Cobble-cobble

You know you’re a serious eater when the calendar flips to November and your thoughts turn obsessively to Thanksgiving dinner. There are about a million other things on my to do list—and I’m not even hosting the meal this year—but I still can’t stop fantasizing about the perfect dish to bring and the ideal execution of the meal, generally speaking.

No other menu provides such diverse expressions of the same lineup. Consider it: each pan of dressing out there tastes a little different, yet functions within similar boundaries. They’re all thrifty transformations of bread and seasonings. Best of all about holiday meals is that they demand the return of once-a-year family faves, while inviting us to also introduce something new.

I’ll blog a lot about holiday meals this month, but for now, I’m churning on what to bring to the upcoming Thanksgiving dinner hosted by my husband’s aunt and uncle. This year, we’re in the middle of a move, my kitchen is partially stuffed into badly labeled boxes and like many of you I’m just plain short on time. Cakes and pies are too labor intensive, but I’m still a slave to something made from scratch with a high wow factor.

The solution: cobbler.

We think of them as perfect delivery devices for summer fruits and berries, but cobblers are also a winning use of fall staples like sweet potato, apples, pears and cranberries. The task amounts to little more than spraying a pan with cooking spray (they’re notoriously sticky), and adding a simple combination of fruit or cooked yams along with sugar to taste, then topping the mixture off with either a rolled crust, or, even easier, a combination of flour, butter, pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon. Then bake. Ice cream is an easy companion. Homemade whipped cream is even better. Search around for what appeals to you within the cobbler family, and consider adding this simple, affordable and tasty dish.