Every Love Story Begins With Dessert

This is a love story, of sorts.  A love story in the way that a woman can love a man, and a man can love a fruit-based dessert.

When my father got married to my mother, his mother gave her 5 recipes, written in her own hand on 3×5 index cards.  These recipes were my father’s 5 most favorite recipes that my grandmother made, and she wanted to make sure that his wife had them.  One of those was my grandmother’s recipe for fruit cobbler.  My mom is a great cook, and she made it often when I was a young child, especially around my dad’s birthday.  Sadly, as I got older and my various activities began to take over the family, the cobbler went the way of the pot roast and the meatloaf, and they were replaced by the frozen pizza, the casserole, and the Schwan’s Golden Nugget ice cream bar.

Fast forward to my junior year of college.  Kyle and I had just started dating, and we were still in that awkward phase where we were trying to market ourselves as a date-able person.  He’d cooked dinner for me, something delicious and impressive.  (Neither one of us can remember what it was, but he’s always impressed me with his culinary skills.)  And he’d mentioned on numerous occasions that his ex made divine pecan pie.  (Asshole.)  So I busted out my trusty cobbler recipe and baked him a peach cobbler, topped  with vanilla bean ice cream.

He friggin’ loved it.  Went absolutely bonkers for it.  Peach cobbler is personally responsible for the establishment of “One Dessert Per Week” rule, because he was asking for it about once every 3 days.  To this day, it is his favorite of all my desserts.  Now, keep in mind, that I have a bit of a knack for desserts.  I make a lovely pumpkin pie, and my cheesecakes have been a source of joy and jealousy many times.  But if I ask Kyle what dessert he would like, if he can have anything in the world, he’ll say 1 of 2 things: chocolate chip cookies or cobbler.  It’s not a perfect recipe; 1 of the main ingredients is pie filling and the middle rarely sets up.  But even when I offered to try what is probably a better recipe, he was adamant; he wanted my cobbler.

What I love so much about this recipe is that it’s more than just a dessert recipe.  It’s a little piece of my past that I share in the present in order to bring happiness to someone I love.  There’s not a hell of a lot of my heritage that I carry with me.  My family has its roots in small-town Ohio, and other than a strong work-ethic there isn’t much that was passed down.  But with this recipe, I can make Kyle happy the same way my mom made my dad happy, and the same way my grandmother made my grandfather happy.  Peach cobbler has become the glue that binds my past with my family to my future with my husband.  Pretty impressive for a dessert, huh?

That it might bring your family as much happiness as it has mine…

Grandma Dietrich’s Fruit Cobbler

1 c sugar

1/2 c butter

1 c flour

1 c milk

1 t baking powder

2 cans pie filling

Cream butter and sugar.  Cut in flour.  Add milk and baking powder.  Pour mixture into 9×9 greased baking pan.  Add pie filling, but DO NOT stir.  Bake for 45 min to 1 hour at 350F.  Let cool and top with ice cream.