Happy Monday after Easter everyone! Let’s celebrate this great occasion by talking about an amazing new cookbook by a fellow blogger that I’m obsessed with, both her and this beautiful book. Sweeter Off the Vine by Yossy Arefi is a must have for anyone and everyone who loves fruit desserts. It’s broken up by season and by fruit, making it easy for you to pick what to make at any given time of the year. And even if you’re not much of a baker, these recipes are easy enough to make you feel like a boss in the kitchen. The photos alone will make you want to eat and make everything inside of it. As soon as I got the book last week, I bookmarked practically every recipe that I was dying to try out. I took a trip to the grocery store this past weekend, and the strawberries were calling out to me. I’m fortunate enough to live in California where there are strawberries pretty much all year round, but in early spring like right now, they’re out of this world. So I grabbed a few boxes and came up with a game plan. The one recipe that kept sticking out to me from the book is the Blueberry Skillet Cobbler with Whole Wheat Biscuits, but since blueberries aren’t in season at the moment, and since Yossy suggests in the notes of the recipe that you can try it with strawberries as well, that’s what I did. I can’t wait to make the cobbler with blueberries once it’s the right time of year again. I’ve decided to give it a try each season, but with different fruit. Let’s see how that goes for me.
Because I’m obsessed with this cobbler, this book and giving away free things, I’ve decided it’s about time for another giveaway on the blog. It’s been too long since the last one. Plus, it’ll make my mamma really happy to be able to read all of your responses and pick a winner once again. So here we are, I’m giving away a copy of the book so that you can have one all to yourself. You know the drill, and just in case this is your first time at the rodeo, I’ll refresh your memory. You enter the giveaway be leaving a comment below, answering a question. The question this time around is “What is your favorite fruit or fruit dessert?” I want to hear all about your favorite fruit. Give me all the details, memories or stories you have regarding your answer. The more detailed the better. Not because it’ll up your chances (because the winner will be picked at random) but because I love reading your answers. You have until the end of the week to participate, and keep in mind that it’s one entry per person. I like to keep things fair. I’ll let the winner know through email, and update this post at the bottom with the lucky chosen one. May the odds be in your favor and may you win. Good luck. I’m rooting for you!
Let’s start by rinsing whatever berries or fruit you’re doing. If you’re using strawberries like I did, go ahead and stem them and cut them in half. If they’re small, keep them whole, that’ll be okay.
**Tip: As Yossy recommends, also try them with in season fruit. Try it with apples or pears in autumn or rhubarb in spring or cranberries in winter! Or do a mixture of berries!**
Toss the berries together with sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, orange zest, and nutmeg until evenly combined.
**Note: Give the fruit a taste before tossing the filling together, if they’re sweet enough, add less sugar, or if they’re not that ripe, add more sugar.**
Pour the berries into a buttered cast-iron skillet and shake the pan so they’re in an even layer. Set the skillet off to the side while you work on the whole wheat biscuits.
In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat and all-purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until well combined. In a measuring cup, whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, heavy cream, and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet. Mix together with a rubber spatula until it comes together.
**Tip: Do not over-mix the dough or else you’ll end up with tough biscuits. The dough will be soft and somewhat sticky.**
Use a spring-hinged ice cream scoop or two spoons to portion out eight even biscuits on top of the berries. Make sure to space them out evenly as they’ll rise and spread during baking.
Brush the biscuits with a bit more cream and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. The sugar on top is optional, but it adds a great finishing touch and texture to the biscuits.
Bake until the fruit is bubbling and the biscuits are golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through baking to ensure even browning.
**Tip: Place the skillet on top of a baking sheet to catch any drippings. It’s better that any juice lands in the baking sheet rather than the oven.**
Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before serving. As with any cobbler or crumble, it’s best served warm with a scoop or two of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
I love these types of desserts because they’re super easy to put together. You don’t have to worry about resting or rising times or lots of mixing or kneading. Just pour the fruit into a skillet—any fruit for that matter, it’s completely customizable—and then just scoop out biscuit dough on top. Bake and forget about it.
