Rustic Fruit Desserts: Crumbles, Buckles, Cobblers, Pandowdies, and More [A Cookbook]

This is a wonderful addition to my collection of cookbooks which focus on local, seasonal foods. The authors hail from the Pacific Northwest but many of the fruits they use are available seasonally throughout the U.S. It is easy to understand why Gourmet magazine chose this for a Cook Book Club selection. The authors explain the difference between tarts (pie without a top crust), galette (free-form tart which doesn't require a pan), cobbler (deep-dish fruit pie with a dense pastry on top), grunt/slump (cobbler cooked on top of stove), crisp/crumble (baked fruit dessert with streusel topping), betty (fruit layered between or on top of diced bread cubes), pandowdy (deep-dish dessert with a crumbled biscuit topping), buckle (cake batter poured in a single layer with berries added to batter), teacake (simple cake like coffee cake), fool (summer fruit layered with whipped cream) and trifle (layered cake, thick cream, and fresh fruit). This type of dessert is less fussy than frosted cakes, soufflés and other more complicated desserts. Many of these recipes are fairly quick and involve cleaning and chopping fruit and then preparing the dough or crumble topping. For example, Mimi's German Apple Cake requires only 15 minutes of prep time before it goes in the oven. The book is into four chapters by season plus one Pantry chapter. Each seasonal chapter includes five full-page color photos of finished dishes and a few photos of ingredients or unfinished dishes. You can look up desserts by fruit in the index (some fruits such as apples appear in more than one chapter). The 14 recipes in the Spring chapter utilize rhubarb, cherry and strawberries. Examples include Upside-Down Sweet Cherry Cake, Rhubarb and Bing Cherry Brown Betty, and Lemon Buttermilk Rhubarb Bundt Cake. The Summer chapter includes 17 recipes which highlight plums, fresh berries (raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries) and stone fruit (peaches, apricots, plums) and include Gingered Peach and Blackberry Pandowdy, Raspberry Red Currant Cobbler, and Caramel Peach Grunt. The 13 Fall recipes utilize apples, quince, pears and figs and include Maple Apple Dumpling, Grape Galette, and Upside-Down Pear Chocolate Cake. The Winter chapter include 16 recipes which utilize apples, pears, cranberries and citrus fruits. The Winter recipes include Carmelized Pear Bread Pudding, Olive Oil Citrus Cake, and Cranberry Buckle with Vanilla Crumb. The Pantry chapter includes recipes for different doughs and pastry, both Vanilla and Berry Ice Cream, Vanilla bean Shortbread, Vanilla Chiffon Cake, and more. The authors describe what to look for to choose the freshest produce, how to store it (in or out of the refrigerator) and whether the fruit freezes well. There are a few recipes which use dried fruit (helpful in the off-season as well as when you need to through something together for surprise guests). There are hints throughout the book on advice on how to zest citrus, toast nuts, making caramel, whipping cream, removing currant stems, and more. In addition, there is note with each recipe about how to store it and whether it freezes well. Another good book with similar desserts (but no duplicate recipes that I caught) is Cobblers & Crumbles . I recommend Rustic Fruit Desserts between the two as it includes the information on seasonal fruit but you can't go wrong with either.

