Blackberry Cobbler

I admit it: I have been shameful in updating my blog.  Since it’s the American thing to do, I will offer up a bevy of excuses.  Almost one month ago, I quit taking Ambien.  I also quit ingesting caffeine of any kind.  And naps were straight out the window!  Needless to say– sleep deprived, I existed in some kind of trancelike stupor for a couple weeks.  I’ve since started sleeping again, but the transition was… rough.  During those first few weeks, I didn’t cook much, because I figured I might lose a finger in the process.  Then I stuck to old favorites.  Now I’m back to my usual messing around, and the camera has come back out.

Lucky for all of you, I have a stockpile of recipes that are already photographed that just need written up.  So, we should back in full-swing shortly.  I rather expect that the carb coma that is coming from playing catch up with the Bread Baker’s Apprentice will be quite refreshing.

Anyway, enough of me: on to the food!  You may have seen my guest post on Blackberry Polenta Muffins over at HoneyB’s blog.  That same berry picking adventure yielded those muffins, seven jars of blackberry preserves, 2 pints of frozen berries, and this cobbler.  And oh, this cobbler!  It’s baking magic like my grandma used to make.  She usually made peach cobbler, but I had blackberries, so there you have it.  And why baking magic?  I always marveled over how you start a cobbler with batter on the bottom and fruit on top, but when it comes out the oven the fruit is on the bottom and the dough is on top!  It’s the miracle of baking powder.  The batter even begins to bubble up over the berries as you pour them in.

The other great thing about cobber? This recipe is dead easy.  The ingredients come together in mere minutes, and you get to make like Paula Deen and use an obscene amount of butter.  But hey, there’s fresh berries!  And, besides, we can all use lots of butter with impunity if it’s in the name of making real Southern desserts, right? Seriously.

And that’s really all there is to cobbler.  You mix up a simple batter, melt some butter in a pan, pour over the batter, dump the berries in and bake.  It’s so easy it’s criminal, and yet you get warm dough, gooey berries, and everyone swooning over your delicious dessert.  (If you want to go even lazier, use canned peaches like my Grandma. Not that it’s as good as fresh fruit, but it’s better than no dessert, right?)

Blackberry Cobbler

• 1 C flour
• 1  C sugar
• 1  C milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 T baking powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 4 C fresh blackberries
• 1/3 C sugar
• 1/2 C butter (1 sticks)

Preheat oven to 350º.  In a bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, milk, cinnamon, and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, sprinkle the sugar over the berries.  When the oven is hot, place the butter in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.  Melt the butter in the oven.  When the butter is fully melted, remove the pan from the oven.  Pour the batter over the butter (love that phrase).  Next, spread the sugared berries over the batter evenly.  Bake the cobbler for 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Serves 6 – 8.

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