Plum Cobbler "Best Pud, No Cobblers"

I have fallen in love. Yet again. This time, I am besotted with a pudding which is a rare thing because a long time ago I convinced myself that I was not a great fan of desserts. 

I am in love with Plum Cobbler's sharp taste and its satisfying stodgy topping. I love its name too. Cobbler, it is so evocative. By looking at the final product you can just imagine a cobbled street, the way the dumplings fit together on the top of the warm stewed plums. Cobbler also meant football and there, you might have to stretch your imagination a little bit but nothing stops you to shape the topping  like little balls.

Now for the recipe. First of all, let me tell you, what infuriated me but came as a blessing in disguise at the end. I could not find a recipe which looked like it would work properly so soon I decided to mix  a couple of recipes up , the result, best pud this side of September and that's no cobblers.

Doing further research, I read that Cobbler comes in a savoury version so I might just fall out of love with the sweet dish and fall in love...yet again, again, with the other one.

In the meantime here is my version of Plum Cobbler.

Ingredients

750g  ripe plum                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

170g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp water

200 g (7 oz) self-raising flour
pinch of salt
30 g (1 oz) cool unsalted butter, diced
30 g (1 oz) light muscovado sugar
100 ml (3½ fl oz) semi-skimmed milk, plus 1 tbsp milk for brushing

Method

1. Preheat the oven to fan 160C/ conventional180C/gas 4. Butter a 1.5 litre ovenproof pie dish.
2.  Halve, stone and quarter the plums. put them in a saucepan with sugar and 1 tbsp water. Bring to the boil, then cover and cook gently for 5 minutes.
3. Turn the fruit into the prepared dish. 

Now for the topping

1.  sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar 
2.  Make a well in the centre, add the milk and mix to a soft but not sticky dough.
   Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly. Roll out to a rectangle about 1cm (½ in) thick and the length of the ovenproof dish. Using a sharp knife or a pastry wheel, cut into strips about 1.5 cm (¾ in) wide
3. Bake for 45 minutes.