When it comes to dessert - especially those involving fresh fruit and pastry! - we're often too busy spooning up another bite to care what it's called. But these playful names definitely grab your attention, don't they? After Faith's post the other week about her definitive nectarine cobbler, we decided to see what this family of desserts was all about.
What all these strangely-named desserts have in common is that they're made with a layer of fresh fruit topped with some kind of baked pastry. The fruit juices bubble up into the pastry as it cooks, forming little pockets of deliciousness and giving most of these desserts their signature pockmarked appearance.
• Crumble - A crumble is probably the most familiar to most of us. It's simply fresh fruit with a streusel-like topping that gets baked until the fruit is cooked. The streusel is usually a simple mix of oatmeal, brown sugar, butter, and spices. An actual crisp, as in apple crisp or strawberry crisp, is the same idea but with no oats in the topping. This makes the topping more like a crumbled cookie or pie crust.
• Cobbler - Cobblers add a biscuit topping to the fresh fruit. The biscuits are usually dropped onto the fruit in small rounds, giving it the appearance of a cobbled road and hence the name. Cobblers can also be made with cake batter or cookie dough instead of biscuit and are equally tasty.
• Grunt - Grunts are like cobblers except they're made entirely on the stovetop (or fire-top, as the case may be!). The fruit is stewed on its own just until it starts to break down. Then biscuit dough is dropped on top of the fruit and the pan is covered so the biscuits steam. The name "grunt" comes from the sound of the bubbles moving through the thick syrup and breaking out between the biscuits. This dessert is also sometimes called a "slump" for the way it slumps on the plate when you serve it.
• Buckle - Buckles invert everything by having the cake on the bottom and the fruit on top. As it bakes, the fruit sinks to the bottom while the cake rises around the fruit, causing it to "buckle".
• Pandowdy - One final bonus variation for you, and perhaps our favorite! Pandowdies cover fruit with a rolled-out pie crust, and the dessert is baked. Out of the oven, you "dowdy" the crust by breaking it into big pieces with a fork. The edges of the pieces absorb some of the juice while the middle stays perfectly crisp. Yum!
These desserts aren't going to win any beauty contests, but that's hardly the point! In our opinion, the combination of warm summer fruit and pastry trumps all. Add a scoop of ice cream and we're in heaven.
What's your favorite summer fruit dessert?
Related: Toad in a Hole and Bird in a Nest: What Are Your Favorite Food Names?
(Image: Flickr member ckemp licensed under Creative Commons)
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I think you've got crisp and crumble mixed up. A crisp almost always has oats in the the topping, while a crumble doesn't (the oats make a much 'crispier' topping). For example, in Canada where I'm from we eat apple crisp - it's always got oats. In the UK where I live now, we eat apple crumble - no oats.
I love crisp (my recipe uses oats; go figure), and you can even make it in the microwave if it's too hot for the oven. Sacrilege, I suppose, but it tastes just fine to me.
There's a little book by Linda Zimmerman called Cobblers, Crumbles, & Crisps and Other Old-Fashioned Fruit Desserts. It's got some nice recipes. Amazon also has a much newer book called Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More; I may have to check it out.
they're their there
One should add a crisp and streusel to the mix of this list.
The best part of all of these is the topping or the buckle's case the gooey cake :) I would eat only the topping is possible, hehe
@ hilarybue, interesting that we're the opposite on crisps and crumbles. Where I grew up (Midwestern US), crumbles were definitely the oaty ones! Ah, regional differences. :)
@ emsiemilia, do I have a grammar error? I just read through and didn't spot it. Please let me know, if so!
their/they're made entirely . . .
Ah! Thank you! Fixing it now.
This is so weird... I was just talking about this yesterday with someone.
Sorry, didn't mean to be cryptic, was just being lazy :)
I'm always confused by crisps and crumbles...
I think we need to recognize that the names of some foods are definitely regional. I can't tell you how surprised I was the first time someone served me a "cobbler" made with pie crust dough.
My chuck wagon "cobbler" recipe is more than 100 years old and it is a simple batter akin to pancake batter---that is quickly cobbled together---and poured over fruit and melted butter in a shallow pan. It bakes up cake-like on top and a bit custard-like on the bottom. My mother transcribed the original recipe to American standard cooking measurements when she married in 1944.
I've bake it with all kinds of fruit, but my husband's favorite is made with frozen (thawed) strawberries. Though I should add that he is an equal-opportunity eater when it comes to cobbler, crumbles, et al. He doesn't care what you call it as long as you call him to the table.
What, no apple brown betty??
I suppose you could have another kind of brown betty, but apple is my favourite. I prefer it to crisps and crumbles -- it's made with buttery bread crumbs, mmm...
@EmmaC, I've never heard of your way round before - I actually thought you had made a typo! So much for these 'definitive' lists of summer desserts, huh? :)
Now I'm even more confused. I wanted to know what the difference was between a cobbler and a crumble and you tell me that what I've always known as crumble is a cobbler. My confusion made me look for a crumble recipe and that gave me what you call a crumble ( http://www.crumblerecipes.com/crumble-toppings.htm ). So all I can think is that there really is no definitive term that everyone can agree to. It's as bad as the confusion of terms for pancakes, crepes and drop scones and griddle cakes!