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 👍🏻
Meh…not enough salt in this recipe, so the apples come out sweet with no tart. Also the breading part is inadequate. Mine baked up beautifully, but there is barely any “breading” to cobbler. I’d double the topping. And honestly, go with a different recipe for it. I ended up with delicious cinnamon apples, which I could have made on a stove top or in a microwave with much less work.
This recipe was good. The cobbler is more of cake type texture. Personally, I prefer the sweet biscuit type topping. This was good, but I would not make it again
I’m glad I didn’t read the reviews before making this. I followed the recipe and had no problem with baking process/times. My apples were still firm and I really liked the lightness of the cobbler topping. I would definitely make this again.
Honestly, I’m puzzled by the complaints – this recipe is delicious! Maybe baking isn’t everyone’s strength? I swapped lemon juice for white wine vinegar (because that’s what I had), and yes, I went a little overboard with the vanilla. Loved every bite and will definitely make it again!
This cobbler was delicious and baked up perfectly, the apples were tender and the crust rose well, with a nice crisp exterior. I microwaved the apple mixture for 3 minutes and it worked fine.
The only thing I would change is to add 2 more apples and reduce the sugar to 3/4 cup in the batter as I like it less sweet.
The flavor was good, however, the biscuit/top seemed to dissolve into the apple mixture. Added 3/4 cup sugar vs 1 cup and it was plenty sweet. Wish the topping would of performed better.
I gave this recipe a try because I wanted something different from a traditional apple crisp. The filling was great, but I didn’t love the top. I wanted more of it and didn’t find it to get firm enough for my personal liking, even after baking for quite a bit more time than called for. I didn’t want to go longer for fear of the apples breaking down into mush. I kind of wonder if the addition of an egg would have helped set up the crust more? Maybe!
Agreed topping mix was too runny. Should have done with out milk and used cool butter. Cooked for 20 minutes longer. Didn’t need water in the apples either. Tastes good though
Amazing dessert! An easy bake that turned out wonderfully! Ingredients were things I already had on hand which I appreciated. I did add more cinnamon to the filling and I made sure not to over bake the topping. Wonderful with some vanilla ice cream! This will be a regular dessert in my house! Thanks for sharing!
This is an easy recipe for a novice baker! It tastes alright, but I wasn’t a huge fan of the mushy and overly-sweet breading. It was almost comparable to a bread pudding. And I feel that this recipe definitely needs to add a few more apples, I don’t think it had enough filling.
This is a terrible recipe. It comes out as hot mush. I should have read the comments first. If you have never made apple cobbler before, use a better detailed recipe.