Monday, June 16, 2008

But Let's Come Back to the Blueberries

They're still here.

The blueberries. Like little shadows in my refrigerator.

I have baked them in muffins. I have tossed them on top of oatmeal. I have eaten them straight from the container by the handful, but my fridge is still full of them.


Which is why we had blueberry cobbler for dessert.

Cobbler must be one of those dishes whose origin hearkens back to the Revolution. It seems stoutly American and old-fashioned somehow, like July 4th parades, or pantyhose. Only delicious. Apparently, cobbler is also called "grunt," or "buckle" in some parts of the country. I can't see how such a sunny dessert got saddled with such grouchy-sounding names.

As a native Texan, cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. I make it with rolled oats and slivered almonds, which is practically healthy. Try it, you'll see.


Blueberry Cobbler

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tablespoons slivered almonds
3 tablespoons chilled butter
1/4 cup sugar, divided into 1/8 cups
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups fresh blueberries
4 tablespoons heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 9-inch baking dish.

In a medium bowl, toss the blueberries with a 1/8 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract until coated.

Mix the flour, oats, almonds, 1/8 sugar, and baking powder in a separate bowl. Cut the butter in until you have a fine crumb. Whisk an egg in a separate cup, then mix it into the flour mixture just until the dough is moist. Do not overmix.

Pour the blueberries into the greased baking dish in an even layer. Pinch off bits of the dough and place over the blueberries. Do not attempt to smooth out the dough; it should be clumpy.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, until the crust is golden. Serve hot with a drizzle of heavy cream.

Serves: 4

4 comments:

Alicia Foodycat said...

I have never had a cobbler (our crumbles are something similar but not quite) and man am I feeling deprived!

Julie said...

Sarah--I feel the same way about blueberries! God, I love them! And the ones we're getting this year are not only really tasty but grown in FL too. I considered making a cobbler instead of my pie, but I really wanted to try the CI recipe. I'm going to try to fit a berry cobbler in sometime this summer. Glad to read another Ft. Laud. blog!

Sarah said...

Foodycat--You're right, crumbles are quite similar to cobbler. Perhaps cobbler is the Americanized crumble! I hope you'll give this recipe a try. It's delicious!

Julie--Aren't we lucky to have an abundance of good berries? It almost makes up for the fact that it's so difficult to grow herbs here in Florida! To the rest of you readers in cooler, less buggy climates who may be envious of our blueberry crop, remember that--you can grow herbs!

Anonymous said...

i want to dive right into that cobbler. drool.