Fruit Cobbler

This is one of those go-to recipes that I've used dozens of times with various flavor combinations. I love recipes like this. This is adapted from Jane Brody's Good Food Book, subtitle Living the High-Carbohydrate Way. Even though carbs have gone out of style, there are a lot of great, wholesome recipes in her book. I highly recommend it.

Ms. Brody's original recipe is for fresh blueberries. I've doubled her proportions and added more flavors. She doesn't even add vanilla. I find this puzzling. She also declares that her version, half the size of mine, serves 8 people. Not at my house sister. Did you serve it in a thimble?

The version you see pictured was made on clean-out-the-fridge day. I used some slightly aged fruit to good advantage. There were two apples, two peaches, four small plums and a hand full of blueberries. You can also use frozen fruit, but the baking will take longer.

I used vanilla, ground cardamom and cinnamon to flavor this combination of fruit. Here are a few more winning combinations:

Sweet cherries and almond extract

Blueberries, vanilla and lemon zest

Apples, lemon juice and cinnamon

You get the picture. Be adventurous!

Fruit Cobbler

1 1/3 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

ground spices of your choice, 1/2 tsp. each

1 1/3 cup milk (skim is fine for this)

extract of your choice, 1 tsp. for vanilla, 1/2 tsp. for all others

1/4 cup butter

4 cups chopped fruit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place butter in a 2 quart casserole dish and place in the oven to melt the butter. Meanwhile, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices. Add milk and extract and stir until smooth. When the butter is hot and bubbly, pour in the batter and sprinkle the batter with the fruit. Do not stir. The butter will melt into the edges of the batter and make it crispy and delicious. Bake about 1 hour, or until a knife inserted in the center come out with no raw batter on it. Cool slightly and serve with whipped cream or ice cream.

Serves six at my house. That's 296 calories per serving, before the whipped cream or ice cream.