I’ve also come to realize that any type of fruit dessert is always welcome at dinner parties or gatherings. Especially during the summer, and when ice cream is involved, forget about it. People lose their cool. Ice cream always makes everything better, and if you don’t agree with me, then you’re stone cold evil…no, you’re not.
This cobbler is best when eaten the day you make it, but if there are any leftovers (how could there be??!), you can store them in the fridge and eat them the next morning for breakfast. It’s the best breakfast in all the world.
Contest Rules: Don’t forget to enter the contest by leaving a comment below so that you can win a copy of Sweeter Off The Vine for yourself! It’s so easy to enter, just leave a comment telling me what your favorite fruit or fruit dessert is. As always, only one entry per person, let’s keep things fair for everyone. Also, give me more than just a simple one word answer (I mean you can) but I LOVE to read all about your answers. Why you love this particular fruit or fruit dessert, what memories it brings you or the experience you felt when you first tried it. I want details! You have until the end of the week to enter, then my mom (of course) will pick the winner at random on Friday and I’ll let you know through email if you won! Good luck, I’m rooting for you!
Strawberry Skillet Cobbler
Ingredients
Filling
- 3 pounds fresh strawberries stemmed and cut in half
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- Juice from 1/2 a lemon
- 1/2 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Whole Wheat Biscuits
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 teaspoons turbinado sugar
- vanilla ice cream to serve
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with butter, set aside.
- In a large bowl, toss together the strawberries with the sugar, cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice, orange zest, and nutmeg until evenly combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared skillet. Shake into an even layer and set aside.
- To make the biscuits, in a large bowl, combine the whole wheat and all purpose flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a measuring cup, whisk together the melted butter, buttermilk, heavy cream and vanilla extract. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and pour in the wet. Stir gently with a rubber spatula until just combined and the dough comes together. The dough will be soft and sticky.
- Using two spoons or a medium ice cream scoop (spring-loaded) and scoop out 8 biscuit mounds on top of the berries. Space them out evenly as they're rise and spread during baking. Brush the tops with the leftover liquid in the measuring cup and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.
- Place the skillet over a baking sheet and bake until fruit is bubbling and the biscuits are golden brown, about 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool somewhat. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream. Cobbler is best the day of, but leftovers can be stored in fridge and rewarmed the next day or eaten cold.
apples…and cinnamon apple anything!! crisp, crumble, pie–my family goes apple picking every year, and it definitely created my love of apples!
Watermelon is definitely my favorite fruit, but I love anything with peaches and ice cream for dessert!
What beautiful and scrumptious photos! My favorite would be blueberries with this recipe and then strawberries. When I was a child, we would go to my favorite aunt and uncles farm (all 6 of us kids) The adults would send us out to the strawberry garden where all of us kids including the 5 cousins, would pick strawberries and bring back to the adults in the huge farm kitchen. (Uncle Larry, who was a comedian would warn us that if we ate any – there would not be enough for the ladies to make pies and cobblers)
They would always look at each other laughing because we all showed up with stains on our faces – giving us away immediately.
I have an unexplained insatiable obsession with pineapple..in its purest form as a fruit..i can eat it at every meal every day and will pick it over anything else..even the most seductive chocolatey dessert or anything else..
Cherry pie! Every year at thanksgiving, my grandma would make a cherry pie just for me and my grandpa. No one else likes it so it was always a special treat for us.
I have a wonderful fresh apple cake recipe that I love to make. It was handed down from my grandmother and I remember making it with her at the kitchen table. We didn’t have much counter space or islands back then. We would laugh a lot while making the cake, peeling the apples and eating them at the same time. Our parakeet, Pretty Boy, would be making his sounds as he sat in his cage near the back door. Thanks for bringing back such a great memory. We had many wonderful family times in the kitchen.
