Strawberry Rose Cobbler

From what I've learnt (correct me if I'm wrong!), a cobbler is a traditional American dish that consists of a fruit filling with a thick, soft dough topping. It comes from the 'clump cake' family of desserts which the French call poupeton, translating to 'mess in the pan'. I haven't included a full picture of this as it's really not very attractive in the cooking dish, so if appearance matters to you, plate this in the kitchen first!

This is an amazing recipe, I would definately recommend you make it at least once. We've made this twice and everyone has loved it. Just to put things in perspective, I'm quite modest about most of the things we cook but there was nothing bad about this dish; I often find that with 'fruit plus crust' type desserts the pastry can be a bit too dry and detract from the end result, but the cobbler is very scone-like and went amazingly well with the strawberry syrup. Have I raved enough about it yet?

It's from a book called The Professional Pastry Chef by Bo Friberg; it's not cheap, costing around £30, but it's huge, just over 1020 pages long, with hardly any pictures, so you get a lot of information for your money. I find it a little intimidating as it really is for the professional, it goes into a lot of detail about every ingredient and the recipes are commercial sized (expect to see one's for up to 150 cookies!). I've still got a long way to go, so expect to see more recipes from Bo.

Strawberry Rose Cobbler with a Lemon Poppy Seed Topping
adapted from The Professional Pastry Chef: Fundamentals of Baking and Pastry

makes 6 servings

filling:
800g Strawberries
245g granulated sugar
120ml water
2 tablespoons rose water (or rose syrup)*

cobbler topping:
310g bread flour (you can subsititute plain all-purpose flour if you like, but bread flour is best!)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon lemon zest
2 teaspoons poppy seeds (optional, I found they didn't add loads of flavour, but they do look nice)
55g dairy free margarine, cut into chunks
390ml dairy free cream (we favour Oatly)
1 tablespoon lemon juice

*We found rose syrup in Tesco which is thicker and very pink. It seems a bit more artificial than clear rose water but it does add to the colour of the filling. If you happen to have both then use a tablespoon of each.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Remove the stems from the strawberries and cut into quarters. Put them into a 25"x 25" pan (or one of a similar size).

2. Combine the sugar & cornstarch in a small saucepan and gradually stir in the water until combined and smooth. Add the rose water/syrup and bring the mixture to boil, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Once boiling, pour the syrup over the strawberries.

3. Bake the strawberries on the middle shelf of your oven for 10 minutes.
While they're cooking, sift the flour into a mixing bowl and add the salt, baking powder, lemon zest and poppy seeds. Add the margarine and use a knife to cut it into smaller pieces in the bowl while mixing with the flour, until about pea sized.

4. Pour in the cream and stir rapidly with your hand (this bit gets quite messy!). Don't worry, it should be sloppy! Dollop the topping on top of the cooked strawberry mix in a slightly haphazard fashion. Don't try and cover the top, it should resemble something a bit like islands in a beautiful sea of strawberries.

5. Return it to the oven and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a knife placed into the topping doesn't come out sticky. Serve with vegan vanilla ice cream.