BLACKBERRY COBBLER (AMISH)

Cobblers are one of my favorite desserts, but one thing I have learned in my many years of cooking and also traveling and eating them in restaurants, cobblers are not the same to everyone. I grew up in the south and cobblers to me were abundant with liquid. Wayne also grew up in the south but he likes his cobblers what I call "dry"/with more dough. That has caused some problems for us when I want to make one. Who will I make the cobbler for today?

We have also grown accustom to eating desserts that are less sweet. Don't get me wrong; I still like a good rich chocolate cake thick with icing. I have taken only a bite of a really sweet dessert and then pushed the dish away.

This recipe for Blackberry Cobbler comes from Miriam Miller's Authentic Amish Cooking cookbook called The Wooden Spoon Cookbook. It is so good, but not real sweet. It only has half a cup of sugar in it, but then you get to enjoy the tartness of the blackberries. I made this cobbler twice in several weeks. The instruction given in the recipe as to the size of baking dish to use was a 1-1/2 quart size pan. I didn't have one that size. The first time I made it in a 1 quart square baking dish. That was definitely too small. There wasn't that much dough but I thought the dough might bake over the top, but it didn't. I wanted to make it again in a different dish but it took me a couple of weeks to get around to it. This time was much better and even looked prettier, if that is important to you.

BLACKBERRY COBBLER

1/4    cup butter, softened or at room temperature

1/2    cup sugar

1       cup flour

2       teaspoons baking powder

1/2    cup milk

2       cups blackberries (or enough to give a complete single layer of berries on batter)

3/4    cup raspberry or apple juice

ice cream or whipped cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or spray a 1-1/2 quart baking pan. (I used a rectangular pan that is a little more than 8 x 10.5 - inches)

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar til well blended.

Combine the flour and baking powder and add to creamed mixture alternately with the milk beginning and ending with the flour.

Stir just until moistened.

Spread in pan.

Arrange blackberries in a single layer over batter.

Carefully pour apple juice over all.

Bake for 45 - 50 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve warm; top with ice cream or whipped cream, if desired. Store in the refrigerator.

Here is what it looked like in the smaller dish. (😉)