We’ll grant that summer fruit pies are sublime, but honestly, who has time to mess with rolling, chilling, and crimping a pie crust when there are pools to splash in and steamy summer novels to read? Not us.
Enter the humble-but-delicious cobbler. This crumbly treat requires minimal prep — just a bit of mixing and plopping (we’re going with “plopping” as the official culinary term).
Crisps, crumbles, and buckles are all considered part of the cobbler family — along with grunts, slumps, sonkers, and pandowdies (not even joking). Just like a summer family reunion, we’re rounding up alll the relatives, however odd their names.
So fire up the oven or campfire, it’s time to make dessert!
Was it even summer if you didn’t dig into a bowl of peach cobbler? This recipe for the classic seasonal dessert features juicy, ripe peaches (in season between April and October) in its bottom half, and a surprise ingredient for moistness in its top: yogurt! Finish it off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or froyo to make it even more summery.
A traditional cobbler is a mixture of big chunks of fruit, thickened with a little flour, sweetened with sugar, and topped with a biscuit-type topping. Cobblers got their name because the baked crust was bumpy and uneven like cobblestones in the streets of Great Britain, where the dish was invented.
This strawberry version comes together quickly with the help of a food processor. Try adding fresh basil, thyme, rosemary, or mint to the biscuit mixture for even more summer goodness.
Any time “easy” and “dessert” are mentioned together, we’re down to try it. This easy berry cobbler is no exception. Blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries (or a combo of all three) make a tart, antioxidant-rich base beneath a buttery crust. The best part: You don’t have to peel or slice berries.
This crisp creates an unusual twist on the old-fashioned strawberry rhubarb by using tahini instead of butter or another fat in the crumble. The result: a delightfully dairy-free option. The recipe author also recommends using a splash of rosewater in the filling, adding a fragrant element to this upgraded classic recipe.
There’s our favorite word again: easy. Here, 6 cups of sweet cherries get popped into an oven-safe skillet, where they release their juices during baking. Meanwhile, the biscuit topping gets some Southern flair (not to mention a fiber upgrade) from a bit of corn meal. Serve this one as the perfect ending to a summer barbecue.
A buckle is where coffee cake meets fruit crisp. A muffin-type filling is topped with a streusel mixture for a crunchy texture on top of a tender, sweet cake. (It’s probably the best way to eat cake for breakfast, in our opinion.)
Oh, and if you’re wondering about the name: It comes from the way the cake-like topping will crack and “buckle” while baking.
You might think of apples as autumn fruits, but believe it or not, many varieties are ready to pick as early as July. This apple cobbler makes the most of the late summer harvest by seasoning the fruits with cinnamon and nutmeg — but consider cardamom as an interesting flavor alternative.
If you’d like to mix things up even more, add rhubarb or dried cranberries to the filling, or drizzle the finished product with caramel sauce.
A crumble is another name for a crisp. Both desserts happen to be relatively easy to make vegan! This cherry berry crumble combines cherries and mixed berries for an explosion of summer flavors without any animal products.
By using gluten-free oats in the topping, you can even make this one gluten-free. Arrowroot powder thickens the berry mixture, and the topping contains no wheat.
When you’re camping, simplicity is the name of the game. That’s why this cobbler has just three ingredients you can easily stow in a cooler (along with some ice cream, obvs). Just try to keep your mitts off until it’s ceased bubbling over the campfire.
We’ve come to the pandowdy, which is so fun to say! Unlike its cousin, the lattice-topped pie, the pandowdy uses scraps of pie dough in a rustic, layered way — a great starter project for young chefs.
This lightly spiced pear version is topped with a sugared pie dough for a flaky, crunchy dessert that doesn’t get soggy (like the bottom of a pie crust).
Arguably, any summer fruit can make its way into a tasty cobbler (we’re talking not only berries, but even tomatoes and melons!). Grab your ice cream scooper and a nice big bowl — you’re about to cobble together summer’s perfect dessert.