First, an admission -- I am a relatively new home cook/baker. If there is an error in a recipe, I don't have the sense/experience NOT to make it, so I am entirely dependent upon cookbook authors to educate and guide me. I seek out books that not only delight me and the people for whom I cook, but also those that teach me along the way. Rustic Fruit Desserts is superb on both counts. I love the way the book is organized by season, allowing me to really enjoy fresh fruits at their peak. The hints offered by their authors have been wonderfully helpful -- I've learned little tips about zesting, separating eggs, and the best way to store each finished dessert (or, as in the case of the slump, I learned that it doesn't keep well and should be eaten on the same day). These are small things that might seem obvious to a more experienced baker, but they've been invaluable for me. I also really love the descriptions of each kind of fruit, with suggestions about choosing for ripeness and selecting the best type for your dish (as with apples, for example). I noticed that some reviewers decried the book's focus on the Pacific Northwest and felt that they had to skip over recipes calling for fruit not available where they live, but that has not presented a problem for me. I live in southern CA and have simply substituted fruits available in my local farmers' market, as the authors suggest. This has led me to get to know some of the sellers at my market better -- another boon. Thus far, my favorites have been the Apple Custard Pie with Orange (which looked so beautiful I felt as if I'd really achieved something, and which tasted simply marvelous -- beyond anything I could have imagined), the Apple Cobbler with Cheddar Cheese Biscuits (prepared for my mother's birthday -- she requested it in lieu of a cake), and the Upside Down Pear Chocolate Cake. I also feel indebted to the authors for their "Pantry" recipes, which have finally given me the confidence to make my own pastry and short dough. They really do make it easy, and the results are fantastic. I can't wait to try more of the Spring and Summer recipes as the seasons turn and different fruit becomes available at my local market. Thanks so much to Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson for a really lovely cookbook. My mother, a very experienced baker, also loves this book; she's enjoyed my copy so much that she is purchasing one for herself. In my experience it is rare to find a baking book that really pleases the novice as much as the expert, and that's one of the things I so enjoy about Rustic Fruit Desserts. (One last thing: the format of this book allows it to lie flat on the counter and STAY OPEN. Particularly for someone who's bound to be checking the recipe every few minutes "just to be sure," this is really helpful!) UPDATE 4/7/2013: Two new favorites -- Lemon Blueberry Buckle and Gingered Pear and Raspberry Pandowdy. Both became immediate family favorites! I have yet to make anything less than a stellar dessert using this cookbook. It's by far one of the very best I've ever read and used.

I pre-ordered the book from Amazon after making Lemon Blueberry Buckle, from an adaptation of that recipe published in the local paper. I have alfeady made several recipes from the book, all but one of them were highly successful. The book is small (a big plus). Most recipes take up only one page. Most two page recipes are on facing pages. The photographs make me want to make almost every recipe. The book is deeply satisfying and comforting. I've tried the following recipes, all of which yielded a fresh, full flavored product with just enough sugar for a pleasant balance between tart and sweet. - Lemon Blueberry Buckle was a keeper, tart and sweet. It inspired me to buy the book. - Cherry Almond bars did not work. Since the recipe clains takes its inspiration from lemon bars, there must be an error. All lemon bars prebake the bottom crust and then either pour the filling on top or make a custard and then pour it on top. They all bake the crust for about 30 minutes and the ssembled bars until the top is set. The Cherry Almond bars really need a total redo. The cherry filling was very good but the bottom was soggy and the top was undercooked. I've written an email to Julie Richardson about the problem. They are deluged with comments and praise from readers. Since it was the my second recipe and the first was so sucessful, I decided to try another. - Vanilla-spiked plum Galette was extraordinary. With plums from the farmers market, it was both tart. Just be careful when making it - place the parchment paper on a well made of aluminum foil, otherwise the juice will spread over the oven and burn. I used vanilla sugar for the vanilla infusion. - Short Dough made a beautiful baked shell for a tart. I modified the recipe substituting sour cream for heavy cream. - Galette dough was much better than my old standby of Pasta Frolla by Flo Braker from Baking with Julia [Julia Child]. On balance, the successful recipes are all keepers. Some (Quince, Apple, and Brown Butter Tarte) inspired me to try other recipes on the web. I made an a really good, elegant quince brown butter tarte -- a variation of a financier - my spouse said it was the best dessert ever that had made. I look forward to making and modifying more of the recipes from this book as the seasons change and different fruits become available in the farmer's market.

