This old-fashioned Apple Cobbler is one of my FAVORITE fall desserts. It's made with fresh apples in a cinnamon sauce, with a delicious cake-like topping.
We can't get enough of cobbler recipes at our house. We enjoy peach cobbler and blueberry cobbler all year round, but when apple season comes, it's either homemade apple crisp, apple cobbler, or fresh apple cake; on repeat!
Apple Cobbler
Many apple cobbler recipes are made with a biscuit like topping, I wanted the same old-fashioned cake-like topping that I use in my other recipes! It has a slight crisp on the top and is soft in the center, and pairs so well with the sauce and tender apples in this recipe.
How's Apple Cobbler different from Apple Crisp?
There is a difference between apple crisp and apple cobbler. Just like its name, apple crisp has a crispy crumble topping made with oats. The topping for this apple cobbler is a smooth batter that is poured on top of the apple filling and bakes more cake-like.
Which apples are best for baking?
Any baking apple will work great! I tend to prefer Granny Smith apples but I also like Gala apples, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, or any other tart apple.
To peel or not to peel?
Yes, I like to peel the apples for apple cobbler! The skin doesn’t break down during baking and can make for a tougher texture. (But you can leave the skin on if you want, and chop the apples into smaller cubes!) I use my Johnny Apple Peeler for this part because it does the work for me. It PEELS, CORES and SLICES the apple all at once!
4 steps to easy Apple Cobbler:
Make the Apple Filling: Stir together water, brown sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large saucepan. Stir in apples. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes.
Make the batter: In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk and melted butter, just until combined.
Pour into dish. Add apple mixture to your pan and pour the batter evenly on top. Sprinkle it lightly with cinnamon and it's ready to bake!
Bake: at 350 degrees for about 38-40 minutes. Serve warm, with a scoop of ice cream, if desired.
Make Ahead and Freezer Instructions:
You could prepare the apple filling and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months.
You can also freeze the baked cobbler for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the oven before serving.
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Recipe
Apple Cobbler
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 medium apples (Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, or other good baking apple), peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
- 1 cup water or apple juice
- 1/3 cup brown sugar , packed
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
For the batter:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup milk
- 5 Tablespoons butter , melted
- ground cinnamon for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 inch pan lightly with cooking spray.
- Stir together brown sugar, water, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a saucepan. Stir in apples. Cook over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, stirring.
- Pour mixture into prepared pan.
- In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk and melted butter, just until combined.
- Pour the mixture over the apples in the pan. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.
- Bake for about 38-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the topping comes out clean.
- Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes before serving. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired.
- Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
Nutrition
HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
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First time on your site, and both my husband and I l hi Iove this Apple Cobbler recipe! We tried it out ourselves before taking it to a large gathering and ate every yummy bite.
Readers, if you’re on the fence about this recipe, take my word for it–this is a keeper! This will go in our file of favorites, for sure.
Just a wee word of advice: please ignore nay-sayers who changed everything but the baking temperature and then left a negative review…lol. Always try the recipe AS WRITTEN first, then adjust to your taste. We followed the recipe to a tee, and it was great! Thanks for sharing this, Lauren!
This is an excellent apple cobbler. My daughter loved it and made it for her work potluck and was a huge hit. It was enjoyed by everyone.
Have never made apple cobbler (only peach and blueberry) but my GOD this recipe is fantastic! I had some raisins laying around so I added some of those. I ate nearly the whole thing on my own and I made it again the next night!
I made this apple cobbler tonight. It was so delicious. The whole pan was gone before the evening was over.
First time making apple cobbler and this recipe is delicious, made it from own grown apples, will make it again 👍🏻
Oof. Acceptable recipe, but could be a lot better. Apples mixture too watery. Topping too sweet, too heavy, gets over done. Here are my recommended changes.
Apple mixture:
1/2 cup water, no apple juice
Topping:
2 tablespoons butter, instead of 5
1/2 cup sugar, instead of 1
Add 1 egg white
Check finish at 30 min, maybe earlier.
I absolutely love this recipe!!! It’s the only one I will use for cobbler! The only thing I do differently is I pour a little of the batter in the bottom of the pan first before pouring in the apple mixture. Then I pour the rest of the batter on top. My family loves this recipe year round!! Thank you so much for posting and sharing! It’s at real hit in my household!
Too watery
Too sweet
I suggest no water and 1/2 cup of sugar for topping
Excellent recipe, I doubled it and put it in a larger dish, I ran out of cinnamon but had some cinnamon and sugar that was mixed to sprinkled on top. It turned out great. Will make this one again.
Best cobbler I’ve ever made, great recipe, thank you 🙂
I’ve made this lots of times now and the only problem is that it only lasts my wife and me two days and then it is gone! We use large Honey-Crisp apples, eight of them, and it is so good! I cook the apple pieces for ten minutes so they are soft for our senior teeth.The hardest part is peeling and coring and cutting up the apples. A potato peeler speeds up the peeling, and preparing the apples in assembly line fashion (slice the ends off all 8, peel all 8, core all 8, cut up all 8) speeds up the job for me.
I’ve made this a couple times now and it comes out great every time, plus it’s so easy and quick to put together.
Ignore all comments complaining about the batter/liquid consistency, as it seems these people didn’t even attempt to make this per the recipe. Watch the video, read the description. Yes, the batter is supposed to look like pancake batter and yes the apple liquid will still be a bit runny, but due to the added starch it’s going to thicken as it cooks.
Having said all this, when I make it I do let the apples cook a bit more on the stove because I like the apples to be softer so it’s easier for my kids to eat. The liquid always gets thicker, and the same thing will happen in your oven if you only cook your apples on the stove for the specified amount of time.
Couple other things: I’ve found this works with any apples I’ve had on hand: gala, Fuji, but granny Smith are my favorite. I also use 7 apples because I felt it could use a higher apple:batter ratio. I usually never have vanilla or nutmeg on hand and it’s still delicious without these. Finally, the video shows all the apples sliced and instantly added at once to the pot of cooking liquid. Since this is physically impossible I’ll first prep the liquid with the heat off, process and add the apples one by one, stirring each to coat to prevent oxidation/browning. Once all apples are added to the liquid then I turn the heat on.
This was like a light pancake poured on top of the apples. It was way too runny and not what a cobbler should be. I don’t understand the high ratings.
Just made this for the first time and it turned out magnificently! I used Golden Delicious apples in mine and added half a teaspoon of Captain Morgan’s spiced rum to the liquid mixture. The apples and the cobbler on top were just scrumptious! Definitely gonna be using this recipe in the future – thank you!
No eggs in a cobbler topping ? I’ve got the batter mixed up which I doubled the ingredients because it looked like it couldn’t possibly be enough for a decent topping on a 9×13 pan. I’m afraid to pour this soupy sauce like topping over the apple sauce mixture I cooked per your recipe. Seems like it will be soup
Love this recipe. It’s so easy and delicious.
For those saying the sauce is runny, it is supposed to be. That liquid gets absorbed by the apples and the biscuit topping while baking, leaving a saucy blob of gooey apple gunk under the biscuit blanket. Perfection.
Also, the biscuit batter for the topping is… also… supposed to be runny. It should flow like a thick liquid, almost like pancake batter. Even a little runnier than pancake batter. It will float on top of the liquid regardless and will cook into a nice, soft biscuit topping that, once spooned into a bowl after cooking, provides exactly the right amount of support for the apple soup that comes with it.
Love it and will definitely be making this often.
Because the batter rises so quickly, it would have been wise of me to use a deeper dish. The batter is delicious. The binding liquid for the apples is equally delicious. Amazing dessert. Thank you