February is the perfect time of year to rally the troops, fill a few bags with loquat fruit and cook up a bubbly, chunky loquat cobbler.
Filling:
~ 5 cups loquats, seeded, cleaned and quartered
~ 3/4 cup white sugar (adjust to taste)
~1/4 cup brown sugar (adjust to taste)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
juice of one lemon
Topping:
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk
4 tablespoons cold butter, diced
- Toss filling ingredients together in a bowl and let stand until juicy ~ 30 minutes.
- Pour filling ingredients into a saucepan and cook over medium heat for ~20 minutes until tender.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Blend in butter with your fingers until it becomes a coarse meal. * Slowly stir in buttermilk until mixture comes together like a wet paste. (If you don’t have buttermilk you can stir together regular milk and 1-2 teaspoons white vinegar and let stand until curdled, ~15 minutes).
- Sprinkle brown sugar on the bottom of a 9×13″ glass or ceramic dish. Pour filling ingredients over brown sugar and level with a spatula.
- Drop tablespoons of dough over filling leaving space between to allow topping to expand during baking. Sprinkle with brown sugar.
- Bake cobbler in middle of oven until topping is golden ~ 30 minutes.
- Cool slightly and serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream.
