Sonker Pie's Southern Cousin

Nothing beats Appalachian cooking especially in the summer.It is an agrarian type of food , relying on ingredients from the trees and wild fields .The dessert, sonker, is one of these traditional dishes that comes from the orchards and berry fields that dot this wild mountain region.It is a tasty easy dish, perfect after a meal of fried chicken and barbecued ribs. This cousin of that other American classic ,the cobbler was one of the pies featured in the New York Times Dining sectionIt solely featured all sorts of pies.The piece ,written by Dining regular,Kim Severson, tells about this simple sweet ,found expressly in West Virginia.It's sort of like a pie but not really.Think of it as a hot soupy concoctions first made with fresh cooked fruit and any left over bread.It may be a cousin to the British slump which is stove top steam fruit covered with dumplings.It makes sense because the area was founded by British settlers in the 1700's and ,like other foods in the region more or less retained it's roots. Sonker is a little different than the average cobbler which has somewhat chewier texture.It has something called dip in it which is an amalgam of milk, sugar and a thickener such as cornstarch or flour.A drop or two of vanilla is added for flavor.Fruit and butter are added with the liquid from the fruit reserved. A pancake like batter is poured over it. it's baked for a little over half an hour.Sweet potato is used too, mostly by the region's African American population. In fact they only refer to the sweet potato kind as sonkers while they reserve the name cobbler for the fruit varieties. Sonkers are a great summer dessert.They are easy to make and a great way to end a family picnic.Try one aaa a nice way to greet a lazy sumer evening.