Blackberry Madness

Sure, the blackberries are late this year and yes, it's harder to find the big, plump, juicy ones but with a little persistence and knowledge of the geography of Discovery Park, D and I hit the "mother lode" of bushes yesterday morning. We walked out an hour later with a bucket of sweet blackberries, enough for a large cobbler and the rest for "juice". I ran the leftover berries through the juicer which is a miraculous way to get those pesky seeds out, leaving pure blackberry syrup which we use to make ice cream, sorbet, and to flavor those infamous summer mojitos. Love it.

The cobbler recipe has been a summer favorite for almost 15 years; I bought a recipe book shortly after we moved to Seattle called Wild and Free Blackberries which features drinks, desserts, and even soups and vinegars made from Northwest blackberries. The cobbler recipe developed by Shirley Patterson of Carnation, Washington is the best, especially with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping. This is the taste of summer to be sure. Most years it's early August and we're pulling these cobblers out of the oven; this year it's late August but, oh well.













Blackberry Cobbler.....

Combine 4-5 cups of clean berries with water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add sugar and cornstarch to thicken. Cook and stir mixture until thickened.

Pour mixture into a baking pan. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add beaten egg and mix with a fork until crumbly. Spread over berries and drizzle with melted butter. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.



























Dish it out, serve with whipped cream and enjoy.
P.S. The recipe is available for the asking.