Recipe: Pear and Chestnut Cobbler
When I lived in California, as much as I loved the landscape and climate (and still do), I found it hard to shake the habit of the cycle of seasons I was accustomed to after growing up in New England: summer heat for play and long days outside, fall for gathering up, winter for drawing inward, and (my favorite) spring for its festive, budding release from that interior time. My body kind of rebelled at the blurry lines and endless abundance of a year-round temperate climate.
Mid-winter New England is usually a chilly place, the view mainly brown and white, the challenge to stay warm and upright in a slippery landscape. Though it’s early January, I write from the saddle between a 70-degree day and its 35-degree successor, an unsurprising head cold lodged in my sinuses as my body’s rebellion against the disordered weather. I don’t love falling on the ice any more than the next person, but I do remain firmly in the camp of winter-when-it’s-supposed-to-be-winter. I’m scanning the unfamiliar patches of green outside for signs that the croci and daffodils have been swindled by this trickery (“Go back! Don’t be fooled!”) and look forward to the snow that’s in the forecast for this weekend.
This cobbler is winter food, warming and fortifying. Pears look great in the market now, and play so nicely with the rum (you can sub apple cider for it if you prefer, but rest assured the alcohol bakes out of the final result) and butter and the nutty sweetness of the chestnuts, which are readily available in very convenient prepared packets. The trick of heating the dairy and chilling the dry ingredients to increase the lift as the biscuits bake comes from my friend Alanna at The Bojon Gourmet, whose pages are full of delicious food and handy tricks for feeding yourself grandly in all seasons. So, let it snow!
Pear and Chestnut Cobbler
Biscuit Layer:
1 cup all-purpose flour
(For a gluten-free version, you can replace this with 2/3 cup oat flour and 1/3 cup sweet white rice flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
100g cooked, peeled chestnuts
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
4 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, sliced
¼ cup plain Greek yogurt (whole milk)
¼ cup heavy cream
Fruit Layer:
4 large thin-skin pears, such as Bartlett, D’Anjou or red (about 2 pounds)
½ cup light brown sugar
2 tablespoons rum
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
1 tablespoon flour (use oat, for the gluten-free version)
Big pinch fine sea salt
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
To finish and serve:
About a tablespoon of brown sugar
A bit more Greek yogurt or crème fraiche
1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400ºF.
2. Lightly butter an 8 or 9” baking dish with 2” sides.
3. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour(s) with the chestnuts, baking powder, soda and salt and pulse until the chestnuts are very finely chopped.
4. Add the cold butter and pulse 4-6 times, until the butter is roughly combined, lumps of it still visible. Move the bowl to your fridge to chill while you prepare the fruit layer.
5. In a large pot, combine the fruit with the sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and rum, Leave it about five minutes to macerate.
6. Add the flour and salt. Toss to combine and then drop in the butter and heat the mixture slowly over low heat until the juices begin to bubble. Turn off the heat and leave the pot where it is. The mixture will stay warm on the turned-off burner while you dance through the last steps.
7. Retrieve the flour mixture from its cold area and return it to the base of the food processor.
8. Combine the yogurt and cream in a small saucepan. Place over low heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is just hot to the touch. (Don’t let it boil or it might separate.)
9. Quickly pulse the hot dairy and the vanilla into the cold butter/flour mixture, just until evenly moistened and no pockets of dry flour are visible.
10. Heat up the fruit mixture over medium-high heat until it bubbles again, then transfer it to the prepared baking dish.
11. Use a tablespoon to drop the batter onto the fruit, in nine even-ish globs. Sprinkle the tops with the additional brown sugar.
12. Bake the cobbler until the biscuits are golden on top and the fruit is bubbling thickly, about 30 minutes. Let the cobbler rest on the counter for 20 minutes or so before serving; this will allow the juices to thicken slightly and the biscuits to finish baking on the underside.
13. Scoop into bowls and serve warm, with a dollop of crème fraiche or Greek yogurt.
The cobbler is best within a few hours of baking, but leftovers can be refrigerated airtight for up to 3 days (and make for a very nice breakfast). Reheat before serving.
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