Cobbler is a well-known summer dessert, but have you heard of buckles, slumps and sonkers? Often passed down from generation to generation, the recipes for these humorously named rustic desserts showcase summer’s ripest fruits.
The name “buckle” comes from the way the cake bakes up and around the fruit. Yellow cake is topped with fruit, often blueberries, then generously coated with a butter-flour streusel. As it bakes, the cake rises, then deflates just slightly, resulting in a craggy landscape of golden crumbs laced with sweet-tart berry juices.
The glamourless slump doesn’t have a daring golden-brown crust or sugary edges. Slumps are steamed dumplings with stewed fruit, aptly named for their physical appearance. The beauty of a slump recipe is ease. A simple one-bowl sweetened biscuit dough is scooped into simmering fruit and cooked on the stovetop, keeping the oven cold during the hot summer months.
Sonkers are deep-dish pies most often made with fruit filling, but there are sweet potato sonkers, too. Originating in western North Carolina, these sturdy sweets are built to feed a crowd, such as a church supper or family reunion. Sonkers are always accompanied by a “dip,” which is not a typical dip, but a milk sauce served on the side to be drizzled over the sonker.
Dialect plays a large role in the terminology. What some might call a slump, others might call a grunt or simply fruit dumplings. Sonker fans suggest that the word “sonker” comes from the Scottish dialect and originally referred to a small, grassy knoll.
The blueberry buckle recipe in this story is inspired by a recipe once made by Mrs. Frances C. Kratt and given to me by her son, Henry Kratt of Tallahassee, Florida. He said their family recipe might be an adaptation of a 1950s “Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book” recipe. Their buckle is made with shortening, which produces a moist, tender cake.
When searching for classic Southern recipes I can trust, I look to Lana Stuart, author of “My Southern Table: Recipes From a Georgia Kitchen” (Food and Fiction LLC, 2023). Her family has long made a berry slump, enhanced with citrus, that became the starting point for my own blackberry slump.
The third in the trio is a cherry sonker, perhaps the most hyper-regional of these three desserts. To create this recipe, I sought out the advice of native North Carolinian, food writer and Southern dessert expert Nancie McDermott. McDermott is the author of 14 cookbooks on Asian cuisine and desserts of the American South, including “Southern Pies” (Chronicle Books, 2010) and “Southern Cakes” (Chronicle Books, 2007). It’s tricky to adapt a classic recipe, but this version is my new favorite. Using store-bought pie crust means it’s a snap to make.
RECIPES
As we head into peak summer fruit season, add this trio of humorously named desserts to your repertoire. If fresh fruit is not accessible, simply use frozen. There’s no need to defrost.
Credit: Virginia Willis
Credit: Virginia Willis
Blueberry Buckle
Buckle recipes are often passed down through the generations. The following is based on a recipe from the Kratt family of Florida with deep roots in North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Their family recipe might be adapted from a 1950s “Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book” recipe.
Shortening produces a tender cake with a slightly firmer and denser crumb and helps maintain moistness.
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
- 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar, divided
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup 2% milk
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 pint fresh or frozen blueberries
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8-inch round cake pan with nonstick baking spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together 2 cups of flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- Place the shortening and 1/2 cup sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Cream on medium speed, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl, until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix well on low speed. Scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Add the flour mixture, about 1/3 at a time, to the creamed mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Stir in the vanilla. Transfer the batter to the prepared cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula. (It will be thick.)
- Sprinkle the blueberries over the batter. Set aside.
- Combine the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour and cinnamon. Using your fingers, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the streusel over the blueberries.
- Bake until the topping is golden brown and the cake is pulling away from the sides of the pan, about 1 hour.
- Transfer to a rack to cool. To serve, slice with a serrated knife. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Serves 12.
Per serving: 291 calories (percent of calories from fat, 40), 4 grams protein, 41 grams carbohydrates, 20 grams total sugars, 1 gram fiber, 13 grams total fat (5 grams saturated), 16 milligrams cholesterol, 137 milligrams sodium.
