Tradition & taste: The cobbler.

The cobbler is certainly a fun dessert to make. And it has many varieties to choose from. Although the original recipe was made with peaches. History has it that during the early years of European settlement, many Dutch and English immigrants brought traditional pie recipes to the New World, adapting to what was available to them in America. As settlers moved westward in the early 19th century, access to the fruits (peaches, plums, cherries) generally grown on the East Coast became increasingly difficult. And as pie recipes circulated through the lands, travelers on the road had to make do with what they had: dried, canned, or preserved fruit in syrup, chemically fermented dough (with baking powder), and an open fire.

The cobbler is said to have been an improvisation of the much-loved cake into a modified dessert along the way. The fruit, however, it comes, is poured into a Dutch oven, covered with pieces of sponge cake dough, and baked over an open fire until golden brown. Cobblers were quickly integrated into the settlers' diet, many opting to eat the sweet dish for breakfast, as a first course, or as a main course. It was not until the late 19th century that cobbler was officially labeled a dessert.

Since part of my learning experience is to look for alternative and healthy ways to make desserts, I decided to try both the standard and the vegan versions of this traditional dessert, with very good results.

I made both versions with varied berries and they were both delicious. When it comes to presentation, I prepared the standard version in 8-oz ramekins and the vegan version on an 8x8” baking pan. If you want to incorporate the cobblers in a plated dessert, I fully recommend baking it in ramekins. You can have a beautiful presentation of your dessert to family and friends, especially during this Memorial Day weekend.

This is an easy recipe to convert into a vegan version. I substituted the standard milk for almond milk (to also give the dessert a bit of a nutty flavor) and the butter for vegan butter sticks, as they work very well for baking.

One tip to always remember with vegan desserts is to make sure to use sugar from real sugar cane or substitute it with maple syrup or plant-based sugars. The reason for this is that many of the granulated sugar brands, especially refined white sugars use bone char in the process, which goes against the vegan philosophy of not consuming animals or animal derivatives.

Ingredients for the vegan recipe go as follows:

· All-purpose flour

· Sugar, cane, granulated

· Baking Powder

· Salt

· Cinnamon

· Vegan Butter Sticks, melted

· Almond Milk

· Lemon zest

· Sugar for fruit

· Strawberries, fresh

· Frozen blueberries, thawed

The process was quite easy: I sifted the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and cinnamon, added the second sugar to the fruit and mixed well until the sugar could no longer be seen. Then I added the lemon zest to the dry ingredients to combine, and finally, the milk, and stirred it with the dry ingredients until well combined and all lumps were gone.

I sprayed the pan well with canola oil. I poured the batter into the recipients and added the fruits including the juice.

When making the standard version using the ramekins, you need to spray those ramekins very well, to make sure the cobbler separates easily (you can otherwise serve them in the ramekins, which would look nice too). I had some leftover fruit that I later used to decorate my plated dessert.

I baked the cobbler at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes. I took them out once I saw they were crispy around the edges and well done.

It is a great dessert for summer days, and you can combine it with different seasonal fruits. Enjoy!