Gluten-Free Blueberry Plum Cobbler with Corn Flour Biscuits {gluten-free}
Blueberries and plums canoodle beneath tender gluten-free biscuits laced with the sunny taste of corn flour in this late-summer cobbler.
Prep Time: 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time: 30 minutesminutes
Total: 1 hourhour
Servings: 6servings
Ingredients
Filling:
1 1/4lbplums or pluots (580 g) (about 8 medium, or 41⁄2 cups sliced)
9ozfresh blueberries (255 g) (2 cups)
1/3cuporganic granulated cane sugar(70 g)
1tbspcornstarch(7 g)
1/8tspfine sea salt
Biscuits:
1/3cupsweet white rice flour(50 g)
1/3cupcorn flour(40 g)
1/3cupGF oat flour(35 g)
2tbsporganic granulated cane sugar, plus 2 tsp (8 g) for sprinkling the biscuits(25 g)
1tspbaking powder 1⁄4 tsp fine sea salt
4tbspcold, unsalted butter, in 1⁄4" (6 mm) dice(56 g)
1/4cupplain, whole-milk yogurt(60 ml)
3tbspheavy cream, plus 1 tbsp (15 ml) for brushing the biscuits(45 ml)
vanilla ice cream or lightly sweetened whipped cream, for serving
Instructions
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 425ºF (220ºC).
To make the filling, halve the plums (or if they cling to the pit, cut them off of the pit) and cut them into 1⁄2-inch (1.3-cm) wedges. Rinse the blueberries and drain well. Combine the sliced plums, blueberries, sugar, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl, and toss to combine. Scrape the fruit and any juices into a 9-inch (23-cm) square or 10-inch (25-cm) round baking dish or the equivalent, and place the dish on a rimmed baking sheet to catch any drips. Place in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the juices bubble thickly.
While the filling bakes, make the biscuits. In a large bowl, combine the sweet rice, corn and oat flours with the 2 tablespoons (25 g) sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter, and rub with your fingertips or cut in with a pastry blender until the butter is somewhat worked in with lots of little pea-sized butter bits. Chill this mixture until needed, about 10 minutes.
When the fruit is nearly done, combine the yogurt and 3 tablespoons (45 ml) cream in a small saucepan. Place over a medium flame and heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is hot and steamy, 1–2 minutes (don’t let it boil or it might separate). Quickly but gently stir the hot dairy into the butter/flour mixture, stirring just until combined, evenly moistened and no floury bits remain; do not overstir. Remove the fruit from the oven, give it a gentle stir to redistribute, then use a tablespoon to drop the batter onto the fruit, creating 10–12 rough mounds. Immediately dab and brush the tops with the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml) cream and sprinkle with the remaining 2 teaspoons (8 g) sugar.
Bake the cobbler until the biscuits are golden on top and the fruit is bubbling thickly, 18–25 more minutes. Let the cobbler cool for at least 10 minutes to allow the fruit to thicken up and the biscuits to finish baking from residual heat. Scoop into bowls and serve warm, topped with scoops of vanilla ice cream, or at room temperature with whipped cream. The cobbler is best within a few hours of baking, but leftovers can be refrigerated airtight for up to 2 days. Reheat before serving.
Notes
This recipe comes directly from my cookbook Alternative Baker: Reinventing Dessert with Gluten-Free Grains and Flours.This cobbler carries the sunny flavor of corn flour in light, buttery biscuits perched atop indigo blueberry-plum compote. Adding hot yogurt and cream to the biscuit dough may seem like an odd instruction, but it’s the key to fluffy biscuits that bake up light, craggy and full of flavor. The biscuits taste like very moist, tender cornbread, the perfect foil for tart-sweet summer fruit.I especially like this cobbler at room temperature with a scoop of yogurt or whipped cream.Feel free to trade the plums for peaches, or the blueberries for black- or raspberries; all are lovely with stone fruit and corn.Be sure to use fine, pale yellow corn flour in the biscuits rather than cornmeal or cornstarch.Nutritional values are based on one of six servings.