April 25, 2013

Easy Apple Cobbler


You know how there are moments when you're completely bereft of ideas? Your mind is just totally blank, no inspiration, nothing. And you start ransacking the kitchen hoping to find something, anything to light that little spark. You find a few things, you think, "maybe I could..." but then you end up putting it back because you're not really feeling it right now.

And then you find 4 cans (that's right, count them. 4) of apple pie filling in the pantry that someone kept buying, swearing up and down that he was going to make apple pie, but he never did, and then a few months later he'd come home with more cans and swear that he was going to make apple pie. Spoilers, he never did.
So you look at the apple pie filling and go, "Well, I guess I could use this and free up some pantry space." And then you remember that you have leftover cake mix from making cake batter fudge, so you go on pinterest and find a recipe for apple cobbler that has a cake mix substitution. But you end up nixing the cake mix because you're a baking blogger, and you primarily do scratch baking, and using canned pie filling and cake mix would feel slightly fraudulent.

And you also added oats on top because you didn't have the pecans called for in the recipe, and you're not particularly fond of nuts.
So you make the cobbler, serve it warm, add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, take some artsy photos of the melty bits, and you feel accomplished. Also, you have a happy belly full of apple cobbler and melty ice cream.

Just me?

Easy Apple Cobbler
Yield: 12-16 servings

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking power
1 tsp. salt
3 21oz. cans apple pie filling*
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup uncooked oats (quick or old-fashioned)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugars, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Spread the pie filling evenly in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Spread the flour mixture on top of the filling, and add the diced butter evenly over the flour. Bake 35 minutes. Sprinkle the oats on top and bake 15 minutes longer, or until the oats are lightly golden brown. Serve warm.

*I used 2 21oz. cans and 1 16oz. Feel free to use homemade filling, but you'll need enough for 2-3 pies

Recipe adapted slightly from Bake or Break