Credit: Virginia Willis
Credit: Virginia Willis
Blackberry Slump
This is the sweet version of chicken and dumplings. Made with a simple biscuit dough, it is old-fashioned country cooking inspired by a recipe by Lana Stuart of LanasCooking.com.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
- Zest and juice of 1 orange
- 1/2 cup 2% milk
- 3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut in the chilled butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the zest of 1 orange. Add the milk and stir until just combined. Cover and refrigerate the dough while you prepare the filling.
- In a skillet, combine the blackberries, remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, orange juice and cinnamon.
- Place over medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and drop by tablespoons onto the simmering fruit.
- Cover the skillet tightly with a lid and allow the dumplings to steam over medium-low heat for 20 minutes. (Do not lift the lid during this time.)
- After 20 minutes, check the dumplings with a toothpick or wooden skewer. If it comes out clean with no dough clinging, the dumplings are cooked and the slump is ready to serve. Serve warm or hot.
Serves 8.
Per serving: 186 calories (percent of calories from fat, 17), 3 grams protein, 38 grams carbohydrates, 22 grams total sugars, 4 grams fiber, 4 grams total fat (2 grams saturated), 9 milligrams cholesterol, 247 milligrams sodium.
Credit: Virginia Willis
Credit: Virginia Willis
Cherry Sonker
Sonkers are traditionally large desserts, but this Cherry Sonker has been adapted to an 8-inch baking pan, making it user-friendly for smaller gatherings.
The greatest difference between a sonker and a cobbler is that the sonker has an accompanying dip — a sweet milk sauce used as a drizzle.
For the filling:
- 2 ready-to-bake refrigerated pie crusts
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 cups cherries, pitted or 2 (10-ounce) bags frozen cherries
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 cup water
For the dip:
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 1/2 cups 2% milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- Make the sonker: Heat the oven to 450 degrees. Drape one of the crusts into the bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan, tucking it into the corners and extending it up the sides to the rim of the pan. Press it into the pan and trim away excess dough, using it to piece and patch together a complete pastry lining of the pan. Press gently to seal any seams. Trim and reserve any remaining dough.
- Cut the remaining pie crust into 10 (1 inch wide) strips. Remove the two outside short strips and add them to the reserved dough. (The remaining 8 strips will all be a minimum of 8 inches long.)
- Combine 3/4 cup sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a large bowl. Add the cherries; stir to combine until the fruit is evenly coated with the sugar mixture. Add the butter and water. Stir to combine.
- Pour the filling into the prepared pan and spread it in an even layer. Arrange 4 pastry strips on top of the cherry filling, placing them evenly along the length of the pan, so that the filling shows through. Place the 4 remaining pastry strips at right angles to the long strips, arranging them along the width of the pan. This forms a simple crisscross pattern, allowing the cherry filling to show through. (You can also weave the strips for a lattice effect.) Press the end of each pastry strip firmly against the side of the pan, so that it sticks to the crust. Set aside.
- Roll the reserved dough into an 8 inch log; using your fingers, press it into a long strip about 1 inch wide. Cut lengthwise into 4 (8-inch) strips. Place them around the outer edge of the crust to seal the crossed strips.
- Place the sonker on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350 degrees and bake until the crust is evenly browned and the filling is bubbling, about 30 minutes more.
- While the sonker bakes, make the dip: In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup sugar and cornstarch and stir with a fork to mix well. Add the milk and vanilla and stir to dissolve the sugar mixture into the milk.
- Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring constantly. As soon as the mixture boils, lower the heat so that it maintains a lively simmer. Cook, stirring often, until it thickens and is smooth, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Place the sonker on a cooling rack and let cool for 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, serving the dip on the side to be drizzled over the top.
Serves 8.
Per serving, with dip: 424 calories (percent of calories from fat, 40), 4 grams protein, 62 grams carbohydrates, 34 grams total sugars, 2 grams fiber, 19 grams total fat (9 grams saturated), 26 milligrams cholesterol, 354 milligrams sodium.
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