Hello. In the kitchen with Sharon this week is Tim Colliver making his famous apple cobbler. Tim and his daughter-in-law Sami made this great apple cobbler at the Homemaker’s Show on Thursday evening. So for those of you that weren’t there, you missed out on a great time at the 31st Homemakers Show.
Please keep all these great recipes coming. Send to [email protected] and don’t forget to take a picture of your finished dish. And if you have a story to tell about your recipe, that will be great. Everyone likes to hear these stories about where your recipes came from.
“In case you weren’t able to copy down all the ingredients and things involved with making what I like to refer to as the ‘Evelyn Hawkins Autograph Model Cobbler’ Sami and I demonstrated at this year’s Homemaker’s Show, here it is again for you to try and enjoy,” Colliver said.
Apple Cobbler
Ingredients:
2 Cups water
2 Cups white sugar
1 stick real butter
2 Cups self-rising or all-purpose flour (Remember what you ladies learned in home ec class — do they even teach that anymore in high school? Don’t add the baking powder or salt if using self-rising flour).
2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
One-third cup of shortening or “the secret ingredient”…LARD!
One-half cup milk
4 cups of your favorite fruit, sliced ‘n diced. You can easily substitute peaches, blackberries or cherries.
Generous amount of cinnamon, which tastes good when added to peaches as well.
Directions
Pour the 2 cups of water into an appropriate sized saucepan and stir in the sugar, placing over low heat. Place the one stick of butter into a 9 X 13 baking dish and put into the oven at 350 degrees. Be sure to check on the sugar water and baking dish periodically to avoid burning. Cut the shortening or lard into the two cups of flour until the mixture appears crumbly. Stir in one-half cup milk.
You’re probably saying to yourself, “Hey Tim, this is a basic biscuit recipe!” That it is, and if you want fluffy biscuits with a nice rise, bump the milk up to about three-quarters of a cup and cut them out a wee bit thicker. Serve with either homemade sausage gravy or what comes out of a can and you’ve got yourself a great breakfast idea.
For this recipe, though, you want the dough a little dryer than usual since before we toss it into the oven, we add the water that is simmering on the stove. And while I’ve got your attention, check the butter in the oven.
Turn the dough onto either parchment paper or a floured surface and roll it out to about a quarter-inch thick. Spread your sliced ‘n diced fruit onto the pastry and, if you’re making apple or peach, cover generously with cinnamon.
Remove the baking dish from the oven — be careful, it’s hot — and place on a potholder nearby.
Carefully roll the pastry and fruit up into a roll, pinching the ends to seal. Use a sharp knife. Strange as it may seem, I’ve got a filet knife that really does the trick. And cupping the pastry with one hand, begin cutting 1 to 1½ inch slices, laying them side by side in the baking dish. Then taking the sauce pan containing the sugar and water, pour the entire contents over the pastries. Don’t worry if they start floating like little swirly looking boats, once they hit the oven the dough will absorb most of the liquid and the rest will thicken into cinnamon sweet syrup.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown, when done serve with either a big scoop of ice cream or dollop of whipped topping and you’ve made a desert that my mother-in-law would be proud of. Enjoy!
Sharon Hughes is the advertising manager at The Times-Gazette. She is also a mother, grandmother and chef. She can be reached at 937-393-3456.
