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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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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
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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HAVE YOU TRIED THIS RECIPE?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
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 👍🏻
I loved this recipe, even my picky family liked it! This is definitely a keeper in our household. Thank you for sharing
I wish I had read the comments before I made this. I kept rechecking the recipe to make sure I read it right. 1 t. nutmeg was too much. The taste of the filling was odd. The topping was odd. I cooked it way longer than it said to but it never did seem done. Did you test this recipe before posting it?
Sorry for the mix-up with the apple cobbler recipe. The recipe calls for 1/2 tsp of nutmeg, not 1 tsp. This mix-up might’ve affected the taste. All recipes are tested for taste and reliability. I appreciate your feedback and hope you’ll give it another try with the correct amount of nutmeg.
Way too sweet. Two ways for batter 1. Biscuit type batter where you drop spoonfuls of batter on top of fruit and 2. Use the pancakes type (like here) where you pour on fruit. Suggestion: Try out “Ounce Upon a Chef” recipe for batter.
Thank you! So easy and turned out so well! I halved the recipe and used 2 large Fuji apples and it was so good! Could not wait for it to cool!
The batter is completely wrong! It’s way too liquid. Overall I wish I read the reviews because this was a horrible recipe. I wasted ingredients for this trash recipe. Take this down!
It’s a decent recipe but, you have to triple the amount of apples and sauce ingredients for it to be a proper ratio. Also, I tripled the amount of vanilla and cut the sugar in the crust down to 3/4 cup.
Why is the batter completely liquid ?? Since when this is a cobbler ?? Terrible terrible. What a waste of ingredients
This recipe was SOOOO good and easy to make. The crust came out perfect and I like it did not require a lot of butter. I made it today for the second time and saving it to use when I want something sweet that’s quick to make! Thank You
Have just made this for some friends and am mortified. It was totally disgusting. It took three times as long to cook as the recipe said and bore no resemblance to any cobbler I have ever made before. Don’t waste your money on ingredients or your time
Way, WAY WAY too much sugar… should’ve been skeptical when the entire recipe asked for 1 and 1/3 cups of sugar. Next time will vastly reduce the amount of sugar, butter, and milk for the batter (you probably were expecting a crispy batter instead of something like this). Overall, the crumble was way too sweet and made me almost nauseous.
Errrr isnt a crumble…. is a cobbler. Different animals….. maybe you are british or so? Then i can understand why you have a skewed view of baked goods 😉
The title says COBBLER. Not sure why you thought it was crumble??
Wonderful. Moist topping!!! Flavor outstanding! Followed the recipe to the end. Easy.