Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More

There are few things that are quite as comforting as a a warm bowl of apple cobbler or some other freshly-baked, fruit-filled goodie. Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More is a book that is dedicated to the homey comfort foods in this category. The great thing about these types of desserts is that they are incredibly unfussy. Unlike a cake, which has to be carefully mixed, baked, cooled and frosted, a fruit cobbler requires only a little prep for the fruit before it goes into the oven, and it comes out ready to serve while it is still hot. These fruit-laden desserts also offer a lot of variety, as opposed to that chocolate cake, because they can be made with so many different types of fruit and you can work with what is in season.

This cookbook is a great resource for these fruit desserts because it seems to cover all of them. Additionally, while it does offer many classic flavor combinations, it doesn’t stick to your basic apple cobbler and leave it at that. Some of the other recipes include a Gingered Pear and Raspberry Pandowdy and Boozy Dried Cherry, Chocolate and Hazelnut Bread Pudding. The accompanying photos for the recipes, as well as some filler photos of ingredients and fruit, are mouthwatering.

The recipes are straightforward and easy to follow, with detailed descriptions of the dishes and what makes them so tasty right before each recipe. The book offers tips and tricks for getting the most flavor into each dessert, like a note about how to toast nuts before incorporating them into a crumble topping, and also offers some serving suggestions, like vanilla ice cream. Recipes for accompaniments, as well as some pantry-staples like pie crust, are included in the back of the book as they come in handy again and again, even if they’re not always a staple of a dessert.