Bramley Apple and Wensleydale Cobbler

• Bramley apples↗at least

  at least

• lemon↗juice of 1

  juice of 1 (optional)

• refined caster sugar↗85g g
• light muscovado sugar↗50g g
• ground ginger↗1 scant tsp tsp
• plain flour↗225g g
• baking powder↗1 tbsp tbsp
• fine sea salt↗scant

  scant

• cold, unsalted butter50g g

  roughly chopped

• wensleydale cheese↗140g g

  grated

• buttermilk↗175ml ml

  (or fresh milk and 1tsp lemon juice)

• mascarpone↗

  to serve

Step-by-step instructions

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7/fan oven 200C. Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a food processor. Whizz for a few seconds, then add the butter and whizz until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Tip in 100g/4oz of the wensleydale and briefly pulse to combine, then pour in the buttermilk and whizz until the mixture has formed a soft, claggy dough. Remove the blade, leaving the dough in the bowl.

2. 2

   Quarter the Bramley apples, then remove the core and peel each wedge. Depending on how quickly you work, drop the peeled apples into a bowl of cold water acidulated with the juice of a lemon, to stop them going brown; drain and dry the apples before proceeding with the recipe.

3. 3

   Butter a 1.2 litre/2 pint ovenproof dish that’s about 23-25cm/9-10in in diameter and 6-7.5cm/21⁄2-3in deep. Thickly slice the quartered apples and pile them into the dish. The apples collapse when they are cooked, so if there isn’t a good mound, add some more. Combine the sugars and ginger, and dredge the apples evenly. (I like to use two sugars: the muscovado has a bullish toffee flavour and the refined is just sweet, sweet, sweet.)

4. 4

   Using your fingers, plop 5 tangerinesized balls of dough on top of the apples in a circle, plus one in the middle: they’ll look untidy but that’s okay. Carefully sprinkle the remaining cheese over the cobbler scones. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 190C/Gas 5/fan oven 170C and continue baking for 20 minutes until the apples are tender and the cobbler is beautifully brown. Serve with a generous dollop of mascarpone.