Warm fruit dessert
Mixed Berry Kefir Cobbler
Spoon six mounds of soft kefir topping over a dish of berries, leaving gaps for the juice to bubble through. Bake until both the fruit and the topping are cooked, then serve it warm by the spoonful.
Make it
Method
- Heat the oven to 180°C.
- Mix berries, cornstarch, maple syrup, and vanilla in a 2 litre baking dish.
- Mix flour, raising agents, sugar and salt. Rub in the cold butter until pea-sized pieces remain, then fold in kefir until no dry flour remains. This makes a soft, spoonable topping.
- Drop the soft topping over the fruit in 6 mounds, leaving gaps for steam. Do not try to knead or roll this wet dough. Brush lightly with kefir.
- Bake for about 35–40 minutes, until the topping is golden, a skewer into the topping has no wet dough and berry juices bubble. Frozen berries may need longer; tent with foil if the top colours first. Cool 10 minutes.
Leave gaps between the topping mounds
The wet topping is spooned, not rolled into biscuits. Gaps let you see the berry juices bubbling and give steam somewhere to escape. Check the middle of a topping mound as well as the fruit below.
Store it
Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours and use within 3 days. Reheat gently.
Keep fruit changes close
Other berries can share the same 600 g total. A swap to raw apple or very juicy stone fruit changes cooking and thickening; use a recipe written for that fruit rather than assuming the same timing.
The top is brown before the fruit bubbles
If the topping browns before the fruit bubbles, cover loosely with foil and keep baking.