I have to admit this recipe was an accident, a happy one, but a mistake nonetheless. I was going to post on shortcakes, with balsamic roasted strawberries. I was mixing up the biscuits and got distracted, probably by something I read on Twitter. I added way too much buttermilk to the dough and they were no longer useful as biscuits. How disappointing to have a recipe in mind and then blow it.
These weren’t just any biscuits, they were made with cheddar cheese, so they would have a slight sharpness to them, which I find a perfect compliment to the sweet berry filling. What to do? There was no way I was tossing these beauties, but they were too soft to work with in the traditional way. Then it hit me, COBBLER.
All the same ingredients, but baked together at one time, even better. I added blueberries, fresh ginger and lemon zest to the strawberries and topped it with my sticky biscuit dough. Thanks to my inability to focus yesterday, I have a new favorite dessert!
How to Make Berry Cobbler with Cheddar Biscuits
Here’s how to make this cobbler step by step. You can find the recipe at the bottom of this post.
Preheat oven to 325°F and position rack in bottom 1/3 of the oven.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and mix it into the flour using a Dough Blender or your fingers, until it resembles course cornmeal. Stir in the cheddar cheese.
In a small bowl combine the egg, cream, and buttermilk. Add this to the flour mixture and stir just until there is no more visible flour, but it should still be sticky and lumpy.
In another large bowl gently toss together the berries, zest, ginger, salt, sugar, and cornstarch.
Place the berries in a shallow 10-cup baking dish. Scoop the biscuits evenly over the berries.
They will be about golf ball sized scoops.
Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown, baked through, and the berries have been bubbling for about 20 minutes. It is best to bake this on a cookie sheet in case the berry juices bubble out of the pan.
Serve warm or room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream, I suggest homemade strawberry!
Ingredients
Biscuits
- 2 cups (9 oz) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp (3 oz) unsalted butter cold
- 2 oz cheddar cheese I used white cheddar for a prettier biscuit
- 1 egg large
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Berry Filling
- 6 cups strawberries cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 4 cups blueberries
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger or 1 tsp. dried ground ginger freshly grated should be done on a microplane fine grater
- 1 pinch salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 5 tbsp corn starch tapioca starch/flour can be substituted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F and position rack in bottom 1/3 of the oven.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and mix it into the flour using a Dough Blender or your fingers, until it resembles course cornmeal. Stir in the cheddar cheese.
- In a small bowl combine the egg, cream, and buttermilk. Add this to the flour mixture and stir just until there is no more visible flour, but it should still be sticky and lumpy.
- In another large bowl gently toss together the berries, zest, ginger, salt, sugar, and corn starch.
- Place the berries in a shallow 10-cup baking dish. Scoop the biscuits evenly over the berries. They will be about golf ball sized scoops.
- Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden brown, baked through, and the berries have been bubbling for about 20 minutes. It is best to bake this on a cookie sheet in case the berry juices bubble out of the pan.
- Serve warm or room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream, I suggest homemade strawberry!
Some of the best inventions are made by mistake! So curious to try this recipe, cheddar and berries, huh? Who would’ve thought 🙂
What a wonderful mistake! I’m so happy that you were able to salvage it into something just as, if not more, delicious and beautiful.
Thank you so much again for your advice on camera lenses!
This cobbler is a sensation, truly! I cannot wait to try it out!
I also love the combination of fruit and Parmesan! I can only imagine how great it must be with cheddar!
How lovely! Sometimes these things are just meant to be, I guess. The cobbler came out beautiful and the flavors sound amazing!
I love these accidents! Even I had one not so long ago and that ended up being one of the tastiest desserts I have ever made 😀
I adore your pics!
Gorgeous! I hope I can get to the point where I am versatile like that. Not yet, but working on it!
made this!!! love the recipe, i used raspberries/marionberries and blueberry combi, these berries i mentioned, can`t find them sold in bulk at supermarkets here, the last time we went to COSTCO, i found these berries and i said to myself, why not buy them and find a recipe they can be useful, i searched everywhere in the internet and i stumbled on your recipe, glad i followed yours! thanks for sharing!
Hi Ren,
Thanks for trying it, so glad you liked it!
Cheers, Zoue
I bet this would be even more wonderful as an apple cobbler. ja
Hi Jessieann,
I also think that peach will be amazing!
Thanks, Zoë
Oooh, I love the idea of using a portioner for the biscuit topping. So pretty and so equal! 🙂
Your actual recipe left out what temp to preheat the oven? However in your copy above it says 325. That would be nice to include in the actual recipe that you can print. Going to make this tonight after seeing you make it on your Biscuit episode. Love the idea of the savory of the cheddar against the sweetness of the berry mixture.
Thank you so much for letting us know. I updated the recipe. Happy baking!
The recipe is delicious. The combination of the cheddar cheese in the biscuits gives it a good flavor of sweet and savory. I added raspberries and blackberries to mine. Next time I will make it with the tapioca.
We saw this on Zoe bakes and immediately wanted to try it. the biscuit recipe calls for 1/4 cup of sugar to be added, but it actually is not listed in the instructions, so we did not get a biscuit that tasted quite right. Can you update your recipe online to include when to add the sugar? Thank you!
Hi Mary! So glad you enjoyed the show. I have updated the recipe to add that you mix the sugar in at the same time as the flour. Sorry for the missing info!
I do not eat cheese. Can I just omit the cheese or would the recipe need more adjustments?
Hi Valerie, you can leave out the cheddar, but it may be a touch dry. You may be better off using another recipe, like this one: https://zoebakes.com/2011/11/28/biscuits-and-bullets-life-on-masala-farm/
Happy baking!