The Best Way To Tell If Your Fruit Cobbler Is Done Baking

Peaches, strawberries, blueberries, rhubarb, apples, dewberries, raspberries...all the luscious seasonal fruits play a starring role in the humble cobbler. Much is made of the distinctions among the variety of desserts featuring fruit and some sort of biscuit or pastry topping, but whether it's a cobbler, crisp, or crumble, there are general baking guidelines that will help every cook improve their outcomes.

There are a few mistakes that can mar perfection in a cobbler, and from those, we can extrapolate some best practices. First, using anything other than fresh, perfectly ripe fruit is a cardinal sin. Southern Living explains, "Some things shouldn't be rushed, and a peach cobbler is one of them." The magazine says if you don't have ripe fruit on hand, you'll just have to wait until they do. 

Another non-negotiable is making sure your dessert is baked just right. A perfect cobbler relies on the harmonious juxtaposition of beautifully browned crust and bubbly, syrupy fruit, so it's also critical to ensure that your cobbler is baked to perfection and cooked through. Nobody is a fan of an underbaked cobbler.

Bon Appétit explains how you can tell when every kind of baked good is done, whether it's by touch (for cakes), or by visually evaluating it (for fruit pies). Their advice is to look for pastry that's very brown and fruit filling that's bubbling throughout the whole dish — not just at the edges but in the center as well. Sure, this advice will work, but a simple kitchen tool can take all the guesswork out of baking, and for that matter, makes cooking all sorts of foods much more consistent and safe.

Use your probe thermometer! According to Kitchn, when the center of your cobbler reaches 200 degrees F, it's done. Since you have a tool that ensures your cobbler is cooked through, there's one more tip that will make your cobbler experience even better. Let your cobbler rest for a bit before serving. This peach cobbler recipe explains that the filling will set as it cools, and that yields the perfect consistency for your dessert. Serve your fruit cobbler with vanilla ice cream or with a creative whipped cream.