Strawberry peach sonker with milk dip is a fruit dessert native to Wilkes and Surry Counties in North Carolina. Cousin to cobbler, crumble, crisps, etc, sonker is set apart by the sweet milk dip accompaniment. You're going to love it.
⅓recipeLazy Baker's Puff Pastry(see Notes for link)
1quartstrawberrieswashed and halved (about 4 cups)
5medium peacheswashed, peeled and sliced (about 2 cups)
3 ½ozgranulated sugar(1/2 cup)
1 ½teaspoonscornstarch
4Tablespoonswater2 oz or 1/4 cup
scant ½teaspoonkosher salt
To Finish
For the Milk Dip
2cupswhole milk16 oz
3 ½ozgranulated sugar(1/2 cup)
heavy pinchkosher salt
1Tablespooncornstarch
1 ½teaspoonsvanilla extract or paste
1large eggbeaten with 1 teaspoon water and a tiny pinch of salt
2Tablespoonsdemerara sugaror other sugar with large crystals
Instructions
For the Filling
Place a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 375F.
Roll out the Lazy Baker's Puff Pastry into a rough square about 1/8". Cut off all four sides in roughly 2" strips. You should have about a 9" square left.
Piece the 2" strips of dough around the insides of the baking dish leaving the bottom empty. It took 3 strips to go around the inside of my pan. I cut up the remaining strip and placed those pieces in the bottom as well because I like "dumplings." Set aside
Combine the sliced fruit, sugar, cornstarch, water, and salt in a large bowl. Toss to evenly combine.
Dump the fruit mixture into the pan and spread it out evenly.
Take the square of dough and cut into 9 strips. Place these on top of the fruit in a lattice pattern. You can weave them or just place 4 one way and 5 perpendicular to those. It's your call.
Brush the lattice with the egg wash and then sprinkle generously with the demerara or coarse sugar.
Bake for 30 minutes (Note: this is not the total baking time)
To Make the Milk Dip
While the sonker is baking, make the dip.
Combine the milk, sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a medium saucepan and whisk well.
Bring to a boil over medium high heat, whisking constantly. Allow to boil 30-45 seconds.
Pour through a fine mesh sieve to catch any lumps and stir in the vanilla.
Reserve 1/2 cup and set the rest aside to cool and then refrigerate. Rewarm the milk dip before serving.
After 30 minutes, remove the sonker from the oven and drizzle the 1/2 cup of dip evenly over the top.
Return to the oven and bake an additional 25 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling all the way into the center, the pastry is deeply golden brown and the dip has some golden spots on it. If the pastry is browning too quickly, cover with foil until the fruit bubbles in the center.
Remove from oven and let cool to warm before serving with a generous splash or three of the milk dip. Refrigerate leftovers for up to 3 days.
Notes
Here is the recipe for Lazy Baker's Puff Pastry. You'll have to scroll down past the tart recipe to find the puff recipe. You can also substitute your favorite pie crust, either homemade or store-bought.Please feel free to add an additional 1/4 cup of sugar if you like your desserts a bit sweeter. You can also cut back a bit on the salt, but please don't leave it out altogether because even just a bit of salt will enhance both the sweetness and fruitiness of the sonker.