Grunts, slumps and pan dowdys. No, this isn't an essay on the perils of aging. It's a story about fruit cobblers, the humblest of desserts, in which sweet fruits or berries are baked until bubbling and fragrant under a golden biscuit crust. But good luck finding one on a dessert menu in Portsmouth.

Duncan Boyd, chef and co-owner of Victory 96, looked a little sheepish when I cornered him for an explanation on the absence of cobbler in his recent dessert repertoire. "I love cobbler," he said, scratching his head as if he himself couldn't believe that in the entire year he has been open, there has not once been a cobbler on the menu (I guess I should interject here that I did a little baking for Duncan when the restaurant first opened and didn't run a cobbler either-but I would have by now, I swear). He pointed out that he has run cobblers at every other restaurant he has helmed, saying "I always ran cobblers at Nora's (in Washington, D.C.), and they sold great." Then he went off into a little dream world for a minute while he reminisced about having cobbler for breakfast when he opened the kitchen in the mornings. "No one wants to eat a fancy dessert first thing in the morning," he said, looking off into the distance, "but peach-raspberry cobbler for breakfast ...mmm."

Of course, there are plenty of great desserts to be found in Portsmouth. Almost every restaurant has some worthwhile version of a molten, gooey chocolate thing (with apologies to our fair city, the best molten, gooey chocolate thing on the planet is the warm souffle cake at Fore Street, in Portland, Maine), but even those establishments that clearly pledge allegiance to the school of traditional desserts come up short in the cobbler category.

Certain restaurants can be excused by reason of ethnicity. No need to look under the excellent cannoli at Anthony Alberto's or behind the deservedly famous panna cotta at Pesce Blue. And of course, you wouldn't take any sensible cobbler-quest to Shalimar or Sakura, where rice pudding and green tea ice cream offer ambrosial finales to already euphoric meals.

Some establishments may not be excused, but can certainly be forgiven. The Green Monkey hasn't had a cobbler to offer on any night that I've been there, but I don't mind gobbling down the butterscotch pudding. And by way of extravagance, you can't go wrong with the banana brul?e split at the Dolphin Striker, in which pastry chef Kristen LeGacey manages to successfully combine brul?ed banana, banana poppy seed ice cream, hazelnuts, strawberries and chocolate sauce.

But no cobbler at Molly Malone's? No cobbler at Jack Quigley's? I had a near miss at the Portsmouth Brewery, where the word "cobbler" is actually featured on the dessert menu. Alas, just before I ordered it, I spied co-owner Joanne Francis, who insisted that I talk to chef Peter Leavitt, who warned me that it wasn't actually cobbler at all, but a "crisp" (a crisp has a crunchy brown-sugar and butter topping-very different from a cobbler). Gasp. My disappointment paled in comparison to that of Ms. Francis, who exclaimed with a huff that when she was making the desserts, there was certainly not any "bastardized" versions of a cobbler coming out of her kitchen. She then challenged Mr. Leavitt, who towers over her by at least a foot, to a street brawl, at which point I ran away.

In my despair, I turned to my friend and colleague Evan Mallet, executive chef of Lindbergh's Crossing (where I also work). "You can't find cobbler in this town," I whined to Evan as he scurried around his kitchen, preparing that evening's fare. "Oh my gosh!" he exclaimed. "You're doing a story on cobbler? That's so weird. Did you know that I'm putting a cobbler on the next dessert menu?" Sure you are Evan. I'll believe it when I see it.

Then it occurred to me. With all of the time I had spent looking for a fruit cobbler, I could have just made one myself.

Cobblers are uncomplicated. The success of this dish depends simply on ripe fruit or berries and a well-made biscuit dough. Almost any fruit can be used for a cobbler, whether it's berries and stone fruits in the summer, apples and pears in the fall, or any combination thereof. The fruit is tossed with a little sugar, perhaps a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of flour or cornstarch (to lend body to the filling as the fruits release their juices). The topping is a baking powder biscuit dough that is either rolled out, cut into rounds and placed over the fruit in a "cobbled" pattern, or dropped by the spoonful, also in a cobbled pattern.

An hour in the oven and a dollop of whipped cream later, you'll be sitting down to a warm helping of fresh-from-the-oven cobbler. And don't bother feeling sorry for the fools who are out on the town, settling for a serving of molten chocolate cake. They can make their own cobbler too, if they want it badly enough.

peach-raspberry cobbler

makes 6-8 servings

for the filling:

six peaches, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. cornstarch

juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 pint (2 cups) raspberries

1. In a bowl, combine peaches, sugar, corn starch, and lemon juice and zest. Toss just enough to combine, then gently fold in raspberries.

2. Grease an 8-inch square casserole pan and spread peach-raspberry mixture evenly over bottom.

for the biscuit:

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

4 oz. unsalted cold butter, cut into small chunks

1/2 cup buttermilk or milk, plus additional milk for brushing tops of biscuits

1 tbsp. sugar mixed with 1 tsp. cinnamon, to sprinkle over top

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. Cut butter into flour until it resembles coarse crumbs.

4. Add buttermilk or milk and mix until dough just comes together. Transfer to lightly floured surface and knead lightly.

5. Roll into an 8-inch circle. Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter, cut 8 circles and arrange over the peach-raspberry filling. Brush tops with milk and sprinkle entire surface with cinnamon sugar.

6. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes, or until filling begins to bubble and biscuit is golden brown. If dough begins to brown before filling bubbles, cover loosely with foil to prevent excess browning. Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.