Blackberry Cobbler

I Turned on the food network about a year ago and saw my very first episode of The Pioneer Woman. She made this Blackberry Cobbler. I am usually not a big fan of cobbler I tend to like a crisp more but this was a recipe I couldn't get out of my mind. I waited until blackberry season to give it a try and made it over the summer TWICE.

It was so easy and so good that I had to make it more than once and I had to share it with all of you. I had never used self rising flour so it was the one thing I had to run to the store to get and was worried I wouldn't be able to find it in a regular grocery store but they had plenty. Most of us do not have fresh blackberries right now but you can make it with frozen also. Try it and let me know what you think.

Ingredients

1/2 stick of butter

1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup self rising flour

1 cup whole milk

2 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

whipped cream and or ice cream for serving

directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 3 quart baking dish with butter.

In a medium bowl , whisk 1 cup sugar with the flour milk. Whisk in the melted butter.

Rinse the blackberries and pat them dry. Pour the batter into the baking dish. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the top of the batter. Sprinkle 1/4 cup sugar over the blackberries. Bake until golden brown and bubbly, about 1 hour. When 10 minutes of the cooking time remains, sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over the top. Top with whipped cream or ice cream.

Blackberry Muffins

I can't say enough good things about my muffin cookbook by Williams Sonoma. I think I have made about 4 different muffins in that cookbook and they have all turned out to be delish. I had been waiting for the summer to try the blackberry muffin. I used fresh blackberries but you can use frozen. 

I made these for my family this summer. As I've said over and over having fresh blackberries outside our house for the month of August was fabulous. These muffins had a nice crispy crunch topping and were liked by all ages. Nothing like waking up to fresh muffins and coffee with my cousins, aunt, uncle, mother and kids. Try them and let me know what you think.



Ingredients

For the topping

1/3 cup sugar

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

grated zest of 1/2 lemon

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup pecans, finely chopped

For the muffins

2 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Grated zest of 1/2 lemon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg beaten

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups fresh blackberries or 2 1/2 cups frozen

unsweetened blackberries unthawed

Directions

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees. Butter 12 standard muffin pan with butter or nonstick spray.

To make the topping stir together the sugar, flour, and zest in a small bowl. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly. Add the pecans and stir to combine. Set aside.

To make muffins, in a bowl, stir together in the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, zest, and salt. Make a well in the center and add the egg, melted butter, and buttermilk. stir just until evenly moistened. the batter will be slightly lumpy. Sprinkle with the blackberries and gently fold in with a large rubber spatula just until evenly distributed, no more that a few strokes. Take care not to break up the fruit. Do not over mix.

Spoon the batter into each muffin cup, filling it to a bit above the rim of the cup. Top each muffin with the topping, dividing it evenly (the sugar will melt and produce a glaze effect).

Bake until golden, dry, and springy to the touch, 25-30 minutes. A toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin should come out clean. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Unmold the muffins. Serve them warm or at room temperature, with butter.

Blackberry Crisp with Creeping Raspberries

I absolutely love August because of the blackberries that grow wild outside of my mom's house. I went crazy this year and tried a few recipes with them. This was the first and I added a different berry that is also growing wild outside near the blackberries. These we discovered last year and luckily they start growing in late June so we got to enjoy them all of July. They are called Creeping Raspberries and from what I noticed are great ground cover, grow very easily and are quite delicious. I would say they taste like a cross between a raspberry and tangerine. Me and my kids could not get enough of them. Because the blackberries were still not quite plentiful in early August. I added some of them to my crisp and oh boy was I very happy with the result.

These were growing down the hill and hanging over the rock wall

Ingredients

For the berry mixture
4-5 cups blackberries and creeping raspberries
3/4 cup of sugar
2 tablespoons flour

For the topping
1 3/4 cup of oats
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup cold butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions
Pre heat oven to 350 degrees

Wash berries gently and dry on a backing sheet lined with a paper towel. Add those berries gently to a bowl and toss them with sugar and flour. Try not to mix to much so the berries keep their shape.

Add these berries to a baking dish a little larger than 9x9 if possible if not 9x9 will do.

In another bowl add oats, flour, sugar, cinnamon and cold butter cut into small squares. With a pastry cutter or your fingers mix all of it together until it creates large peas size lumps. Cover the berries and bake 25 to 35 minutes or until golden and bubbling.

Trust me you wont have any leftovers. If you don't have creeping raspberries you could make this same recipe with all blackberries. Try it and let me know what you think.