Blueberry Pancake Cobbler

I’m keenly interested in the place where baked fruit desserts and breakfast might intersect, even if I must nudge them there. What is the difference, after all, between an oaty crisp topping on seasonal fruit after dinner and an oaty granola topping on seasonal fruit early in the day? Sugar level? Proportion of whole grains? Ice cream? Impudence?

For example, a classic blueberry cobbler is often topped with a cake-like batter that one (fine: me; I mean me) might liken to a pancake. Here, it’s poured over fruit that’s syrupy and slightly tart-like a blueberry compote you’d pour over breakfast pancakes, but inverted. The pancake topping is mostly whole wheat, not too sweet, and a cinch to make. And, in a little twist I can never resist, it’s finished with a hot sugar crust. I first learned of these crusts in a recipe from Renee Erickson, the Seattle author and chef, who coats her peach cobbler batter with sugar and warm water. It feels all wrong to do until you see what happens in the oven: it develops a crisp lid, as on a great crème brûlée, that we’ve been tapping our spoons through for several blueberry seasons now.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘Smitten Kitchen Keepers’ by Deb Perelman. Buy the full book on Amazon. This book was selected as one of the best cookbooks of 2022.