Apple cobbler with Cheddar cheese

I know it's not the season for apples, but what can I do? I have a favorite apple dessert. I first tried it at Coffee Bean cafe no less than 5 years ago and since than I kept coming back there for it. In parallel I made several attempts to to recreate it at home from time to time and this time it really worked. Not that it tastes the same, but it is equally good. It would make me stay at home.

Fruit cobbler overall is another kind of British / American pastry and is in a way similar to crumble. At first you also fill a baking dish with chopped fruits or berries. The difference is that instead of short pastry crumbs you cover the fruit with a layer of special pastry. When ready the crust becomes like a butter cookie on top, but underneath it remains like a soft and moist cake melting into a thick layer of juicy baked fruit.

In this particular apple cobbler the apples are generously seasoned with cinnamon and the crust has a generous Cheddar cheese content. Somehow the cheese works perfectly with apples and cinnamon here. On top of that it gives the crust a very different lovely texture. This combination seems to work in other pastries too, like in these apple pies with cheddar crusts. Childishly each time a piece of this apple and cheddar cobbler is in front of me, warm and covered with vanilla sauce I just feel that I couldn't be happier.

There is nothing complicated about making it. It really is no harder than a crumble.

Apple cobbler with Cheddar cheese (recipe adapted from the Joy of Cooking)

Serves 12

Pastry:
125 g (1 cup) all-purpose flour
70 g (1/3 cup) + 2 table spoons of sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
70 g (1/3 cup) butter
150 g (1 1/2 cups) shredded Cheddar cheese
120 g (½ cup) milk

Filling:
1.2 kg (6 cups) apples, peeled and sliced
75 g (1/3 cup) sugar
3 table spoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoonы ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

For the pastry, mix together flour, 70 g of sugar, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Cut in the butter and process till you get even crumbs. Add the grated cheese and mix it in by hand. Pour in the milk and quickly mix by hand. The batter should stay a bit lumpy, do not overmix it. Just make sure the dry ingredients got wet and there are no big lumps of flour.

For the filling mix the apples with sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Butter a 26 cm round baking dish or a rectangular dish of similar size (spring forms are not very suitable as they will leak). Spread the apples in the dish. It will look like there is too much apples, but that's ok. Apples will shrink during the baking.

Spread the pastry over the apples. Sprinkle with 2 table spoon of sugar.

Bake at 180C for 50-55 min till the top is golden brown. Let cool for at least 10 minutes (better 30 minutes) before slicing. If you made the cobbler in advance, cool it completely, cover and refrigerate.

I prefer it warm (so I reheat it if needed), with vanilla sauce or vanilla ice-cream. I'm not insisting though. Some people like it cold and / or, say, with strawberry coulis.

Related:

The perfect vanilla sauce
Apple and strawberry crumble
Sticky toffee pudding
Polish style szarlotka (apple pie)
Picture perfect Tarte Tatin

Coffee bean cafe - my sweet home

London food: a personal guide