Oh Cobbler, I crumble for thee

I have a new obsession. I never saw it coming, either. Fruit cobblers? Fruit cobblers!

Now that summer is underway, our favorite fruits of the season have started creeping their way back into grocery stores and farmer's markets. I like fruit, but have never longed for it like I long for most other food items, (Hello, cheese! HELLO, pepperoni!). While I welcome the perfumed aroma of ripe peaches and nectarines, and savor the sweetness of freshly-picked strawberries during a routine visit to the grocery, I now make a bee-line to the produce section with many a glimmer in my eyes. Oh, do I have a plan for you, fruit. In my head swim visions of warm, sweet, juicy slices under a crispy mound of sugary flour topping. Oh, and did I mention the melting scoop of vanilla ice cream on top? No, I did not. I will mention it now. A warm bowlful of steaming hot, fresh fruit and crispy topping, diffused by a melting, creamy scoop of vanilla ice cream. Heaven.

So far since May, I have made four cobblers. The first three were from the same recipe. An Ina Garten food network recipe for peach blueberry crumble. You can't go wrong with this recipe. Instead of using individual ramekins for the crumbles, I put it all in one square casserole dish. And, instead of using fresh fruit, I opted to save a little dough and use frozen. That took some finessing, because my impatience to let the fruit thaw initially resulted in a soupier crumble. And, the fruit never quite softened enough. The second time around, it was perfection. This weekend, I improvised on the fruit and topping by using a couple apples, a couple fresh peaches, blueberries, and a doughier topping. Not bad.

I also learned, during the process that a cobbler is not a crisp, nor is it a crumble. They're all different. But, for these purposes, I will refer to all of my work as cobblers.

Now begins my mission to make as many different fruit cobblers as I can before the summer fizzles out. And in no particular order, here goes...

1. ginger peach
2. peach mango
3. rhubarb apple
4. blueberry nectarine
5. blueberry, raspberry, strawberry
6. blackberry
7. bourbon peach
8. cherry
9. peach raspberry
10. apple cranberry
11. strawberry rhubarb
12. cranberry pear
13. nectarine
14. apple
15. cherry apricot
16. peach blackberry
17. apple, pear, strawberry, potato
18. pear
19. rhubarb peach
20. pineapple
21. pineapple banana
22. plum raspberry
23. apple blueberry

And, maybe when summer season ends, I will embark on a new mission to create some savory cobblers. Pork apple, anyone?