Fresh Blackberry Cobbler with Sweet, Tender Biscuits

The local Farmers’ Market is where you can find my husband and me on weekends.  This is fun and recreation to me!  There was so much fresh produce and so many local farmers to select from that we didn’t know where to start and/or stop!  Even sweet corn and watermelons were ripe and available  Southerners are so fortunate to be able to have two growing seasons in spring, summer, and fall versus the North where fruit and veggies ripen so much later and only one crop is harvested due to a shorter season.

First stop:  just-picked-from-the tree fresh peaches!  They weren’t the cling-free or freestone variety that we prefer (will be ready in a few more weeks), but the young lady said to me, “Just take a bite and taste how sweet these are!”  No problem!  She was so right; and that one bite compelled us to buy a small bushel.

Next I picked out some cucumbers, then beets, and green onions the size of golf balls.  We didn’t plant any of these in our garden, so into the basket they went.  But the best of all were the gigantic, nearly 1-1/2 inch long, fresh, glimmering blackberries.  After all it is fruit cobbler season, and I just couldn’t resist them!  Bill reminded me that we don’t have that much room left in our refrigerator and to buy only what I was going to use right away.  He’s a good control feature when we’re in the market.

Here’s a cobbler recipe that can be used for any fruit.  The cobbler topping is delicate, tender, sweet, and cream-based — in other words, there is no shortening in these cobbler biscuits, thus creating a more light and tender topping.  I found the base recipe years ago in a old, classic Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook and tweaked it a little bit through the years.  I don’t use either lemon zest or juice with blackberries because they won’t brown like apples or peaches, and they tend to be sour with the addition of lemon.  If you use apples or peaches, then I do recommend the addition of some lemon juice.  If you use cherries, than adding almond extract is a must for us.  Make any changes that you prefer as well to call it your own!  That’s part of the fun of baking and cooking!

Juices of the blackberries dripping over the baking pan and under the golden cobbler topping.

See what I mean about how huge these berries are?

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Fresh Blackberry Cobbler with Sweet, Tender Biscuits

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Ingredients

Blackberry Mixture

• 4 cups berries, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. cornstarch (or tapioca if you prefer)

Sweet Cobbler Biscuit Topping

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 - 10 Tbsp. sugar (taste to get to the sweetness you prefer & we like ours on the sweeter side)
• 1 Tbsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp. cold butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 2 beaten eggs
• extra sugar to sprinkle on top

Instructions

1. In a large mixing bowl, gently blend the blackberries with sugar and cornstarch/tapioca.
2. In another large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
4. In a separate bowl, combine heavy cream with the beaten eggs.
5. Add the cream-egg mixture to the flour-butter mixture.
6. Stir just to moisten; do not over stir.
7. Pour berry mixture into a baking dish.
8. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes to get the berries partially cooked and thickened.  This prevents the biscuits from absorbing the juice before they're fully baked.
9. Remove the hot berries from the oven and spoon cobbler biscuits on top in nice-sized mounds.
10. Sprinkle the biscuits liberally with sugar.
11. Turn the oven temperature down to 375 degrees and bake for another 20 - 30 minutes on the lowest rack to prevent the biscuit topping from burning.

Notes

• ** You want the biscuits to cook completely and slowly, so check on this when you pull out the cobbler.  If the bottoms of the biscuits are not cooked enough, place it back in the oven to cook for another 10 minutes and check again.
• ** Also note that the juices will continue to thicken up by the next day.

Blackberry Cobbler with Sweet, Tender Biscuits