Make the most of summer with this delicious Strawberry Cobbler, made with fresh strawberries and a lemon scone cobbler topping. So delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream!
Strawberry Cobbler Recipe
It has been an extremely hot summer this year in Zurich. In fact, I feel like I am in Australia in the midst of their annual January heatwave, but minus the much-needed air-conditioning. Due to strict regulations in Switzerland governing energy consumption, the existence of air-conditioning is quite rare and reserved mostly for supermarkets and shopping centres.
So given the sweltering temperatures, and the fact that our kitchen is the warmest room in our home, I have been trying to spend as little time in the kitchen as possible, let alone turn on the oven.
But the persistent heat has meant that no fruit lasts longer than a few days in our fruit bowl, despite our best efforts to shield them from the pesky fruit flies, wasps and what-nots.
And this strawberry cobbler came about because I had a few punnets of strawberries which were past their prime for eating as they were, but I knew I could turn them into something delicious with a tiny bit of effort.
Plus, this strawberry cobbler goes perfectly with vanilla ice-cream, and ice-cream for dessert has become a daily ritual in our home this summer!
What is a Cobbler?
A cobbler is essentially stewed fruit with a scone (or biscuit, if you are American) topping which is baked on top to give a “cobbled” effect.
The scone dough absorbs some of the liquid from the fruit as it bakes, and you end up with small portions of cake with hot, syrupy fruit underneath. Sounds absolutely delicious, right?!
A cobbler is a delicious way to use up over-ripe or excess fruit, and it makes for a comforting dessert, whatever the weather.
What is the difference between a cobbler, crumble, and crisp?
A crumble topping is similar to a shortcrust pastry dough which is crumbled on top of the stewed fruit to provide a nice contrast in texture.
A crisp, on the other hand, contains oats in the crumble which crisp up as they bake.
How to Make Cobbler
Making a cobbler is almost child’s play. You simply place the hulled strawberries into a baking dish with some sugar and cornflour (US: cornstarch), and bake this for about 15 minutes. This will give you enough time to make the cobbler topping, which is no different to making a quick scone dough. Once the cobbler topping is arranged on top of the partially cooked fruit, dessert is about 20 minutes away.
Strawberries tend to release a lot of liquid when they are baked, but it works well in this dish because it creates a sauce to eat with the cobbler topping and, if you so desire, drizzled over an accompanying scoop of ice-cream.
For my cobbler recipes, I like to make a soft scone dough which will rise and expand as it bakes, but which is quite light in texture. I also love to sprinkle the cobbler topping with demerera sugar for some an extra crunchy coating and some added sweetness.
Here, I have also added lemon zest to the cobbler topping for a subtle tangy hit against the sweet strawberries.
Tips for Making Cobblers
As mentioned above, a cobbler is stewed fruit with a scone topping baked on top.
You can use a wide variety of fruit when making cobblers – berries and stone fruits are the most popular.
Some fruits release more liquid than others, and I find that strawberries can release a lot of liquid when baked. I have used cornflour (US: cornstarch) in my recipe to create a slightly thickened and syrupy sauce. This will also help to prevent the cobbler from becoming too soggy underneath.
You can arrange the scone topping on top of the fruit anyway you like, but I think it is important to not cover the fruit completely so that the steam can escape, allowing both the fruit to caramelise as it bakes and the cobbler topping to cook through properly.
If you prefer, you could even halve the cobbler recipe for a more fruit-to-scone ratio.
More Strawberry Recipes
Strawberry Cobbler
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: Serves 4 to 6
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: British
Make the most of summer with this delicious Strawberry Cobbler, made with fresh strawberries and a lemon scone cobbler topping. So delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream!
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RateIngredients
For the fruit base
- 1 kg (2 lb) fresh strawberries
- 55 g (1/4 cup) vanilla sugar (see Kitchen Notes)
- 1 tablespoon cornflour (US: cornstarch)
For the cobbler topping
- 75 g (¾ stick) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 340 g (2 ¼ cup) plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine salt
- 75 g (⅓ cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 190 ml (¾ cup) milk
- milk, for brushing
- handful of demerera sugar
- icing sugar (powdered sugar), for dusting (optional)
Instructions
For the fruit base
- Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F).
