Rhubarb Cobbler with Buttermilk Graham Biscuit Topping

 

I meant to make Deb's cobbler. I really meant to make it exactly as written. I even had exactly two hard-boiled eggs in the fridge, so it seemed meant to be. Even though I am a crisp/crumble gal who loves brown sugar and rolled oats making a thin crunchy cap on top of fruit filling, I was game to try a biscuit topping.

Well, of course, I ran out of this and that, completely forgot about the eggs in the fridge, and decided I had to use the rest of the buttermilk in the carton. (This was the dessert for the mother's day brunch I prepared for my mom, and I had made blueberry buckwheat pancakes with buttermilk. Probably explains the frazzled baker. Making three dishes at once!) Then I thought graham crackers would go with everything beautifully. Well, lucky for me, all this finagaling worked. Imagine a biscuit/scone topping with the flavor of a graham cracker pie crust. My mom said "you better keep track of this one!" So I did.

 

Rhubarb season is pretty much ending now. So posting this is kind of mean. If you can get your hands on some rhubarb, even if you don't want to use it immediately, snatch it up.  Rhubarb freezes beautifully (and if you live somewhere where you can get rhubarb in the freezer section, you already know that). Rinse the stalks, trim the ends, cut into 1″ pieces, and freeze in a freezer-safe zip-top bag. Last May, I froze a ton of rhubarb when it was in season (early May in Northern California), and used the last of it for an impromptu crisp all the way in early December. So there is no hurry to use it up fresh.

Rhubarb Cobbler with Buttermilk Graham Biscuit Topping
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

You could easily add more fruit filling. The blackberries were a lark – I just had some extra on hand. They were good, but you could substitute more rhubarb, strawberries, or cherries.

For dough
½ cup whole wheat pastry flour + ¾ cup oat flour (or all-purpose)

½ cup crushed graham crackers (from about 4-5 whole crackers)
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2/3 cup buttermilk

For filling

1-1/2 pounds rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)

1 pint strawberries, hulled and halved

½ cup blackberries
¼ cup sugar
1-inch piece of vanilla bean, split lengthwise, pulp scraped
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flours, graham crackers, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the flour resembles coarse meal (slightly clumpy, like damp sand). Add buttermilk and pulse just until the dough comes away from the sides and starts to come together. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently pat it together, incorporating any stray crumbs. (Dough will be very sticky/wet.)

Gather the dough together and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, put the rhubarb and strawberries in a shallow 2-1/2 quart casserole or soufflé dish and toss with sugar, vanilla, and cornstarch. Allow to macerate (read: just sit there) 15 minutes.

Drop the dough on top of the fruit filling with a spoon (or your fingers) to mostly cover the filling. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake the cobbler until the rhubarb filling is thickly bubbling and the biscuit topping is golden brown, about 40 to 45 minutes.

Serve with ice cream or tart frozen yogurt.