Bramley Apple and Wensleydale Cobbler

Method

• step 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.

• step 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.

• step 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.)

• step 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.