consistency). Avoid adding too much at one time**.
- When the filling is done cooking, use a fork or a masher to break the fruit into smaller bits, but be sure to leave some larger pieces. Pour the filling into the prepared baking dishes.
- Once the dumpling dough is formed, use a 2 tablespoon scoop to drop dumplings on top of the fruit filling. Leave a little space between each dumpling.
- Place bakers on a parchment lined baking sheet and place into the preheated oven. If you made 2 separate cobblers, make sure there are a few inches of space separating the baking dishes.
- Bake for 30 to 45 minutes depending on the size of your baker. Test the doneness of your dumplings by lifting a pea-sized piece off of the top of one off the center most dumplings. If the dumpling is still doughy inside, continue baking for 5 to 10 more minutes, or until the center is fluffy and no longer wet.
- Once dumplings are cooked through, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
- *I like to leave the peels on the plums and nectarines. The peach skin is too tough for my liking so I always peel the peaches. Be sure to collect the juices as you dice and peel the fruit and add it to the saucepan.
- **Even if you add too much milk and the dumplings turn runny, it isn't a big problem. You may need to adjust the cooking time but it will still taste good.