How well I remember the family homestead in Missouri, where my cousins and I spent lazy summer days picking blackberries. We always returned with purple stains around our mouths, scratches on our arms and legs, and only a few berries in our buckets. We didn’t know it then, but those excursions would become treasured memories.
The taste of fresh blackberries has the power to take me back in a moment to those innocent times. I become a child again. Sunlight kisses me as a bee bumbles and the scent of warm earth mingles with the aroma of ripening blackberries. We have several kinds on our property, a benefit of living in the Pacific Northwest. My husband keeps a patch for harvesting, but otherwise spends a lot of energy keeping them from covering the yard.
Summer’s berries are God’s bountiful gift, one my husband regularly harvests for our table. My husband’s zeal for picking blackberries makes it hard to keep up with eating them, so I’ve developed some recipes to help with this problem.
I adapted this recipe for homemade blackberry cobbler from a vintage recipe for blueberry cobbler from Betty Crocker.
Homemade Blackberry Cobbler
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 4 cups blackberries
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 cup organic whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 tablespoons salted butter
- 1/2 cup milk
- Ice cream and/or whipped cream (optional)
Directions
- Heat oven to 400ºF.
- Put 4 cups blackberries, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon cornstarch into a 2-quart saucepan. Stir constantly as the mixture heats. Boil while stirring 1 minute. Pour into an ungreased 2-quart casserole and put in preheated oven to keep the blackberry mixture hot.
- In a medium bowl, mix the flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, and 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder. Either cut the 3 tablespoons butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knifes, using a crisscross motion or else grate the butter into the flour mixture. (If you live in a hot area, it helps to freeze the butter beforehand so it won’t melt while you are gating it.) Stir in milk.
- Drop dough in 6 spoonfuls onto the hot blackberry mixture.
- Bake uncovered 25 to 30 minutes or until the cobbler topping is golden brown. Serve warm with icecream and/or whipped cream.
©2014 by Janalyn Voigt
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