Spiced Apple Cobbler with Jaggery

This is the 50^th post on Deliciously Directionless. And to celebrate this ‘golden’ milestone, here is a sweet baked dish with 50 shades of gold – from the perfectly browned crust to the caramelised jaggery! This Spiced Apple Cobbler was inspired by a random tweet by fellow foodie and partner-in-delicious-potlucks, Chhavi, who had baked the apple filling with jaggery, instead of sugar as used by traditional recipes. It’s a spiced up version with not just cinnamon, but also cloves and nutmeg for added flavours. So give it a shot; it’s really easy and tastes divine (even though it looks a bit rustic!).

• 500g Apples
• 50g Jaggery
• 1tsp Cinnamon powder
• 2-3 Cloves, ground
• ¼tsp Nutmeg powder

• 50g All Purpose Flour
• 50g Caster Sugar
• 25g Butter, softened
• 1 Egg
• 1tsp Vanilla
• ½tsp Baking Powder

• Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease a 20cm cake tin and set aside.
• Core and thinly slice the apples. (You can peel the apples before slicing if you wish; I used them as is.)

• Cut the jaggery into as small pieces as you can.

• Mix the apples, jaggery and the three spices. Spread this mixture in the cake tin, covering the base completely. You can sift some sugar on top if you wish.

• Sift together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
• Beat the butter and sugar together.
• Add the egg and beat well. Mix in the vanilla.
• Add the dry mixture and incorporate as you would a cake batter.
• Spoon the batter over the apple and jaggery mixture. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t completely cover the fruit filling.

• Bake for 30-40 minutes till the apples are tender and the crust is golden brown.

• Serve warm as is or with ice cream on the side.