Don't Skip These Canned Items At Cracker Barrel's Country Store If You Want Simple, Delicious Pies

Homemade pie is one of those culinary endeavors that can be as complicated or as simple as you need it to be. Feeling ambitious? Make your own crust from scratch and maybe a cream filling that requires time on the stovetop and some tempered eggs. In a rush but want to impress? Grab one of the best premade pie crusts on the market and opt for a filling like pumpkin, pecan, or blueberry that can be easily stirred together in a single bowl. But of course, if you can find a canned pie filling that tastes homemade, even better. Enter Cracker Barrel's canned pie and cobbler fillings, inspired by Cracker Barrel's popular cobbler desserts. The exact availability of these has changed over time, but in the past, the store has sold peach, blackberry, and cherry cobbler and pie filling in glass jars, as well as those same flavors as cobbler fillings in aluminum cans. 

Unfortunately, the fillings are currently sold out online, although you can order canned fried apples from Cracker Barrel's website, which could be used to make a pie. But if you live near a Cracker Barrel, it could be worth stopping by or calling to see if they might be in stock. According to the website, the peach cobbler filling is made using just peaches, water, sugar, food starch, citric acid, and coloring. The blackberry cobbler filling has a similar slim list of ingredients — and it's always nice to see an ingredients list populated by recognizable items.

For a simple peach cobbler, Cracker Barrel recommends adding some sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla to the company's homemade biscuit and dumpling mix. Stir this together and pour it into a dish over some melted butter, then top with the canned peach cobbler filling. (You can do the same with the blackberry cobbler filling.) The recipe is right there on the can, so you won't have to go looking for it. To zhuzh it up a bit, sprinkle in some cinnamon, ginger, or perhaps even some cayenne for heat, since the filling itself doesn't seem to contain any spices.

If you prefer to make a pie over cobbler, you'll probably want to blind bake the crust before adding the filling and your topping of choice — either more pie crust or a crumble topping. If the filling seems too runny, thicken it like you would a store-bought cherry pie filling: Simply mix equal parts cornstarch and cold water, stir it into the filling, and give it a quick heat over the stove before adding it to your crust.

Compared to other canned peach pie fillings, Cracker Barrel's seems pretty on-par. Musselman's, Duncan Hines', and Lucky Leaf's offerings have a similar list of ingredients, although Musselman's filling is made with high fructose corn syrup, something we're glad to see excluded from Cracker Barrel's.