Blueberry Peach Coffee Cake

This recipe began last week when we were having a friend over for dinner. I had my hands full in the kitchen and was searching for a quick dessert that I could throw together with little effort.  As I paged through the Pioneer Woman Cookbook, I came across her cobbler recipe that consisted of a batter with fruit on top.  It wasn’t the traditional cobbler that I’m familiar with, but I liked the idea. I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand for the PW recipe, so I just winged it on my own.  I had purchased a box of cornbread mix as a breakfast “back-up plan” for our vacation in Cape Cod in June (yes, I do purchase cornbread mix on rare occasions… don’t hate me) which I turned into the batter for the cobbler… I threw in an egg, yogurt, and milk and topped it with fresh blueberries for a no sweat “impromptu cobbler,” as I called it.

It turned out to be much better than I had anticipated, but the fact that I had used a cornbread mix from a box was bugging me.  So, I decided to give the cobbler another shot – this time from scratch.  I stuck with the cornbread idea, since I was happy with it last time.  This time, to jazz it up a bit, I also added some ricotta cheese to the batter. Topped with fresh blueberries and peaches, it resulted in a dense and moist cake/cobbler.

I’m calling this a “coffee cake” because it wasn’t too sweet (which was fine with me!), and I found that it was really great for breakfast with some Greek yogurt and fresh blueberries.  It’s equally delicious with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert, too… If you want it to be a bit sweeter, you can up the sugar to 1/2 a cup.  You can even call it a “cobbler” if you like… I don’t mind!

Blueberry Peach Coffee Cake

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup corn meal
• 1/4 cup sugar (use 1/2 cup for a sweeter cake)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup ricotta cheese
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 cup peaches, peeled and diced
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 tablespoon raw sugar

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a 9-inch pie plate (or similarly sized baking dish) with cooking spray and set aside.

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl – flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg, ricotta cheese, and milk until smooth.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently combine until all of the dry ingredients have been moistened.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Press the peaches and blueberries down into the top of the batter.  Sprinkle with the raw sugar.  Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until the cake is set in the center and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool for about 20 – 25 minutes prior to slicing. Serve warm with ice cream or yogurt and fresh blueberries.