- Wash and drain the strawberries.
- Hull the strawberries and place them directly into a round ceramic baking dish, about 23 cm (9 inches) wide. If the strawberries are large, halve or quarter them. Otherwise, I prefer to leave them whole.
- Sprinkle the vanilla sugar and cornflour (cornstarch) over the strawberries.
- Use a spoon to gently mix everything together.
- Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the strawberries have softened a little, but they still hold their shape. At this stage, the strawberries would have oozed very little liquid, or none at all.
For the cobbler topping
- Place the butter, flour and baking powder into the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Using the flat paddle attachment, beat until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add the salt, sugar and lemon zest.
- With the flat paddle attachment on low speed, slowly add the milk until you have a soft, sticky dough. You may not need all of the milk.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.
- Gently pat the dough together and shape it to a thickness of about 2 cm (1 inch).
- Using a floured scone or cookie cutter, cut out 10 to 12 rounds from the dough.
Assembling the strawberry cobbler
- Arrange the cobbler topping on top of the partially cooked strawberries.
- Brush each cobbler topping with some milk.
- Generously sprinkle demerera sugar over the cobbler topping.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the cobbler topping is lightly golden.
- Let the strawberry cobbler settle for about 5 minutes before serving.
- Dust with icing sugar (powdered sugar).
- Serve hot with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
Kitchen Notes
Strawberries can vary in sweetness, so feel free to reduce the amount of sugar in this recipe.
To make vanilla sugar, simply place a split vanilla bean into a clean glass jar, and fill it with caster sugar. Leave it for at least a few days for the vanilla to infuse the sugar. You can keep adding vanilla beans to the sugar over time to intensify the aroma.
If you don’t have vanilla sugar for this recipe, you can simply use caster sugar (or normal granulated sugar) and add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the strawberries.
VARIATIONS
Instead of using just strawberries, a mixed berries also work well in this recipe.
For a more fruit-to-scone ratio, simply halve the recipe for the cobbler topping.
OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 341
- Sugar: 24.2g
- Sodium: 88.6mg
- Fat: 8.4g
- Carbohydrates: 62.1g
- Fiber: 3.7g
- Protein: 6.1g
- Cholesterol: 20.6mg
This is such a gorgeous cobbler and now I have one more thing I need to make before summer strawberry season is over!
★★★★★
Thank you! Definitely good motivation before the summer comes to an end 😉
Wow, what a beautiful way to make a cobbler! I’m not sure I’ve ever made a strawberry one before… and I have that same pie plate… so there ya go, it’s gotta happen now! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
★★★★★
Ha ha! A strawberry cobbler is totally delicious! Hope you will enjoy the recipe 🙂
What a beautiful cobbler! I love how easy the topping is and can’t wait to make it with some plums this weekend.
★★★★★
Thanks, Daniela! I think this would work perfectly with plums!
This is the most beautiful cobbler I’ve ever seen and such a great way to enjoy strawberry season! I just pinned onto my desserts board and look forward to trying.
Thanks, Emily! Hope you will get a chance to try this recipe 🙂
my goodness I have never ever seen a prettier looking cobbler no less it being strawberry what a genius idea!
Thank you! I often make strawberry crumbles but I think this strawberry cobbler might be a new favourite 🙂
Great recipe! It worked out perfectly. Kids loved it.
★★★★★
This is the best-looking cobbler I have ever seen! Mine didn’t look as perfect, but it came close 😉 And the taste is just delightful. Wonderful recipe.
★★★★★
Beautiful recipe! I now make all of my cobblers using this recipe – it just looks stunning each time and tastes really wonderful.
★★★★★
Hi, I want to make this for a family dinner but was wondering if it’s okay to make it in advance or will the scone topping become too soggy?
Hi Mair,
You can make the strawberry filling ahead of time and keep this in a fridge (for up to a few days). The scone topping should be made at the last minute before baking because it contains baking powder.
The strawberry cobbler is best served hot and freshly baked. You can, of course, let it stand for a while to cool down, but as the cobbler cools, it starts to soak up the strawberry compote. The scone topping won’t go soggy, rather the dessert might feel a bit drier because some of the liquid is being absorbed the scones. It’s not necessarily a bad thing! I hope you will enjoy this recipe.