Spread dry cake mix on top.  Evenly space slices of butter on top.  Bake for approximately 30 minutes or until filling is bubbling up through a golden brown crust on top.Cool a little before serving so the filling doesn’t burn tongue. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream on top.

For the single-serve variation, we just eye balled the ratios. You can’t mess this up.

How much we used for seven girls and me: I had three cans of pie filling for them to choose from: peach (canned in a quart-sized jar), cherry and apple. We went through 1 1/2 boxes of cake mix and 2 sticks of butter. Afterwards, I made up some extra for my family and used up the leftover cake mix.

Other cobbler variations:

Use different types of pie filling and cake mixes; cherry with chocolate is another favorite. Add pecans. Add spices to the cake mix that compliment your pie filling, such as nutmeg or cinnamon with apple filling.

When making in a Dutch oven, a single batch fills a 10-inch pot nicely. Place equal number of coals on top and bottom. Coals on top help brown crust more quickly. Bake for approximately 15 minutes, and then check on it every 5 minutes. The baking time really depends on the temperature of coals. Mine is usually done in 25 minutes.

On the grill. Use disposable foil pans or Dutch oven. Put pans directly on grate and bake on medium heat with the grill lid down until golden brown and bubbly. Great way if you don’t want to heat up your house in the summer or need to use your oven for something else.

Double, triple or more. Pie filling can be expensive. But if you got a good deal after the holidays or canned some filling, this cobbler can easily be doubled. Use a dish with a good-sized lip on it or a 14- or 16-inch Dutch oven. I’ve served this for large parties. It’s so easy and a big hit!

Ice Cream

Makes one 1/2 cup serving. Prep time: <5 minutes. Mixing time: ~5 minutes.

Supplies needed: 1 quart baggie, 1 gallon baggie, enough ice to fill gallon baggie, 6 Tablespoons rock salt

Ingredients:

1/2 cup heavy cream (or half & half)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Tablespoon sugar

Pour cream, vanilla and sugar into quart baggie. Write name on baggie. Seal baggie well!

Place quart baggie into gallon baggie. Add 6 Tablespoons rock salt.

 Fill the rest of bag with ice. Seal well!

Shake bags, approximately 5 minutes or until ice cream has reached desired consistency.

Wear oven mitts if hands get too cold. Best to shake outside in case bag breaks and salty ice goes everywhere; use tough baggies.  Dump out ice and salt. Rinse off any remaining salt from quart baggie and hands. Salty ice cream is gross. Serve immediately or store in freezer.

You may double or triple batch. Try any more than and it won’t fit in the quart baggie well. Larger batches take longer to freeze up.

My girls each made a single batch. Downed it before their cobblers were finished. Then made a double batch to eat with the cobbler. We used 3 quarts of heavy cream.

cherry cobbler

peach cobbler with ice cream

peach cobbler half eaten

The girls had plenty of time to enjoy the dessert at the end. However, our activities are 1 ½ hours.