Part of the appeal of this book is using local ingredients and I guess I didn't catch that Portland is local to the authors. I love the idea of the seasonal, local desserts or seasonal, local anything. The rustic dessert idea seemed just my style as well and I could hardly wait to dive into this book. Unfortunately, a fair number of the fruits are not local for me and although I can get some of them, they are expensive and sparse. Example: of the 14 spring recipes, 8 call for rhubarb--not a common Virginia thing. Another five call for cherries, which we don't have this early. So, only two (strawberries) really work for me and one of those is strawberry shortcake. Hummm. We have strawberries by the bushel so I wish there'd been more emphasis on those, but perhaps they are not big in Oregon. I can enjoy the cherry things a bit later in the season and maybe substitute ingredients in some of the other recipes. The other season recipes also include western fruits I can't get here, so right off, I'm sad I won't get full use of this book. The good thing for me, though, is learning about these different rustic style desserts, some of which I was unfamiliar with. Once I master the technique of the different types, I can use my own local fruits, so for me the book is more useful for the education than the recipes. Each season chapter starts out with a charming description of the season as it relates to in-season desserts, followed by a nice description of the fruits included in the recipes. It surprised me, but shouldn't have, how different the season is in Oregon than Virginia. Not just the fruits, but the timing. I always love enchanting pictures and while those included here are appealing, some are generic--that is, not a picture of the dessert, but of a bunch of cherries or a bowl of currents--pretty, but not compelling, and many recipes have no illustrations. I liked the beginning of the book that describes what the different rustic style desserts are. Then there is a section with baking tips, baking dish equivalents, useful bakers' tools and standard ingredients to have on hand--all useful information. The last section describes making sauces, dough, etc., used in various recipes. All in all the book is well put together and appealing, but mostly for someone living in the Northwest so the seasonal fruits are available as presented. For me, as I said, the book is educational and therefore useful from that perspective, but not ideal as I will have to modify a great many of the recipes to suit my area.

I'm partial to "down home" cooking: big flavors, not overly fussy, etc. This book has exactly the kind of recipes I like most: cobblers, crisps, fruit tarts, etc. I've made probably a dozen or more recipes from this book, and keep it on the "short shelf" in my kitchen (the rest of my cookbook collection -- about 2700 books -- lived in various bookcases in 3 other rooms). Some favorites: Sour Cherry Cobbler, Huckleberry Buckle with Vanilla Drizzle (I'm lucky enough to live in the Pacific NW where I can get huckleberries!), Apple Cranberry Oat Crumble, Apple Crisp with Brandy-Soaked Currants, and Blueberry Cobbler with Cornmeal Biscuit. We're talking serious yum. These recipes allow the fruit to shine, rather than burying the flavor in a lot of unnecessary "stuff." Don't get me wrong, I do like the occasional fancy dessert, but I'd rather have someone else make it. When I cook, I want the biggest bang (flavor wise) for my buck. That's exactly what this book delivers. I'm happy!

I am so thankful that I purchased this book! A few things I really like about the book are: It has a section for each season with about 15-20 different recipes for each season including Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter using fruits that are available at those times. There are flavor combinations that I had never even though of before reading this book! I also like the fact that the author gives weight measurements of all the ingreedents in addition to the traditional measurements for more accurate baking. Also the author includes tips on what to do if something goes wrong. These recipes are not ordinary "Apple Pie" or "Pound Cake" texts; You are going to learn new vocabulary and learn about the fruit upon which you will use.. The recipes will blow your mind and your desserts will be the showstoppers at the dinner table!

I bought this book because I wanted to explore old fashioned fruit desserts. I like this book a lot. The first thing it does is define what buckles, grunts, slumps etc are which is really interesting. I have made several of the recipes in the book and have found them to be delicious and the instuctions easy to follow. The pictures are a great help - to know what the dessert is supposed to look like and to whet your appetite. The only negative I found is the book talks a lot about the fruit in the northwest (and a lot about the farmers markets), as as I live in the Southwest, and don't have a great farmers market near me, the info on fruit varieties does not help a lot. But all in all, I highly recommend it.

I have a lot of cookbooks and I add a few more to the collection every year. This one is a standout. Have you ever wanted to feature the wonderful fruit available at the farmer's market? This book will give you the ability to make knock out deserts that put the fruit forward. Most recipes are frankly on the easy side and don't require the skill to even make and roll out a pie crust (some do) but I've never been a fan of pie crust and the variety of ways to prepare and finish baked fruit deserts will amaze. Clear instructions will be of fantastic aid to even the most moderately trained in the kitchen.

tasty and easy recipes

Actually first discovered this book at the library. I loved too many recipes so decided to get my own copy. Lots of simple ideas. Simple ingredients. Great results. Yes to adding to your collection

Love the recipes in the book - have made some really delicious cobblers for my guests!

Divine, traditional oldies. I live in Italy (which has a vast culture of its own with regard to sweets and desserts) but I have made several of these to serve at informal dinners and even teas, to much approval and delight. Kudos to the author for helping to keep alive a most flavoursome tradition.

Loved the cookbook. the recipes are great and they work for all skill levels.