Cobblers, Crisps & Crumbles Explained

Easier to prepare and faster to bake than pies, crisps and cobblers are a perfect way to showcase seasonal fruits.

"A tightly covered skillet will 'grunt' while this traditional dessert cooks," according to Iola Eagle in her Blueberry Grunt recipe.


Cobblers, Crisps and Crumbles

Blueberry Grunt
Cherry Grunt
Apple Slump
Peach Pandowdy
Bird's Nest Pie
Huckleberry Buckle II

Fresh fruit crisps can match fruit pies fork to fork in terms of flavor--and they win the race from mixing bowl to oven to table. From blueberry buckle to apple crisp to peach cobbler, these humble desserts are made with sweetened fruit topped with a biscuit dough, pastry crust, or crumbly streusel.


A crisp, a crumble, or a crunch

These desserts are the simplest of all: fruit is covered with a streusel topping and baked until the crust is crispy and the filling bubbles and thickens.

Triple Berry Crisp
Fresh Cherry Crisp (recipe above)
Maple Apple Crisp
Rhubarb Crunch (recipe above)
Pear Crumble (recipe above)
Best Apple Crumble - Australian! (recipe above)


Cobblers

Cobblers can be topped with a sticky drop biscuit dough (which looks like stone cobbles on an old street) or a lattice of pastry.


Peach Cobbler (recipe above)
Fresh Cherry Cobbler (recipe above)
Blackberry Cobbler
Fresh Fruit Cobbler
Apple Pecan Cobbler (recipe above)


Brown Betties

Apple brown betty is one of the first documented apple desserts in the United States. Popular during Colonial times, it's still a nostalgic favorite. The fruit is layered with a mixture of fresh breadcrumbs, butter and brown sugar, and the concoction is baked until the apples are tender and the crumb topping gets crispy.


Apple Slices Brown Betty (recipe above)
Apple Betty (recipe above)