Winter-Spiced Plum Cobbler Recipe

Though plums are technically in-season during late summer, that doesn't mean that the oft-overlooked fruit can't make a wintertime appearance. Recipe developer Jessica Morone proves that plums have a welcome space in the cold-weather dessert sphere with this winter-spiced plum cobbler recipe, which features both ginger and allspice for that seasonal warmth. "Cobblers feel like more of a summer dessert when all the fruit is fresh and in season. With this recipe, you can take a cobbler into the winter season and make it a year-round dessert," Morone says. "The spices in this are what makes it feel wintry, since ginger and allspice are such warm spices."

Plums typically have a sweet-tart flavor to them, but this dessert naturally leans more toward the sweet profile, making this fruit cobbler a worthy contender alongside popular variations like peach, cherry, or blueberry. And, despite being a completely from-scratch dessert, you can whip up the entire cobbler in less than an hour. It works for casual weeknights and elegant dinner parties alike.

As expected, you'll need some plums for this recipe, but don't stress yourself out trying to source fresh plums when they're out of season. "The special ingredient in this is canned plums, as plums aren't currently in season and I couldn't find fresh ones anywhere," Morone says, highlighting the evergreen nature of this recipe that comes from the canned fruit. Indeed, canned plums will do just fine, but be sure to drain them and remove the pits before proceeding with the recipe. To round out the plum filling, you'll also need brown sugar, corn starch, ground ginger, allspice, and salt. For the cobbler topping, you'll need all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, cold and cubed unsalted butter, milk, and some raw sugar for a finishing garnish.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In a medium bowl, gently mix together the plums, brown sugar, corn starch, ginger, allspice, and salt.

Spoon the mixture into a 9- or 10-inch cast iron skillet. Set aside.

Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt to a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine.

Add the cold butter to the food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand.

Add the milk to the food processor and pulse until just combined.

Use a spoon or a cookie scoop to drop dough on top of the plum mixture.

Sprinkle the raw sugar over the dough.

Bake in the preheated oven for 35–40 minutes, until the top is golden and the filling is bubbly.

Serve warm, topped with ice cream, if desired.

Though cobblers offer a certain air of elegance that others desserts can't compete with, they're actually pretty no-frills in nature and easy to make. This plum cobbler is a good example of such delicate simplicity, which is why Morone is a fan of serving it when there's no special occasion at hand. "This is a pretty easy dessert to make, so anytime would be good for this one," she says. "You could even serve it on a weeknight." Of course, due to the winter-spiced nature of this cobbler, you might be so inclined to serve it at a holiday party, a decision that absolutely none of your guests would take offense to.

We've established that there's no wrong time to enjoy this cobbler, but what should you be enjoying it with? While Morone enjoys serving it with ice cream and also vouches for whipped cream, she notes that "anything creamy is good with this." That means that clotted cream, Cool Whip, or even a glass of milk would all pair well with this subtly spiced cobbler. Of course, Morone makes the strongest argument for ice cream: "A bite of warm cobbler with cold ice cream is a perfect bite."

With a dessert as simple as cobbler, you want to be careful not to stray too far from the original, tried-and-true formula. There are plenty of ways to make small changes to a cobbler, such as omitting or adding a spice and incorporating nuts for added texture. Should you want to customize this cobbler on a larger scale, however, there is room for experimentation. The easiest way to switch things up is to (shockingly!) swap out the leading act. "While this is a recipe for plum cobbler, you could swap in any canned fruit that you want," Morone says. That means that all of you peach cobbler purists can still enjoy this winter-spiced recipe sans plums.

You may also notice that Morone uses a cast-iron skillet to make this cobbler, but if you don't have the oven-safe cookware in your kitchen, you can make an equipment swap and still enjoy this plum cobbler. "If you don't have a cast iron skillet, and since most regular skillets aren't oven-safe, I would suggest using just a regular baking pan. 8x8 or 9x9 would work for this," Morone says.