Berries All Year Round!

REJOICE! It is berry season here in Oregon but we know that this season is short so we gobble them up, make jam and pies, and then cry because for the rest of the year we have to pay astronomical prices for small containers of flavorless berries from hothouses.

But I’m here to tell you… WEEP NO MORE! You can enjoy your local, plump and juicy berries all year round with this one tip.

Wash your berries, lay out in a single layer to dry, and freeze in a single layer. Once frozen use a spatula to remove and toss them in a freezer-safe plastic container with a lid.

When you’re ready for some berries on your yogurt, in your oatmeal, or in a smoothie in the middle of December simply take out a few and wait a couple minutes for them to thaw. That’s it!

Why did I take the time to write to this seemingly simple post? Because most people wash the berries and toss them straight into a freezer bag. But when you go to use them later in the year they are frozen into one solid brick and when they thaw you have a mushy, liquid mess that is only good for making a cobbler or crisp (maaaaybe). Take one extra step to freeze them in a single layer BEFORE storing them and it will make all the difference.

Blackberry Cobbler

August smells like blackberries at my house.

We are surrounded by acres of blackberries and that is no exaggeration.

When you drive down our road, the whole right side is overgrown with blackberries and I love to roll down the windows and drive slowly down and breath is the warm, fragrant air. Ahhhhhh… It is my third favorite seasonal smell, first being the smell of Autumn (crisp air, smoke from chimneys, the hope of snow) and second being the jasmine plants along the roads of our old neighborhood in southern California during summertime.

With this abundance of blackberries there are just so many recipes to make! A favorite in our household is this blackberry cobbler. It just defines late summer and is pretty easy to make.

So go out and pick some blackberries or buy some from a local produce stand before they are all gone!

Here’s what you need:

2 Cups Fresh or Frozen blackberries
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Cup and another ¼ Cup Sugar
1 1/2 Tsp. Baking Powder
½ Tsp. Salt (sorry, didn’t make it in to the picture)
1 Cup Milk
1 Stick Butter, melted

Here’s how you do it:

Rinse your berries, pick out any that are too mushy and set aside to dry. You don’t want your berries to be too wet when you add them to your cobbler.

In a large mixing bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add milk and whisk together

Melt butter and add to mixture. Whisk together until the batter is smooth.

Butter a 9×13 baking dish and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour your batter in to the pan.

Scatter the blackberries on top of the batter, making sure that you get blackberries dispersed over the whole pan.

yummmmmmmmmmm

MMMMMMMMMMM mmmmmmm MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

*Interesting thought on cobbler: There are many different versions that people make. What some would call a cobbler, I call a crisp (flour and oat mixture on top of fruit). Others drop a biscuit like flour mixture on top of fruit. To each his own but this recipe that I am making most closely resembles what I think the name “cobbler” describes. After you drop the fruit in it looks like a cobbled, stone road. Make whichever version you like because you are eating it but I just wanted to provide some explanation if you are sitting there, reading my recipes, screaming at the screen “THAT ISN’T COBBLER!” because you have always make it differently.

Top the blackberries with the remaining (1/4 cup) sugar, sprinkling it evening over the surface.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour. Spoon out individual portions or just hog it for yourself and it eat it straight out of the pan. Serve with ice cream or fresh whipped cream!!

How do you make fresh whipped cream? Easy:

Chill a mixing bowl and a whisk attachment in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Remove the bowl and whisk from the freezer and add 1 cup Heavy Whipping Cream, 1 Tbsp REAL vanilla extract, and 1 Tbsp confectioner’s sugar. Whisk on medium-high speed until soft peaks are reached in the cream.
(This yields 2 Cups of Whipped Cream)