Loquat Cobbler

Total time: 95 minutes Active time: 35 minutes

Yield: 4 servings 

Filling Ingredients:

~ 4 cups loquats, seeded, cleaned and quartered (or apricots or peaches)

~ 1/4 cup white sugar (adjust to taste)  
~1/4 cup brown sugar (adjust to taste)  
2 teaspoons cinnamon  
1 teaspoon nutmeg  
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
juice of one lemon or orange

Topping Ingredients:

3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder  
1/2 teaspoon baking soda  
1/2 teaspoon salt  
3 tablespoons white sugar  
2 teaspoons cinnamon  
1/2 cup buttermilk or milk
4 tablespoons cold butter, diced

Instructions:

1. Toss filling ingredients together in a bowl and let stand until juicy ~ 30 minutes.

2. Pour filling ingredients into a saucepan and cook over medium heat for ~20 minutes until tender. (If using apricots or peaches you can skip this step).

3. Preheat oven to 400°F

4. Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingers until it becomes a coarse meal.  Slowly stir in buttermilk until mixture comes together like a wet paste. (If you don’t have buttermilk you can stir together regular milk and 1-2 teaspoons white vinegar and let stand until curdled, ~15 minutes) or just use regular milk.

5. Sprinkle brown sugar on the bottom of a 9×9″ dish. I used a metal pan in the photos but it does work better with a glass or ceramic pie pan if you have one. Pour filling ingredients over brown sugar and level with a spatula.

6. Drop tablespoons of dough over filling leaving space between to allow topping to expand during baking. Sprinkle with brown sugar.

7. Bake cobbler in middle of oven until topping is golden ~ 30 minutes.

8. Cool slightly and serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.

Notes: Loquats are very similar to apricots and make a delicious springtime cobbler with brown sugar and cinnamon! I often find them for free in my neighborhood because like apricots, they tend to come on all at once in the same two week window.

Fresh loquats

Preparing the filling

Loquat cobbler before baking