Cobblers are one of the best and easiest desserts ever, don't you think?
This pear cobbler is the best, with juicy, sweet pear chunks smothered in an amazing tender sweet biscuit dough! You'll love this fantastic fall dessert!
The day I made a cobbler for the first time (it was peach and a million years ago), I was 15 and I decided it was one of my favorite desserts.
Many decades later I still love it and falls under the category of 'rescuer recipe', the type that comes together quickly, is a total crowd-pleaser, travels well to another location and can be made year-round. A savior, clearly.
What is a cobbler?
A cobbler is a dessert that consists of a fruit layer and a biscuit-like topping.
Some recipes also have a thin layer of dough in the bottom, but the ones I make never do. I learned to make the first one years ago while visiting friends in the US and it only had a fluffy topping. So no bottom layer around here. We're sticking to the old-fashioned way.
The fruit layer is mixed with sugar and a thickener (cornstarch in this recipe), and the topping cooks to a tender sweet biscuit.
It is a very similar idea as that of a crumble or crisp. And as easy to put together.
Today we're making what can be considered a basic cobbler recipe.
With pears because it'll soon be autumn or fall for most of you, and pears are still sweet and juicy where I live. But it can easily be made with apples or peaches if you're still enjoying the last fruits of summer.
I use Bartlett or English pears (image above), which are very common and hold their shape very well when baked.
The fruit layer
- Pears: I find that cutting the fruit in chunks works best. It can be eaten whole and they hold their shape well after baking. I'd rather cut large chunks than risk the pears disintegrating too much. But it's up to you.
- Sugar: some sugar is added to the pears before the topping. It mixes with the cornstarch and liquid and created a thick juice, much like it does in a pie. This is the part where you can add more or less depending on your sweet tooth.
- Lemon: I find the drizzle of lemon juice to be essential in most cobblers and crumbles. No matter what fruit I use, they all benefit from the citrus, which balances the butter and sugar. Pears are sweet by themselves, so I find it even more necessary to add the lemon juice.
- Cornstarch: as mentioned above, this ingredients acts as a thickener (when mixed with the water) and creates a wonderfully thick syrup that mixes with the natural juices that are released from the pears as they bake.
The biscuit topping
This is my favorite part, as I love all types of biscuits and scones.
The topping of this dessert is easy to make, a one-bowl mixture that comes together in no time and doesn't even has to be spread carefully (image above). It won't cover all the fruit and that's the beauty of this dessert. It's rustic and irregular, with different textures in every bite.
It bakes into a fluffy, starchy and tender biscuit that pairs wonderfully with the warm and syrupy fruit.
The recipe is similar to drop scones, a very old-fashioned recipe from Ireland if you asked my grandmother, but who many will probably claim as being from Scotland or England. A question for another moment.
Freezing a cobbler
Yes, you can freeze this dessert, and it keeps for 2-4 weeks in the freezer, well wrapped. To defrost, put it in the fridge overnight or leave it at room t° before warming it in a 325°F oven (this goes for both methods).
You can keep it in the refrigerator for several days, well covered. Warm it before eating.
Serving it
- Individual servings: use small ramekins to make individual pear cobblers. They are ideal if you have a dinner party.
- Whipped cream or ice cream: my favorite way to serve it is warm with (unsweetened in my case) whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Variations
This is a basic recipe that can be adjusted to different palates.
- Fruit: use apples instead of pears, or a mixture of both. Add some berries to the mix.
- Flavorings: use ground cardamom or ginger instead or together with the cinnamon. Add chopped candied ginger or lemon zest to the biscuit mixture.
Other recipes you might like:
Let me know in the comments below if you made this recipe and loved it, and also if you had issues, so we can troubleshoot together. I love to hear what you think, always. Thanks for being here, it's much appreciated.
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Pear Cobbler
- Prep Time: 30
- Cook Time: 40
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: 10 servings 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy cobbler is the best, with juicy, sweet pear chunks smothered in an amazing tender sweet biscuit dough! You'll love this fantastic fall dessert!
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 3.5 pounds (1.6kg) pears
- ¼ cup (50g) sugar (you can use up to double the amount if you like sweeter desserts)
- Pinch of cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons water
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- Juice of ½ a lemon
For the topping:
- 1 ½ cups (200g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (70g) brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (180g) whole milk
- 3 tablespoons (45g) unsalted butter, melted and warm
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C.
For the filling:
- Peel, core and cut pears in chunks.
- Put on a 8x11-inch ceramic or glass dish, drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
- Mix water with cornstarch until well dissolved and pour over pears.
- Mix lightly and reserve.
For topping:
- In a bowl mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
- Add milk and butter and mix lightly until moistened. Don’t over mix.
- Drop this topping over filling in mounds.
- With the back of a spoon or spatula spread each mound a little, but don’t cover all the pears.
- Bake for about 25 minutes.
- It will be golden but if you lift the dough it will still have unbaked parts.
- Turn the oven down to 325°F/165°C and bake another 15 minutes, or until very golden and the biscuit topping is dry and done.
- Remove from the oven and let cool on wire rack.
Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.
You can keep it refrigerated for 3 days, covered. Or frozen for 2 weeks, well wrapped.
Warm before eating.
