Cobbled Together

    So much of what I know and enjoy about cooking comes from time spent beneath the apron strings of my grandmother as she flitted around her kitchen.  It was the hub of that house, where conversation drifted from food to faith to family as often as Mamaw drifted from the stove to the sink to the nearby table.  And while I love a challenge, a complex recipe in multiple stages finishing with a pleasant presentation, the food that came out of Mamaw's kitchen was always simple country fare with little flourish, home-grown, hand-made, and delicious using what was on hand.  The woman could do more with flour and lard than I can with a fully stocked pantry... 

    My grandmother and grandfather, before he went to work blasting dynamite for TVA, were sharecroppers, and, out of necessity, they used what they had on hand or could get cheaply, to sustain them.  Hence, the cobbler.  Quick, easy, and soooo good, it uses simple pantry ingredients and whatever fruit happens to be on hand.  In the south, at least where I grew up, that was often blackberries.  Blackberries aren't really particular about where they grow, as long as there is something to climb, and everyone seemed to know of a spot to go pick them.  We'd eat more than we'd carry, and usually come home with cuts and scrapes, stained fingers, and chiggers...  It was worth every minute.

Flour, Sugar, and Whole Milk

Butter...real butter

    Any good cobbler starts with equal parts sugar, flour, and whole milk - one cup of each.  Once those are whisked together, pour in 1/2 stick of melted butter and whisk until combined.  Now, other cobbler recipes will tell you to pour this mixture into a greased 3-quart baking dish.  Don't.  Just don't.  Chances are you've got an extra half-stick of butter just lying on the counter.  Toss that into the aforementioned baking dish and pop it into a pre-heated 350 degree oven until that butter is melted and bubbly.  Now you are clear to pour that batter into the pan.  It may sizzle and pop a bit.... that's a good thing.  

And more butter

Now for the fruit.  When I tell you that this recipe works well with almost any fruit, it's not an exaggeration.  Blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples, and plums all work ridiculously well.  And it's not just the variety of fruit, but you can use it in a variety of conditions: fresh, frozen, canned.  You can literally cobble this recipe together with just about anything you have on hand.  The important part is to spoon the fruit over your batter evenly so that every bite is worth it (although some in my family will tell you that the fruit is secondary to the "bready" parts of this dessert.  

Batter and Fresh Blackberries

    Once you've got your fruit spooned evenly over your batter, top it with another quarter cup of sugar and place it into a 350-degree oven for about an hour until it's golden brown and bubbly.  When there are about 15 minutes left until the cobbler is done, two more tablespoons of sugar sprinkled over the top will add a little more crunch to the cobbler and make the perfect after dinner treat, and, to be honest, works pretty well for breakfast the next morning, too.  

Blackberry Cobbler

Blackberry Cobbler Recipe

• 1 1/4 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 stick of butter
• 2 cups fresh blackberries

1.  Preheat oven to 350.
2. Whisk together 1 cup of sugar, self-rising flour, and whole milk.
3. Place 1/2 stick of butter in a 3-quart baking dish and put in the oven to melt.
4. Melt the other 1/2 stick of butter and whisk in the the flour mixture.  
5. Pour the batter into the prepared dish.
6. Evenly spoon blackberries over the batter and top with 1/4 cup of sugar.
7. Bake until golden brown, about 1 hour.  (About ten minutes before the cobbler is done, spoon 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top for added crunch.)