I
feel ashamed to call this cooking. Assembling if you like. It must be one of the easiest puddings out there – hearty and warming. It doesn’t have a chance against a crumble I’ll be the first to admit but lets just say its the crumbles foreign not so pretty and less intelligent cousin. With a sad tinge of Autumnal chill to the weather this weekend and being the first day of October my expectations of an endless Indian Summer were dampened metaphorically and literally after ending up a little wet at work.
A few weeks back I returned home to my Wiltshire bolt and origins of the real pantry to a bounty of delicious homegrown gooseberries! Picked from the allotment and waiting patiently for my greedy hands! So cobbler it was….adapted from Delia Smith.
Serves 4
- 500g gooseberries
- 100g caster sugar
- 2 tbsp elderflower cordial
- 225g plain flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 110g cold, cubed butter
- 170ml buttermilk
- Pinch salt
- Demerara sugar
- Ice cream/custard to serve. Or my cinnamon creme anglaise
- Preheat the oven to 200°C.
- Start by placing the gooseberries in a baking dish and scatter over the caster sugar and cordial evenly.
- To make the topping, place the flour, baking powder, salt and cubed butter in a food processor and blend together until you have a breadcrumb like consistency. Then at this stage add the buttermilk and pulse until you get a sticky dough.
- Rustically distribute large tablespoons of the topping over the gooseberries making sure you cover the majority of the fruit.
- Sprinkle over some crunchy demerara sugar and bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes until the topping if golden, cooked and the fruit is bubbling up underneath.
- Serve warm with custard or ice cream. My cinnamon creme anglaise is recommended – see here for full recipe