When it comes to fruit-filled desserts, apple crisp is my go-to! Full of cinnamon, crunchy topping and soft apples.. YUM!
Right now, I’m having a love affair with naval oranges…but hands down, I think my favorite fruit would either be persimmons or grapes.
Blueberries and my favorite dessert with blueberries is blueberry buckle. And definitely go heavy on the blueberries.
I found a new favorite from Food 52 Baking this weekend. Blueberry Schlumpf (such a great name) made with berries from my freezer. So easy and SO delicious. Looking forward to trying with different fruits through this summer.
a good peach cobbler in the summer, with a few blueberries sprinkled in, is perfection
Classic blueberry pie with vanilla bean ice cream
Pie! Any kind of fruit pie!! Apple is always good and strawberry, when the strawberries are big and very sweet. I love lemon pie and it is a fruit pie, but different from the rest. Strawberry & Rhubarb is my favorite though. Sweet and tangy at the same time. With a perfect buttery crust. Now I have to make one ASAP.
My favorite fruit dessert is blueberry buckle. My great aunt introduced it to our family. She was a fascinating person, not only the first woman engineer in our state when she was out of college, but as a married woman, she & her husband were hosts to politicians, entertainers, town leaders, and others. We were known as the “farm cousins” because we lived two hours away on a soybean & corn farm. When she wanted the real work done, she called upon my mother & father. Once, we made rhubarb after rhubarb pie for an event she chaired. (I’m sure she took the credit…and that was fine w/my mother). The blueberry buckle is easy, delicious, and makes either for a delicious coffee cake–morning delight, or an after-the-meal dessert if you add a dollop of fresh whipped cream or ice cream to it. YUM! So good!! I loved my aunt, b/c her lifestyle was so different than ours, yet she still, like my mother, served homemade dishes to her guests, and normally took advantage of foods & fruits in season (she was thrifty too). From her, I learned about the city side of life, therefore creating a fabulous balance to my country side of life. <3
This dessert looks delicious!! I can’t wait for strawberry picking season in Maine to begin (we’ve got a while to wait…) It’s hard to pick a favorite fruit dessert because I think fruit desserts are my favorite desserts in general but my favorite is probably mango gelato. I had never had a mango until about ninth grade when I went to visit my aunt in NYC and she was shocked to hear this. She made it her job to get me fresh mangos and she took us to a restaurant and ordered me mango ice cream. I immediately fell in love and have been eating mangos ever since! We have a special place near us called the Gelato Fiasco which has the best mango gelato ever. I eat it all year long but there’s nothing like a hot summer day and working outside then having a cold, refreshing bowl of mango gelato. YUM!!!
My favorite is fresh strawberry pie.
baked pears with apricot stilton and toasted walnuts. it’s always the first thing i think of making when i have a bunch of unripe pears that i don’t know what to do with (or if i have a bunch of ripe pears at once). it’s never winter without having it at least once during the season, and i love how quick and easy it is (not to mention that it’s a good break from the rest of the decadence!).
Growing up, once a summer my mom would make a strawberry-rhubarb pie and it is simply heaven. I love it so much and it always brings back the best memories of being up at the cabin and eating dinner on the deck overlooking the lake.
My very favorite would be huckleberry pie, warm, with vanilla ice cream, but since there seem to be no huckleberries in my area anymore, I would say warm peach cobbler with vanilla ica cream. I am in SE PA and remember trips to the mountains for huckleberries, and trips to “the shore” for bushels of New Jersey peaches. Thanks for the opportunity to win this lovely cook book.
I love apple cakes. So simple to make
Oh peach cobbler is the best! Yummy!!
Those strawberries are perfect. I love fruit desserts more than anything and it’s hard to pick my favorite. When I got married I made all homemade pies and cupcakes instead of having a cake. Now making “wedding pie” on our anniversary is one of my favorite traditions. It’s filled with red grapes, blueberries and cherries. So delicious!
My favorite dessert is strawberry cheesecake! I love pretty much anything strawberry and am looking forward to trying out this cobbler soon!
