Summer Berry Cobbler

When I was little, one of my favorite summer tasks was helping my grandparents pick berries.  At the upper end of their huge garden were several fruit and nut trees, and between the vegetables and trees was one long row of berry bushes.  We would walk up and down the sides of the bushes and collect all of the ripe berries for Grandma to use in jams and pies.

Generally a day or two later, I'd walk in Grandma's front door to the sweet aroma of freshly baked pies or cobbler.  I'd walk across the kitchen and peak on top of the counter to see what had just come out of the oven.  It didn't matter what she was making; there would always be two dishes cooling on the counter top.  One was "regular", and the other was Grandpa's, meaning it was sugar-free. 

Even though I was always pretty excited to inspect her latest creations, rarely did I eat them.  I was fairly picky, and refused to eat the berry dishes because I didn't like the seeds in the berries.  I felt that way about everything--blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, even strawberries! It actually wasn't until I was about 20 that I moved past that.  Crazy, right?  These days I regret not taking advantage of tasting all of the delicious concoctions that came out of that kitchen, but at least I can remember how incredible they smelled.

Our neighbors have berry bushes around most of the perimeter of their yard.  I'm not sure if they ever use the berries that grow every summer, but much to my excitement, the bushes have begun to grow across the fence into our yard.  Normally I wouldn't be happy about something growing over, but these are berries! They are my childhood all over again. Because there aren't very many, I have been going out every few days to collect the ripe berries and keeping them until I have enough to make something. 

I finally decided to go ahead and use what I had (along with some store-bought berries) to make a cobbler.  I love the peach cobbler recipe I stumbled upon a few years ago (you can view it here), and I thought I'd just try to modify it a bit for the berries.  It's delicious! You should go ahead and give it a try! :)

Summer Berry Cobbler
Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour
1/2 Cups Sugar
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons Cold Butter
1/4 Cup Boiling Water

2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
1/4 Cup Cold Water
1 Cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
4 Cups Fresh Berries (I used a mixture of Blackberries, Raspberries, & Blueberries), rinsed and drained

Cinnamon, to taste (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in 1/4 cup boiling water until the mixture is evenly moist.

3. In a separate bowl, dissolve cornstarch in cold water.  Mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and berries.

4. Pour the berry mixture into the greased baking dish and in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

5. Remove the berries from the oven, and drop the dough on top of the berries by spoonfuls.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with cinnamon.  Return the baking dish to the oven.

6. Bake 25-30 minutes, until the dough is golden brown.
 Enjoy!

Just look at that bubbly, gooey berry goodness!