I’m no Suzy Homemaker

There are tons of things around the house that I hate to do.

However, there are lots I love to do.

I love to mow the grass. (We have a rider, so it’s not like it’s real work.) I love to cook. (I hate the cleanup.) I don’t mind doing laundry. (Folding and putting away is another story.)

Today I took domesticity to a new level. After a Saturday afternoon with my family picking blackberries from the tangled, prickly mess along our roadside, we ended up with about 2 quarts of berries. Plump, ripe, juicy. Deep purple in color.

With our fingers (and mouths) stained, we took our bounty home, and I began rummaging through an assortment of recipes, trying to decide what to do with this bucket of fruit.

I finally landed on cobbler and jam – cobbler I’ve done before, but jam? That was a whole new adventure. And I didn’t have any pectin. Would it work? Or would I have sweet berry juice in a jar? A little internet research said I should be able to pull it off, so I went for it.

First I whipped up the cobbler. I used a 2.8 liter Corningware casserole dish, and while I macerated a quart and a half of berries in 3/4 cup of sugar, I melted 6 tbsp of butter in the bottom of the casserole dish. The fruit and sugar was poured over the butter, and then I mixed up the topping.

I used a self-rising flour – if you only have all purpose on hand, you’ll need to add baking powder and salt to your batter. (Appropriate conversions are included in the “formal” recipe for convenience!) I needed a cup and a half of flour, and 3/4 cup of sugar, along with about a half tsp each of cinnamon and nutmeg. To my dry ingredients I added a cup and a half of milk, and whisked until smooth. This was poured out over top the berries.

I popped the whole thing into a 350 degree oven for about an hour (I covered it with foil for the last 15 minutes or so, as the top was brown but there were a few areas that were still pretty doughy. Start checking it at about 45 minutes!) 

Ok: Here are the specifics!

6 cups whole blackberries, rinsed (1 and ½ quarts)

6 tablespoons butter (3/4 of a stick)

1 and ½ cups sugar

1 and ½ cups self-rising flour

To substitute all-purpose flour, use 1 and ½ cups all purpose flour, 2 and ¼ teaspoons baking powder, and ¾ teaspoon salt

1 and ½ cups milk

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350◦. Melt butter in large baking dish. Mix berries with ¾ cup of sugar, pour over melted butter.

Combine flour, remaining sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add milk, whisk until smooth. Pour batter over berries. Bake 45 minutes until golden brown and batter is cooked. (May increase cook time by up to 15 additional minutes. To prevent over-browning, cover with foil.)

Served above with vanilla ice cream.

A printable version of my recipe is available here!

Ok, the jam is equally fabulous, but I think it’s going to have to be a separate post. Those kids are mumbling things about dinner, and this is getting REALLY long. Stick with me, I promise to have that recipe up soon!