Single Serve Strawberry Cobbler
Buttery and moist with sweet, juicy strawberries, this single serve summer dessert is perfect for using up the last bit of berries lingering in your fridge.
One of the chief benefits of living with another person is that, when the dessert is gone, you can pretend that someone else ate it.
WELL, somehow Ben and my premarital counselor (we were married in the Catholic Church and counseling is a mandatory part of the deal) skipped over “Will you eat a portion of all sweets that enter your home in order to ficiticiously absolve your partner?” in favor of Qs like “How were you disciplined as a child?” and “Do you agree with how your partner handles money?”
Thirteen years later, and I still can’t get Ben to choke down more than a polite bite of anything other than 1. This specific boxed brownie (which he prefers to my literally perfect One Bowl Brownies NOT THAT I’M BITTER), 2. Cookies 'n’ cream ice cream (no other flavor), or 3. Overbaked chocolate chip cookies (the darker, the better).
Thus when the mood to bake strikes, I am well aware that only me, myself, and I will be doing 100% of the delicious damage.
Last week, a carton of strawberries was on its way out, and the best thing to do with beyond-the-brink berries is bake.
This Strawberry Crisp was top of mind, but of course it doesn’t fit into Ben’s narrow dessert parameters, and 9x9 square inches of buttery crumble isn’t a dimension I need all to myself.
What about the freezer, you might ask? Well, I stopped freezing leftover desserts long ago because, as a recipe developer, I’m constantly creating something new. If I tried to stuff it all into our freezer, we’d quickly run out of room.
Then, I remembered these adorable little bakers I’d hauled from Wisconsin to Utah, because I was certain I’d use them to make baby French Onion Soups after a day of skiing. (Surprise, I have not.)
My first thought was to use one to bake a mini crisp, but candidly, a crisp felt like too much work for a single serving.
It’s not that crisps are hard. It’s that I lacked the motivation to dirty several measuring cups and spoons in its pursuit.
Enter strawberry cobbler.
This easy recipe requires just two measuring spoons, and you can get it down to one if you don’t mind eyeballing the 1/8 teaspoon.
People have various expectations for what constitutes a “cobbler.” This is the style I grew up with my Grammy making.
This low-maintenance cobbler demands only 5 minutes of your active time, less once you’ve made it a few times and have it memorized (which I suspect you will).
You melt the butter directly in the baking dish, spoon a simple batter over the top, then scatter with fresh fruit. That’s it!
It looks like a bit of a hot mess going into the oven, but have faith.
What emerges is a moist, crispy-edged, and richly buttery cake layer blanketed in warm, jammy fruit whose juices mix and mingle with the crumb.
It’s super simple and utterly sublime, in that special way of summer desserts. They require next to nothing and taste like everything.
The cobbler needs about 25 minutes to bake, so I recommend popping it into your oven just before sitting down to dinner.
It’s quite good on its own, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it’s excellent with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and even more excellent with my family’s favorite topping: a pour of heavy cream.
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Recipe
Single Serve Strawberry Cobbler
Or as I’ve affectionately begun calling it: “strawb cob.”
If you’d like to make a full-size version of this recipe, check out my Grammy’s Peach Cobbler recipe, which is the basis for this one. In peak summer, it’s equally delicious with blueberries, cherries, or a mix.
If you’d like to make a full-size cobbler with strawberries, I recommend the Magic Brown Butter Strawberry Cobbler in my second cookbook, which has been adjusted to account for the extra liquid strawberries produce compared to other summer fruits.
Yield: 1 cute little strawberry cobbler, just for you
Tools
For a baking vessel, I used one of these 8-ounce mini cocottes. An 8-ounce, oven-safe ramekin would work fabulously too. Let me know if you ever use it to make a mini French onion soup.
Food scale. While you don’t have to have one of these, per se, I think you’ll love it. When you use a scale, you actually don't need to get any spoons dirty at all, because you can just weigh the ingredients directly into the mixing bowl.