I love the idea of a strawberry cobbler!! Definitely saving this beauty of a recipe!
These looks and sound amazing! I love strawberry, blueberry and banana any and everything!
I love straight up rhubarb pie! Don’t get me wrong, I’m a strawberry lover, but when it comes to pies… please don’t mix with rhubarb! It takes away all the yummy tartness.
My favorite fruit hands down would have to be raspberries I just love the tartness and they can be added to just about anything one of my favorite ways to enjoy them as a dessert is a raspberry rhubarb danish so delicious!
Oh my FAVORITE fruity dessert is bananas foster. I just love the sweetness of the caramelized banana.
Apples! Hands down apples, I eat one every day (an apple a day right;) haha). And so my favourite fruit dessert is my mums Caramel Apple Oat Crumble, which we make whenever we’re having one of those ‘cosy’ days. She even made me one to come home to after completing my 80+km hike across Dartmoor National Park for my Gold Duke of Edinburgh award last summer! It was bliss to come back to a bowl of hot apples and custard after 5days of just instant porridge and instant noodles haha!:D
Blueberries are delicious fresh or baked!
Ooh I can’t wait to try this! My favorite fruit dessert is cherry cobbler in a skillet, so I’m definitely going to try out the strawberries! I had my two year old help me with the last cherry cobbler I made and it was sooo messy but so fun and she loved it! I think she loved helping even more than actually eating it. Her favorite part was scraping out the vanilla from the whole vanilla beans. She smelled amazing! 🙂
my favorite fruit is blackberries… I’ve got a whole fence lined with them. We usually end up making blackberry pies.
Whatever’s in season – especially strawberries and apples! I love going to the field/orchard and picking my own strawberries/apples, and then baking with the fruits of my labour! Shortcakes and crumbles, oh my! 🙂
Lemons, lemons, lemons!!! We have a lemon tree in the backyard, I love it now when it’s flowering, the scent is so nice and the bees are fun to watch. In November when the lemons are ripe I love to make so many things, lemonade, lemoncello, lemon bars, cake, cookies, freeze pops, ice cream, yogurt… that’s only the sweet options 🙂 What can’t a lovely yellow lemon do?
It’s hard to pick just one, but I do love a good fruit tart. When I was growing up, my mom would often take me to Draeger’s Market (so fancy!) on my birthday and let me choose a treat. I always went for the most colorful fruit tart.
English Summer Pudding with a huge bowl of freshly made whipped cream! I make this every Summer for my kids and now their kids as well. We pick most of the berries on my cousin’s property overlooking Lucy Vincent Beach in Martha’s Vineyard and next to eating the fruits of our labor, that is the best part.
My favorite fruit dessert is Plum crisp! It was the first thing I ever baked, I remember making when I was in 7th grade and just going plum crazy (sorry) for it! My father and I loved it so much that we ate the whole 9″x9″ tray in one sitting while watching Futurama together.
Oooh, right now it’s my white almond cake filled with homemade lemon curd and a thin layer of raspberry jam. It’s like eating happy dreams.
Favourite fruit pudding – has to be damson mousse. Or damson and sloe gin ice cream. Or damson fool. Taste of my childhood.
Favorite fruit or fruit dessert? Does pie count? I love most fruits and I can’t think of a better way to eat any fruit than in a pie!
Except maybe pineapple. I can’t imagine a pineapple pie…perhaps something to experiment with haha
I spent my childhood summers in India visiting family. Summers are the monsoon season and it would rain nonstop, interspersed with the most sweltering heat. It is also mango season. Some of my best memories are hanging out with my cousins, eating mangoes by squishing the ripest fruits up in their skin, then using our teeth to tear a bit of the skin off and squeezing the fresh mango pulp into our mouths. We were a close-knit band of kids, covered in sticky mango juice, running around free all summer long, and I think about that often when I feel sad at how far apart and disconnected we are today.
My favorite is apple pie. It tastes like holidays, year round!
