This Chocolate Stone Fruit Cobbler Mini Dessert celebrates some of the juiciest fruit of summer! An easy small batch dessert featuring peaches, plums, and cherries – and topped with a sugar-studded chocolate biscuit. The fresh fruit combined with the chocolate biscuit make for a light, bright, and sweet bite!
Chocolate Stone Fruit Cobbler
Can you really have a summer dessert line up that doesn’t include a cobbler? Or fresh, in-season stone fruit for that matter? I think not. And I also think it was about time that I made a cobbler recipe for the blog! Of courses, I didn’t want just any ol’ cobbler. I wanted a recipe that celebrated seasonal stone fruit as well as a flavor element to complement it. The answer – chocolate biscuits.
Done. You had me at chocolate biscuits. This Chocolate Stone Fruit Cobbler Mini Dessert checks all of the boxes for a delicious summer dessert:
- Fruit – The bounty of fresh fruit that appears in summer should be celebrated. The peaches, plums, and cherries are definitely the star in this mini dessert.
- Easy – I like an easy summer dessert, but who doesn’t?! The biscuits come together easily, and the stone fruit cobbler does all of it’s work while baking.
- Fresh – Always, always, always fresh fruit when it is in season.
- Flavor – If the combo of peaches, plums, and cherries wasn’t enough – we add a chocolate biscuit top to add a warm and sweet layer to the cobbler.
- Adaptable – One of the (many) great things about a cobbler dessert is you can use any fruit filling you like. Fresh berries, apples, pears … you get the idea.
Chocolate Biscuit Topped Cobbler
Ok, let’s talk about the elephant in the room – the chocolate biscuit! I love a good, buttery, and flaky Homemade Biscuit. So why not turn it into a sweeter chocolate dessert? First, the crunchy tops that biscuits get when baked are a great vehicle to deliver the soft fruit cobbler filling. And second, chocolate goes with just about anything, IMHO.
However, we don’t want the chocolate biscuit to be too sweet and over power the stone fruit filling. So here is what to expect with these chocolate biscuits:
- Easy – Making homemade biscuits is easy, and these chocolate biscuits are even easier than their savory counterpart. The dough is scooped, rather than shaped and cut with a biscuit cutter.
- Robust Cocoa Flavor – If you say chocolate biscuit, I want to taste chocolate. However, don’t expect a piece of chocolate cake. These are still biscuits to the core with their texture and light sweetness.
- Lightly Sweet – Again, no chocolate cake here. We do add a little more sugar than your standard buttermilk biscuit. But not so much that all you taste is sugar. Let’s leave the sweetness to the fruit cobbler filling!
- Crunchy Tops – We achieve the crunchy tops two ways; 1. the crunchy biscuit itself, and 2. a little extra sugar sprinkle on top!
What You Need To Make Chocolate Stone Fruit Cobbler – Mini Dessert
Ingredients
- Stone Fruit – Peaches, plums, cherries, and/or nectarines – and always fresh when in season! Or, any fruit or berry would work.
- Cornstarch – This is to help thicken the fruit cobbler filling.
- All-Purpose Flour
- Cocoa Powder – Dutch or natural cocoa work.
- Granulated Sugar
- Baking Powder and Baking Soda
- Salt
- Buttermilk
- Unsalted Butter
- Vanilla Extract
Baking Equipment
- Mini Pie Dishes – Either 2 small, 4-inch pie dishes or one 6-inch dish. Or any casserole dish you like – keeping in mind this is a small batch. These pie dishes would work great and are comparable to what I have in my own kitchen.
- Mixing Bowls
What Is The Difference Between A Cobbler, Crisp, and, Buckle
Without going into a deep dive history lesson, some key differences of these sweet fruit filling summer desserts. Though, one consistent ingredient between all of them – fruit filling.
- Cobbler – The topping is made of a biscuit dough or batter dolloped on top of the fruit filling
- Crisp – The topping is a streusel that may, or may not, contain oats. With oats = crisp. Without oats = crumble.
- Buckle – The fruit is baked within and around cake. The cake batter essentially ‘buckles’ up around the fruit
Tips For Making Mini Chocolate Fruit Cobbler
- Use fresh fruit – I’m like a broken record, but … fresh fruit when it is in season is best! Especially stone fruit (can’t say I’ve even seen frozen plums in my grocery?) Fresh fruit is brighter, sweeter, juicier, yummier … you get the point. However, frozen fruit (not thawed) can work if needed.
- Get creative with flavors – This summer dessert highlights summer stone fruit. That’s not to say you couldn’t make this cobbler with fresh berries, apples, pears, blueberries – really any fruit.
- Sweeten to taste – This is a fruit desert, so I prefer to let the sweetness of the fruit shine. You can always add more sugar to the fruit filling if you prefer.
