Cobbler

This is a gorgeous dessert and naturally low in calories, as long as you don’t add a ton of sugar and don’t serve it with whipped cream. It just doesn’t need it. In the heat of the oven, as they steam under the topping, the peaches and blueberries meld into a magical, flavorful filling that needs little help from sugar or fat. The spices are really all the fruit requires.

A cobbler is the easiest way to get to something similar to a pie—meltingly tender and juicy fruit with a crusty topping—without having to make, roll out, and crimp pie dough. Biscuit dough, in general, is easy and fast to assemble, but the cream dough below is a real cinch because you don't even have to blend butter into the flour mixture; you just pour in heavy cream and stir, then pat it out with your hands. A round cutter is your default shape but feel free to rummage through your cookie cutter collection for something fun, such as a leaf or diamond.

West's friend Valerie Gordon, of Valerie Confections, created this cakelike dessert using both fresh and preserved peaches.

Serve topped with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Miso is the secret savory ingredient in the topping for this luscious cobbler.

The combination of pears and raspberries is a definite palate pleaser. You can use any ripe pears in this recipe; if you use Bartletts, you need not peel them. We jazz up this pandowdy by adding candied ginger to the biscuit dough. The effect is a warm and spicy infusion that makes this rustic dessert a comfort food favorite. When you serve this pandowdy with a scoop of Vanilla Bean Ice Cream on a cold autumn evening, you will have everyone "mmm'ing" and asking for more.

Does anything say straight-up summer like a cobbler? The one here gains complexity from a jumble of different berries and extra depth from dark brown sugar. Mixing the brown sugar with regular granulated sugar makes it easier to sprinkle on top of the biscuit topping before the cobbler goes into the oven; when it comes out, the tender, featherlight biscuits will be crowned by golden crunch.

This scrumptious dessert serves up sweet, seasonal fruit in filling, foolproof portions. And whole-grain oats top it off with a fluffy cobbler cap that's lusciously lowfat.

A pandowdy is a deep-dish fruit dessert with a pastry topping. while The name may come from the fact that the dessert is typically dowdy-looking, we think this one is anything but.

Pat: When it comes to summertime in the South, fresh peaches rule. We put them in ice cream, pie, and cobbler. We pack them in mason jars and cover them with syrup. No getting around it: we have never met a peach-and-sugar dish that we didn’t like. When we were kids, Momma Daisy had several peach trees in her backyard. She’d give my brothers and me a big basket, and we would go out and pick them right off the tree. Next thing you knew, she was making cobbler—man, was that a treat. Needless to say, that was always a fun trip, and now we get to relive it by sharing her recipe with you.

Apple juice and dried blueberries bring subtle sweetness to the filling. Like your desserts sweeter? Add one or two tablespoons of sugar.

A fragrant peach and berry filling is topped with slightly crunchy, gingery biscuits. You'll notice that the biscuits  contain grated hardboiled egg yolk: It adds some body.

To keep things simple, we don't peel the fruit before baking it. As a result, it's best to avoid ''fuzzy" fruits such as peaches and apricots.

In this modern take on cobbler, the biscuits are baked separately rather than on top of the filling. You can also serve this shortcake-style by splitting the biscuits and topping them with the filling and a generous dollop of crème fraîche.

Like a classic tarte Tatin, this cobbler begins with apples being caramelized in a rich mix of butter and sugar, but we've upped the ante by adding apple brandy and raisins. Tender biscuit rounds take the place of traditional pastry to create a true home-style dessert. (And a drizzle of cream never hurts.)

Miss Lewis loved to serve this old-fashioned Southern dessert (which is actually more of a double-crust pie) warm, with the syrupy juice spooned over the crisp crust.

Mama Sugar says this dish was common at Juneteenth celebrations years ago but is now seldom seen. It's a homey dessert, substantial and rich with butter and cane syrup, and it deserves a comeback.