Notes
- Pears: I find that cutting the fruit in chunks works best. It can be eaten whole and they hold their shape well after baking. I'd rather cut large chunks than risk the pears disintegrating too much. But it's up to you.
- Sugar: some sugar is added to the pears before the topping. It mixes with the cornstarch and liquid and created a thick juice, much like it does in a pie. This is the part where you can add more or less depending on your sweet tooth.
- Lemon: I find the drizzle of lemon juice to be essential in most cobblers and crumbles. No matter what fruit I use, they all benefit from the citrus, which balances the butter and sugar. Pears are sweet by themselves, so I find it even more necessary to add the lemon juice.
- Cornstarch: as mentioned above, this ingredients acts as a thickener (when mixed with the water) and creates a wonderfully thick syrup that mixes with the natural juices that are released from the pears as they bake.
- Topping: is easy to make, a one-bowl mixture that comes together in no time and doesn't even has to be spread carefully. It won't cover all the fruit and that's the beauty of this dessert. It's rustic and irregular, with different textures in every bite.
- Keeping: it keeps for 2-4 weeks in the freezer, well wrapped. Defrost in the fridge or at room t° before warming it in a 325°F oven. You can keep it in the refrigerator for several days, well covered. Warm it before eating.
- Individual servings: use small ramekins to make individual pear cobblers. They are ideal if you have a dinner party.
- Whipped cream or ice cream: my favorite way to serve it is warm with (unsweetened in my case) whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Fruit: use apples instead of pears, or a mixture of both. Add some berries to the mix.
- Flavorings: use ground cardamom or ginger instead or together with the cinnamon. Add chopped candied ginger or lemon zest to the biscuit mixture.
Keywords: pear cobbler, fruit cobbler
Thanks for posting this recipe. My grandmother's pear cobbler is one of my favorite dishes and I have struggled to understand her recipe. This recipe and your descriptions of what some of the ingredients are for have helped me recreate it. One day I might try pear cobbler with cinnamon, her recipe uses 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.
★★★★★
Thanks for letting me know Ryan! It's wonderful to read about this and it's the reason why I love blogging. I will jot down the nutmeg tip and try it next time. Have a great week!
Just wondering......it says Bake for 25 minutes, but I don't see what the Oven temp is. I see where you say turn it down to 325, but turn it down from what?
Thank you....can't wait to try!
Hi MarLane! It's at the beginning of the instructions. Start with 375°F to give the topping a boost and then lower it to bake it further without it darkening too much. Hope this helps.
I needed to use up a bunch of pears I was sent in a gift box and was happy to find your recipe! This cobbler has a delicious flavor (I added more cinnamon to the pears and a bit to the batter + some ground ginger to the pears), but the pears were dry - virtually no fruit sauce was made. Next time I will try adding more water and/or more water+cornstarch (another thing that's good to use in cobblers for thickener is tapioca). I also added a few walnuts and used about 1/3 oat flour to the batter (other 2/3 was all-purpose flour - using up something I bought during covid when regular flour was MIA). I sliced the pears thinly (and evenly) lengthwise as I don't care much for the texture of chunks. The pears came out perfectly cooked and tender (not mushy) at the recipe temp/cooking time - just lacking in any fruit sauce. Thank you for posting this recipe!
★★★★
Was wondering could you use can pears
Hi Janet, yes you can. Keep in mind that they are already baked, so I recommend cutting them in large chunks so they don't become too soft (unless you want that). You could use the juice instead of the water for the filling and maybe add a teaspoon or two of cornstarch to thicken. It depends on how thick the juice already is, as it varies greatly with different brands and countries. Hope this helps!
This was amazing!! I think this may very well be my favorite fruit dessert ❤️
So happy to hear this Melissa!
I was so excited to make this recipe. It was easy to follow. I just have a concern, does someone know what my topping (the butter, milk, sugar, and flour) has a sour flavor? The pears are fine, just the topping. I want to try again, just please let me know what can I do about it.
Hi Steffanie, were you able to check that the milk had not expired and smelled right? It would've given a sour flavor to the whole biscuit topping. I usually taste it before using it because I've had times when it seemed fine but it had already started to turn sour.
I just made this recipe and it was delicious! I had pears that I wanted to bake with before they softened too much and I found yours. I will say, it was a complete hit with my daughter and husband especially because I topped it with vanilla ice cream. Thank you for sharing this with us!
★★★★★
So happy to know you liked it!
Could this be frozen unbaked?
Hi Melody, I never but in theory, you can.
This is a soft topping (not like more formed biscuits) so, if you do, I suggest first freezing the pears until they are very cold (20-30 minutes maybe) so that when you add the topping there is a cold layer dividing them. That way, the topping doesn't mix with the pears' juices as it freezes. I think that will aid a lot when baked afterward.
I’d never made a cobbler before today (and I’m ....ahem....NOT 15 lol) but I had some pears I wanted to use so I went searching for a recipe and found this gem. It is soooo good!! I added a couple Tbsp honey and 1/3 C slivered almonds to the filling ingredients, and I went pretty heavy with the cinnamon. Served it warm with vanilla ice cream, a few more slivered almonds, and just a little bit of a dark chocolate drizzle on top. New favorite in our house! Fantastic recipe!
★★★★★
That's awesome Jessica! Love that you loved it. I also think cobblers are not valued enough,lol! Have a great weekend.