Another Recipe – Apple Cobbler

Manifesting Fall Weather!

Hello! If you are just joining, thanks for being here and please read the first few newsletters if you would like to be brought up to speed. We are currently right smack dab in the middle of my origin story with some recipes thrown in for good measure. If you are here for wine, have no fear, the “Wine Years” are just beginning, and then its weekly ponderings on wine and food and life from here on out!

Last week’s origin story brought us to a very pivotal chapter: opening my own restaurant, the Glass Onion, in the West Ashley neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina in 2008. There, with the help of many fantastic folks, I ran the front of house and made desserts – nothing fancy, mostly good ol’ Southern grandma desserts. I started with pound cakes and gradually expanded to cobblers, pies, and puddings. 

I mean, of course there had to be a cobbler on the menu – that’s quintessential, Southern grandma to me!! So, here you have it – my go-to cobbler recipe. It works well with all sorts of fruits – from peaches to blueberries to apples during our sort-of fall weather right now. 

The reality is that early October is actually prime beach time in Charleston, but sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands and make an autumnal dish even if it’s 80 degrees outside! Apple Cobbler is just the ticket for me. It’s warm and comforting and has plenty of baking spices to transport you to a chillier time and place. Plus, it’s a breeze to make so you can feel free to spend your day off at the beach and whip it up in time for dinner.

If you are feeling fancy and perhaps making this for a dinner party, here are some wine pairing ideas: you could certainly play around with some “dessert” wines like Sauternes (from Bordeaux) or late harvest Chenin Blanc (from the Loire Valley). But it’s also delicious with aged rum, which adds another spicy, vanilla component.  My partner in crime is a bonafide rum lover so we always have a variety on our bar cart, but my favorite has to be El Dorado with 12 years of age. 

And as far as a musical pairing…well since we are conjuring up Southern grandmas I think some old school country like Loretta Lynn would work just fine. (Side note: if you  have never read her autobiography – wow, what a life!)

Apple Cobbler

FILLING:

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, for greasing pan

6 cups apples, peeled, cored, and sliced 

¼ cup sugar

2 tablespoons honey

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground allspice 

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Grease a 9 by 13 inch baking dish with butter. Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine. Transfer to the baking dish. Top the fruit with spoonfuls of the topping (see recipe below). (The topping does not need to cover the fruit entirely; it will expand during baking.) Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the topping has cooked through. 

Serve with plenty of vanilla ice cream!

Yield: 6-8 servings

TOPPING:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder 

8 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

¾ cup buttermilk

Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Add the butter and work into the dry ingredients (using your hands) until it resembles sand. Add ¾ cup of buttermilk and stir to combine.