One of my wife’s favorite things is the blackberry cobbler from a restaurant called the Purple Onion in Saluda, North Carolina. Now I’m not just crazy about cooked fruit but this is something that would make you slap your mama. My wife has asked for this for almost every one of her birthday meals. Her birthday is early August when the blackberries are almost the size of chicken eggs in South Carolina.
Both my wife and I have experimented with this recipe till we have it down to a science. We started with a recipe for Ina Graten’s Tri-berry Cobbler and modified it to suit just blackberries. This is something wonderful to make at the height of blackberry season and it’s a wonderful summer dessert when you want something decadent served hot with ice cold vanilla ice cream and paired with coffee, champagne or your favorite chilled white dessert wine.
Note: You can make both the filling and crumble ahead and then assemble them just before you are ready to bake.
Ingredients
Filling
4 cups fresh blackberries
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Crumble
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, such as Quaker
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, diced, cold
Vanilla Ice Cream for Serving
Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and assemble 6-8 creme brûlée dishes on an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet.
Toss together all filling ingredients being carful not to break up the blackberries. I keep mine in the refrigerator all day and then spoon the filling and some of the juice in each creme brûlée dish.
In the mixer with the paddle attachment mix all the crumble ingredients except the butter. Then, mix the butter in until it looks like a coarse meal. With your hand sprinkle some of the butter clumps and powdered crumble onto each dish. It will not cover it completely. Bake for 35-40 minutes until bubbly and the filling begins to brown. Allow to set for a moment before serving with a scoop of high quality vanilla ice cream.
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