Blackberry Cobbler

Name: Blackberry Cobbler
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: Southern
Ingredients: Blackberries; Caster sugar; Plain flour; Fat-free Greek yoghurt; Whey protein powder; Semi-skimmed milk; Baking powder; Salt

Blackberry Cobbler, plated as one serving.

263 kcal a serving, against 382 for the traditional version. That is 119 kcal off, or 31%, with 12.5g of protein. Serves 6. 1 hour.

What the traditional version is

Classic cobbler means stewed blackberries tossed with sugar, then topped with a thick, rich biscuit dough made from flour, cold butter, sugar, and buttermilk. The dough gets dropped or rolled over the bubbling fruit and baked until it's deep gold and crisp on top, soft underneath. Serve it hot, sometimes with a glug of cream. The bottom is all syrup and the top is basically pudding disguised as biscuit.

What changed, and what each change costs

Butter in the topping replaced with fat-free Greek yoghurt

Swapping butter for fat-free Greek yoghurt in the biscuit dough means you cut the saturated fat and more than halve the calories in the topping. It holds the structure together, gives some tang, and brings extra protein.

What it costs you. You lose the rich flavour and that melt-in-the-mouth crumb you get from butter. The topping is soft and a bit tangy, not as luxurious. If you want luxury, throw in a dollop of cream at the end - I won't tell.

Milk up from whole to skimmed, and add a scoop of whey protein

Semi-skimmed milk takes out the hidden fat in the dough, and whey protein replaces some of the structure lost with the butter swap. The protein boost is no joke - you can almost pretend it's a breakfast food.

What it costs you. No thick, toasty milk flavour, and a slightly chewier bite. The whey makes things a bit denser, but that's the price of pretending you're eating sensibly.

Sugar in fruit halved and omitted from topping entirely

Cutting the fruit base sugar means you get more actual blackberry flavour, less sticky syrup, and a pudding that won't spike you into a nap. Skipping the sugar in the dough leaves the topping lighter and not as cloying.

What it costs you. It isn't sticky pudding, it's baked fruit with a soft crust. If you miss the syrup, you'll want to eat it with plenty of the juice from the bottom of the dish.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Blackberries
Caster sugar
Plain flour
Fat-free Greek yoghurt
Whey protein powder
Semi-skimmed milk
Baking powder
Salt

How it starts

Heat the oven to 190C.
Spread the blackberries evenly in the dish and toss them with the sugar and a pinch of salt.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, whey protein, baking powder and the rest of the salt.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Southern.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	382	263
Protein	6.3g	12.5g
Fat	14.1g	1.7g
Saturated fat	8.2g	0.5g
Carbohydrate	59.8g	50.8g
Protein per 100 kcal	1.7g	4.8g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Southern prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, milk.

The method is in the book

Cobbler is meant to stick to your ribs, and this doesn't do quite the same job. You lose a bit of that buttery wow and you definitely lose the syrupy bottom, but you get a real blackberry hit and a topping with a purpose. If that makes you nostalgic for clotted cream and golden sugar, fine - but you can eat this after a weeknight dinner and not spend the evening counting missed gym sessions. Sometimes a pudding just wants to taste like fruit and not a brick. That's what you get here.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Southern, along with 50 more. Buy the paperback