TWD: Tropical Cobbler with Coconut Shortbread Topping

As you might infer from my post title, I went a little rogue on this week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection. Gaye of Laws of the Kitchen picked the Tropical Crumble, and I was really looking forward to making it. (I love anything involving tropical fruit and/or coconut.) But early reports from the first intrepid crumble bakers led me to believe that something just wasn't working with the recipe. So I thought, hey, I can mess this one up all by myself, using ingredients I have in the house.

For the improvised filling, I used the remainders of a bag of frozen mango chunks and a can of drained, unsweetened pineapple chunks. I skipped the bananas this time - my supermarket was having one of those weeks in which every available bunch was green, and I didn't think they would be ripe in time for me to bake. I threw in the rest of a jar of crystallized ginger for good measure.

For the topping, I decided to go off the TWD map and discovered this one, from The Art and Soul of Baking by Sur la Table with Cindy Mushet (on Steamy Kitchen). It's meant to go on top of a pineapple-kumquat-ginger crisp (drool), but I thought it would work with a pedestrian pineapple-mango crisp, too. I skipped the nuts and added a touch of ginger.

When I made the topping, I followed the directions to use my stand mixer instead of working the butter in by hand or in a food processor, as I usually would. So instead of crumble I got what resembled shortbread dough - in fact, it looked and tasted much like the dough for Coconut Butter Thins. No complaints there. I patted little rounds to fit on top of my ramekins, put them in the oven, and hoped for the best.

Although I can't claim to have made the actual recipe this week, I have to send a big thank you Down Under to Gaye -the recipe insipired me to use what I had on hand to make something pretty tasty.

Next week: Margie of Tea and Scones chose Golden Brioche Loaves


Last week: Carrot Spice Muffins