By Three weeks. The anticipation is building the way bread dough rises — slowly, visibly, with warmth. The house is humming with preparations. Jasmine is practicing a song she's going to sing at the ceremony (she chose "At Last" by Etta James, which: this child understands romance at a level that concerns me and fills me with pride in equal measure). Zoe is designing the programs on her iPad with the graphic design instinct of a future SCAD student. Marcus is writing a toast, which he won't show me but which I can hear him rehearsing in his room, his debate-team voice practicing words about his mother and the man she chose.
Derek and I wrote our own vows. Not together — separately, at different tables, in different rooms of the same too-small house. I wrote mine at the kitchen table at midnight. I wrote about the mixer and the piano and the coffee and the chicken marsala and the dishes and the "I love you" and the Mom T and the Folgers can and the way a man who listens is the most revolutionary thing a woman can find. I wrote about Mama. Of course I wrote about Mama. I wrote: "Mama taught me that love is not a feeling. Love is a meal. And you, Derek, are every meal I want to eat for the rest of my life." I cried writing it. I will cry reading it. The crying is the point.
Made a practice peach cobbler — the reception dessert. Mama's recipe. With the nutmeg. The cobbler is the exclamation point at the end of the wedding menu, the final dish, the one that brings Brenda to the table in the most direct way possible: through peaches and crust and the margin note she left in my notebook. I tasted it. Perfect. It's always perfect now. The recipe has been mine for three years. The cobbler doesn't need practice. I need practice. Practice at believing that I deserve this — the wedding, the man, the house, the family. I do. I practice believing it, and the believing gets easier, and the cobbler gets more perfect, and both are related.
The cobbler I keep coming back to — the one that lives in my hands now the way Mama’s recipes always eventually do — is a simple, honest fruit cobbler, warm from the oven and sweet enough to feel like a celebration. I’m sharing the apple version here because it travels the same road as Mama’s peach: butter, fruit, a batter that rises up around it like something meant to be. If you’re in a season where you’re practicing at believing you deserve the beautiful thing ahead of you, I suggest you make this cobbler, eat it warm, and let it remind you — the way baking always does — that good things take time, and they are worth it, and so are you.
Easy Apple Cobbler
Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 45 min | Total Time: 1 hr | Servings: 8
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup whole milk
- 4 cups peeled, cored, and sliced apples (about 4 medium apples)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat & melt butter. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Place the butter in a 9x13-inch baking dish and set it in the oven while it preheats, just until the butter is melted. Remove and set aside.
- Make the batter. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk and vanilla extract until just combined — a few small lumps are fine. Do not overmix.
- Season the apples. In a separate bowl, toss the sliced apples with the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg until evenly coated.
- Assemble. Pour the batter directly over the melted butter in the baking dish. Do not stir. Spoon the seasoned apple slices evenly over the top of the batter. Again, do not stir — the batter will rise up around the apples as it bakes.
- Bake. Bake at 350°F for 40–45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the batter portion comes out clean. The edges should be lightly crisp and pulling away from the sides of the dish.
- Rest & serve. Allow the cobbler to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. Serve warm, plain or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 310 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 12g | Carbs: 49g | Fiber: 2g | Sodium: 180mg