Blackberries & Cream Cobbler
The key to a perfect cobbler is understanding the fruit. This means, of course, that you should be tasting it and paying attention. Such a rough chore, but for my family, I'll nibble berries while baking! We brought home three (scant) quarts of berries yesterday, and I promised the First Reader a cobbler as soon as possible. Which turned out to be for breakfast, and I tell you, I just leveled up Sunday Morning Breakfast.
I talked a while back about the differences in cobblers, pies, crumbles, and so on... this is, in my opinion, a classic cobbler. You could do it with most any fruit, but it's perfect for berries, or peaches, or heck, combine them all. The cobbler derives it's name from the bumpy topping, which resembles cobblestones after baking the spoonfuls of biscuit dough on top of a sugary juicy filling.
I used my 6 qt enameled dutch oven for this, lid off, in a moderately hot oven. I made it for breakfast because it's steamy here in Ohio and I didn't want to heat the house - but this is a perfect dish for outdoor cooking. It's a rustic, old-fashioned, more delicious than beautiful dessert, which makes a great breakfast, too. It may be less technically difficult than pie, but it still deserves to be showcased and enjoyed.
Blackberries & Cream Cobbler
5 cups (give or take. This made a large cobbler) of berries, rinsed and checked for bugs. Taste your berries - ours were slightly on the underripe and very tart side, so I increased the sugar a bit.
1/3 to 1/2 cup flour (for frozen berries, you need more flour. The cells lyse after being frozen and are much juicier)
1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar (again, checking tartness. Or just personal preferences)
1 tsp ginger (never cinnamon, cinnamon and berries is an abomination. Cinnamon plays well with apples, but ginger plays better with blackberries than cinnamon does)
Dot about 2 tablespoonfuls of butter on top of the berry mixture in small pieces.
Sift together the flour, ginger, and sugar, gently fold into the berries in the bottom of the dutch oven (and you can use a casserole here, I often use a stoneware 5 quart pot for this).
Mix together in a separate bowl:
2 1/2 c biscuit mix (I cheat. You can buy this, or premake it)
1 c Mexican crema
1 egg
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c milk
drop by spoonfuls over the berries. The spoonfuls don't have to quite touch - they will spread out during baking. This is a wetter dough than I often do, so it covered very well.
I added struesel to the top, which I don't usually but it turned out beautifully - I'd been joking with the First Reader that I'd add struesel, since this batch had oats in it, which made it more breakfast-y than a dessert.
Bake at 350 for about fifty minutes - the top will be crisp, golden-brown, and won't give easily into the filling when pressed. The filling will be bubbling up and around the topping.
Contains Hot Lava!
Let cool on the counter for around thirty minutes. You really really want to let this cool, because it literally contains hot lava while still hot.
Serve with whipped or clotted cream (lightly sweetened) and enjoy!
The First Reader's comment on this? "Don't disturb me, I'm having a religious experience." As he was leaned back in his chair with a look of bliss and closed eyes and spoon in his mouth.
The First Reader is sneaky
Printable recipe:
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