Let’s Talk About COBBLER

Cobbler, the delicious baked treat, not cobblers, the people who make old-timey shoes.  Or maybe the old-timey people who made regular shoes.  Whichever.  I’m talking about YUM.

 

 

It’s berry time in the Pacific Northwest, and because I can’t be counted on to enjoy anything in moderation, I bought a 14-lb bucket of raspberries from one of the local Rotary clubs.  That’s a lot of berries.  This is after I bought TWO 14-lb buckets of strawberries back in June.  And we have yet to get the 10-lb box of blueberries I purchased as well.

 

Many of them are consumed straight, over ice cream.  Or just straight into my mouth.  A whole bunch are frozen for consumption this winter, when the bleak days and lack of fresh fruits and vegetables make me crazier than usual.

 

But one of my favorite things to make with these berries is cobbler.  My recipe is a bit different than most cobblers, you see.  For one thing, it’s almost like a doughy cake baked with a bunch of gooey berries.  For another thing, it is stupid easy.  But the best thing about my cobbler?  The berries (or whatever fruit you put in it) are number one; so many cobblers are so sickly-sweet that you can’t even tell what type of fruit is in it, let alone enjoy the unique flavors of that fruit.  This cobbler is not too sweet and truly highlights the flavor of the berries.  Let’s get to it, shall we?

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup softened butter

1 cup sugar

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

dash cinnamon (or more, if you like cinnamon or if your fruit simply begs for it, like peaches or apples)

1 cup milk (whole, 2%, fat free – it don’t matter)

4 cups of your fruit of choice (frozen works, too)

Sugar to sprinkle on fruit (the amount totally depends on how tart/sour your fruit is)

1 cup fruit juice or water

 

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

 

So you start, as most recipes start, by creaming the butter and sugar. 

 

Mmm, it already looks good.

 

Then, you add all the dry ingredients and mix it all up real good-like.  Then add the milk and mix some more, until you have a gooey, delicious dough.

 

 

Then spread it around a greased 9” x 13” pan.

 

 

And add your berries or other fruit on top and prepare to do the tough part of this cobbler: guessing how much sugar it needs. 

 

The berries I used for this batch were pretty tart, so I added about a cup of sugar sprinkled over the top.  However, if I were using apples, or strawberries, I probably would use closer to half a cup of sugar.  The most important thing is to keep the flavor of the fruit as the number one flavor and let the sugar just sweeten things a bit.

 

Finally, add your cup of water or fruit juice.  The berries will look like they’re swimming, and that’s okay.

 

 

Put your pan in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes.  You might want to put a cookie sheet underneath it to catch any berry juice spills.

 

When the timer dings, you should be blessed with this:

 

 

Oh, my stars, doesn’t that look good?  I, myself, prefer to indulge this dessert with a scoop of Tillamook Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, but you might prefer whipped cream or even a slice of cheddar cheese.  I find that it is perfect cold and without garnishment for breakfast (yes, I sometimes eat dessert for breakfast).

 

Tell me, what are your favorite berry recipes?