- The colder the butter, the better – Even though the chocolate biscuits are not your traditional buttermilk biscuit, they still require key ingredients that make them biscuits; cold butter, and buttermilk. Both yield a tender and fluffy biscuit. I freeze my butter and grate it on a cheese box grater for my biscuits.
- Cornstarch is your friend – A little cornstarch sprinkled over the fruit filling will thicken it. It creates a
- Mini dishes for this mini dessert – Amazon has these mini pie dishes that are similar to ones I use, and less expensive. But, you can get creative with your mini serving vessels. Ramekins, small pie dishes, small casserole dishes, or even 1 larger dish work. Just keep in mind it is a small batch recipe.
- Double up for more – This is a small batch recipe that can be doubled if you prefer.
- Serve with ice cream or whipped cream – Cobbler is always more fun topped with a dollop of ice cream, or even homemade whipped cream!
Common Questions About Making Fruit Cobbler Mini Dessert
Yes, the recipe can be doubled.
Of course! Just keep in mind we don’t want to add to much sugar that it over powers the natural fruit flavor and sweetness.
Taste of Home did a great job of breaking down the difference with all of the fruit filling desserts. Essentially, a cobbler is a fruit filling dessert topped with a biscuit dough or batter.
Absolutely! Cobblers are very versatile desserts and can be tailored to your taste, and season.
I will always recommend fresh fruit when in season. However, frozen can work if needed and I don’t recommend thawing them.
Butter contains moisture that, when heated, creates steam which gives the biscuits rise and a soft texture.
For this recipe, Dutch processed or natural cocoa powder will work. I prefer Dutch processed cocoa because of the flavor and it is less acidic.
I would start with 1 – 2 teaspoons more. Please note, that I have not tested this though. I would not recommend adding much more as it may impact the final texture of the biscuits.
I would recommend reheating in the oven, covered, at 350F, until the filling is bubbly. Reheating in the microwave may cause the biscuits to get chewy.
You could prepare the fruit filling ahead of time. However, I would not recommend making the chocolate biscuits in advance. They may night have the same light and fluffy texture.
Cover and refrigerate for 3 days. Beyond that, the biscuit topping may start to soften.
More Summer Fruit Dessert Recipes
- No-Bake Cherry Cheesecake Parfaits
- Peach Mousse Trifle
- Cherry Almond Galette For Two
- Strawberry Shortcake Cake – Gluten Free
- Vanilla and Berry Cupcakes
Small Batch Chocolate Stone Fruit Cobbler
Equipment
- 2 – 4-Inch Pie Dishes, or 1 – 6-Inch Pie Dish
Ingredients
Chocolate Biscuits
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (plus more for tops of the biscuits)
- 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup buttermilk, cold
- 2 and 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Stone Fruit Filling
- 2 cups stone fruit, cut into slices (peaches, plums, and cherries)
- 2 teaspoons corn starch
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F degrees and adjust the oven rack to the middle position.
Chocolate Biscuits
- Cold Butter – I prefer to grate the butter on a box grater to get an even distribution in the biscuit dough. Freeze the butter for 15 minutes before ready to grate and use.
- Cold Buttermilk – To make homemade buttermilk, add 3/4 teaspoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Add milk to the 1/4 cup line, stir and let sit for 10 – 15 minutes in the refrigerator.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the grated butter to the dry ingredients. Gently stir to coat the butter pieces. Then pour in the buttermilk and stir the batter until no dry streaks remain. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Stone Fruit Filling
- Cut the peaches and plums into thick slices (I cut mine a little bigger than 1/4 inch). Pit the cherries and either keep whole or slice into halves. Note – I left the skin on the peaches and plums. If you prefer, you can peel them.
- Sprinkle the corn starch and sugar over the fruit. Stir to coat. Note – You can add more/less sugar to the fruit. Keep in mind the fruit is naturally sweet.
- Pour the fruit filling equally into 2 serving dishes (I used 4-inch pie dishes), or into one 6-Inch pie or casserole dish.
- Using a small cookie scoop or serving spoon, scoop dollops of the chocolate biscuit batter on top of the fruit filling. Sprinkle the tops of the biscuits with granulated sugar.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the fruit filling is bubbly. Note – If using small pie dishes, you can place the dishes on a small baking sheet so they sit on the oven rack easily.
- Let the cobblers cool on a wire cooling rack for 5 to 10 minutes. The cobblers are best enjoyed warm and with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream. Enjoy!
Notes
- Stone Fruit – Use any summer fruit or berry you like.
- Pie Dishes – These pie dishes would work great for this recipe. Or any small casserole dish, or baking dish will work. Keep the serving vessel in mind since it is a small batch recipe.
- Serving Size – This recipe yields enough cobbler for 2 – 4 servings. This recipe can easily be doubled.