Meyer Lemon anything, especially if it includes homemade lemon curd ?
Peach and raspberry galette or a crumble! They’re such a good combo. I’m from British Columbia, from a town that is the self-claimed raspberry capital of Canada, and I’m only a couple hour drive from the Okanagan, so I’m spoiled because our raspberries and peaches are the best in the world which means my galettes taste so fresh and delightful.
lemon bars!
I will always gladly accept a slice of apple pie (bonus points for a scoop of vanilla ice cream!). One December, though, my older sister had the idea to make individual, mason jar apple pies for friends, and did all the math to figure out how to multiply the recipe a few times. We ended up with a bin (probably a bushel, really) of apples, and of course we peeled and diced ALL of them before realizing that we had way too much apple for the number of jars she wanted to prepare. We tossed all of the extra into a few gallon-sized bags, and threw some into the fridge and into the freezer for future use. I think the pies were a hit, though! I might have even tried one myself, but perhaps not – I was traumatized by peeling and dicing so many that I’ve blocked part of the memory.
Thank you for making the world a better place by making this strawberry cobbler!
My favorite fruit has to be raspberries- just the right amount of sweet. They can be eaten plain…or in just about anything. The best thing is to have them in tarts with other berries. Or in your yogurt! Or in your drinks! Please feel free to post some recipes with them
passion fruit ice cream!
Blueberry cobbler. I grew up in the Pine Barrens, where blueberries grow wild, and would go walking with my dad in the evenings, picking as many as we could. there’s nothing sweeter than wild blueberries in the summer.
Anything berry, but red raspberries are my favorites. I love June and July for all the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries! Stir them into plain yogurt with a little candied ginger – my favorite easy (and healthy) dessert!
Strawberry rhubarb pie!
I love cobblers, especially peach cobbler and my favorite fruit is a peach (especially if it comes from one of my dad’s trees). I’ve made this all my life since I was a young child.
I love whatever is in season at the moment! If forced to pick a favorite, ripe Honey-O strawberries straight off the plant, warm from the sun. My son and I can polish off a whole strawberry pie in a day, no problem.
Strawberry anything, really, my family always goes strawberry picking every year and come home with way too many to make into homemade freezer jam so I get to use all the rest for baking! Last year I made an amazing strawberry pie with a poppyseed crust that was to die for.
Don’t know when this ends, but I’ll give it a try. My favorite fruit dessert is white chocolate cherry scones! Or anything with cherries….
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Cherry cobbler is my favorite!
What a great idea…start a seasonal tradition of this cobbler with appropriate fruit. It’s also a good one to have in your arsenal if you have guests coming over! Your desserts will always be in season. I love anything with lemon curd or with any kind of jam.
I LOVE to make apple tart with my Dad! Can’t wait for summer time when we can pick our own fruit for baking. MMMM!
My favorite fruit is the strawberry. Favorite dessert is anything chocolate!
I always gravitate to fruit desserts! My absolute favorites are ones the mix meringues with fruits but this looks amazing too!
I’m definitely a fan of strawberries! My mom used to make me strawberry shortcake in grade school 🙂
I love pineapple <3
It used to be apple crisp but now I would have to say blueberry crisp. I could eat blueberries on most anything and always keep tons frozen for pancakes and baking. I like that I can make it gluten free if needed for guests without giving up much of the taste.
i love any berry cobbler
just discovered your blog via Joy the Baker (and I’m so psyched!). Not to be basic, but my favorite fruit dessert is probably a simple berry galette, I live in Louisiana and we are lucky enough to start getting strawberries at the farmer’s market in February and blueberries through the end of summer. I love making a quick galette – easier than a pie but still cute! I toss the berries in honey, cinnamon, and maybe some nutmeg and make a basic pie crust for the base!
I made this with some strawberries I snagged at 6lbs for $10 and blueberries I had in the fridge, brought it to a potluck BBQ, and it was a hit! It’s so simple to make and perfectly captures the flavors of the season.