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White nectarine & lychee cobbler.

5 from 1 reviews

A cobbler can mean all sorts of things, from biscuit toppings to pie crusts to crumbles, but for this one I wanted the truest Southern version I could find — so it was a no-brainer to look to my girl Erika from Southern Souffle. Hers is what I imagine the quintessential cobbler to be, and though I took some liberties with it to adjust to what I had in the pantry, it was perfect — almost like sponge cake with a slightly crisp, gently caramelized crust, baked right into the fruit so that you don’t know where one ends and the other begins. Thank you for never once steering me wrong, friend!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 3 cups sliced white nectarines or white peaches (about 3 nectarines)
  • 1 cup peeled, pitted and halved lychees, longans or rambutans (see Notes)
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped (optional)
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 6 tbsp milk
  • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, toss the nectarines, lychee, vanilla innards, brown sugar, and cornstarch until evenly coated. Divide evenly between four 8-ounce ramekins or miniature cocottes (I used these by Staub). Alternatively, use one 8×4 loaf pan.
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Use the bowl from your filling to whisk together the milk, Greek yogurt, and vanilla extract, then fold the milk mixture into the flour mixture until just incorporated. The batter will be quite liquid, like cake batter.
  3. Pour the cobbler batter over the filling, letting some of the fruit poke through in spots. Fill the ramekins just shy of the top — the batter will rise in the oven.
  4. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy warm with ice cream.

Notes

Lychees, longans and rambutans all differ slightly in taste (I enjoyed this comparison, although I think longans might actually be my personal favorite!) but if you can get any one of them, they will do wonderfully here. If not, canned lychees can usually be found in most Asian supermarkets regardless of season — and white peaches or nectarines will be just lovely on their own, too.

(By the way, this particular lychee I came across was green when ripe — the first time I’ve ever had a green lychee! — but they will usually be a bright pink.)

On substitutions: you can use 1 cup of self-rising flour in place of the 1 cup all-purpose and 1 tsp baking powder, and if you have buttermilk on hand, feel free to substitute a scant cup in place of the milk and Greek yogurt. See Erika’s recipe.

Finally, this genius tip from Melissa of The Fauxmartha was a total gamechanger for me (I’m a terrible Southerner) so I had to include it in case you, like me, were blind. Smell those peaches!