It’s August and the smell of sticky sweet, nearly rancid blackberries permeates the air. It’s a smell I associate with the end of summer, but not quite fall. Time for one last adventure, time for few more late nights on the sun porch sipping coffee, and time for berry picking.
The boy and I headed out to our one of our favorite berry patches today, only to find most of the large Himalaya Giants far out of reach or picked over. However with a view like this, hunting for berries is hardly work! While the berries were thin, the spiders weren’t. Oh my, adolescent Orb Weavers. I try not to shudder. My child, completely oblivious charged right in only to be met with thorns. I have to admit, that all those wee beasties did me in a bit.
The other variety that grows with abandon out here on the edge of the world is the Evergreen Thornless. It won’t fruit until after labor day and has a completely different flavor than the Himalayas most of us know as blackberries. They are smaller and more work to pick, but with a flavor that is out of this world and no thorns… oh so worth it! However, I tend to forget about them, because August is blackberry month and by September I’ve moved on to apples.
And would it be too much of a stretch for a segue to say “speaking of moving on”? Because, while this photo is a wee bit blurry, I love the fact it catches my very busy boy in MOTION. He’s moving, and moving on, on so many levels. We see less and less of him (don’t pity me, he’s a homeschooled child and we spend PLENTY of time together still!) and I’m steeling myself for the inevitable. He steals his mother’s heart every time he suggests that college could be right around the corner if he continues at his pace. I tease and suggest I should flunk him a few grades, just to keep him here. However, when given the option to go berry picking with his mother, he jumped. There is at least that.
Moving on… I adore the photo as well because that t-shirt of his is actually black but looks the color of blackberry juice. The light caught him and his shirt just so… and that makes me happy. There are those moments where grace reaches out and touches you—sometimes you find yourself blessed to capture that moment for posterity.
It wouldn’t be summer without blackberries nor August without berry picking. All this means it’s also time for Cobbler. Below the jump is my grandmother’s recipe for Blackberry Cobbler. Everyone will tell you their grandmother’s cobbler is the best, but that’s just because they’ve never had MY grandmother’s cobbler.
The last time we ate cobbler together was at my graduation from SPU—I was whipping up a batch (using frozen berries, shhh, don’t tell!) and I hollered into the living room, “Hey Gram, what are the proportions again?” Every woman from my family shouted back, “1+1+1+1”. How could I forget that!
“And 2 tsps. of baking powder, not soda” my grandmother added. It’s really not much more than that and blackberries. It’s not low-fat; nothing in Southern cooking is, or should be for that matter. When you’re plopping that stick of butter into the baking dish, thinking about your arteries and cholesterol, just remember this, the recipe could have called for Lard!
Best Blackberry Cobbler on the Planet—Don’t You Be Sayin’ Any Different
1 Stick of Butter (we use salted, and it does make a difference. But you don’t have to!)
1 Cup of Flour
1 Cup of Sugar
1 Cup of Milk
2 tsp. Baking Powder
4-5 cups of Blackberries
Preheat oven at 350. Put stick of butter in a 9×13 baking pan. Place dish in oven as it’s preheating to melt butter. Don’t forget it, because you know you do! Tsk Tsk!
Meanwhile, whisk together flour, sugar, and BP. Once butter is melted, add milk to the dry ingredients and pour over the melted butter. DO NOT MIX. You’ll want to. Resist.
Dump berries evenly-ish over the batter. Still don’t mix! Sheesh, you people are compulsive. Place in oven and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Serve warm… ala mode if you’re so inclined. I have no idea how this cobbler tastes cold or day old because it never lasts that long at our house.
Enjoy, and as usual… if you try this, come back and tell me! M’kay?
You put posts up like this and I hate being at work – I want to go play!
I have to say – this *is* the best cobbler I’ve ever had — and one of my favorite desserts. Of course the 20 lbs of butter helps… but fresh berries – oh my! What a delight!
Thanks for sharing!
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I especially missed you at the beach on Tuesday. Which you notice, I didn’t even blog. No point in rubbing it in, darling. 😀 ~W
Ooooh, I will most definitely try it and cobbler is one of my most favorite things.
Lovely, lovely post.
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Thank you! I’m so glad we’ve found each other’s blogs. It’s weird to think we were living so close before and had NO clue. ~W
We both have blackberries in our post. The little ones we call wild blackberries around here. Most of ours are just formerly cultivated ones, run amok. The smaller wild ones are very rare, and hard to find. They are my husband’s favorite berry. We still have a couple weeks before the height of the season. As you know, I don’t like blackberries, although I do enjoy the adventure of trying to pick them without any major injuries!
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Indeed we do! You’re the perfect person to pick blackberries, since you’re not fond of them. I used to bake apple pie for IZ weekly for just that reason: I wouldn’t eat it! 😀 ~W
I haven’t been berry picking in years, although I have some happy memories of doing it as a child with my mother and my sisters.
I adore any kind of cobbler. Maybe this recipe will stir me to find a blackberry patch.
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Well, honestly, this cobbler is just as good with frozen berries. It will just need to cook a wee bit longer. 😀 ~W
AND he has the standard cool whip container for picking…a sure sign of a veteren.
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Heh, Katie! That made me giggle. I didn’t even notice that, but you are so correct. Those are exactly the same kind of containers we used as kids to pick berries. 😀 ~W
What a pleasant post, Wende! The colors, the thread of seasons changing and people growing, and the sharing of Grandmother’s Blackberry Cobbler recipe. Yummy goodness! A warm piece of cobbler trumps a bon mot any day, in my book. ;~)
It is curious that juicy, delicious, beautiful blackberries are only found among the thorns.
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Some things we must work for, I suppose. I’d much prefer them without the thorns, to be honest. ~W
Blackberries! How very delicious. None of those here in Morocco, I am afraid. I was explaining to a Moroccan about blueberries and she found the whole concept of berries that are blue that you eat to be fascinating.
I am very interested in the fact that you homeschool your son. I would love to learn more about that and your reasons for homeschooling. If there is an entry about that on your blog, I would happily read away – if you have a moment to guide me where.
PS Thank you for your blessings:-)
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I’ve sent you email. And I would imagine if you’d never had anything blue to eat, blackberries would be odd! ~W
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM! I love blackberries…which reminds me, I need to get a flat of them so I can make jam! Looks like a nice day spent with boy wonder 🙂
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It was a nice afternoon. Hey, am I going to see you in Seattle on the 25th? Love to catch up for coffee. 😀 ~W
I was here last night (drooling) but partly this post made me a touch nostalgic, bordering on sad. So I teared up and went away. Way up in the upper peninsula my mother gathered wild berries-thimbleberries (do you know those?) and high-bush blueberries every year and we made jams and preserves and jellies-dozens of jars! And that she sold to a local shop for the tourist trade, but we always kept enough for pies. Cobbler, I’m not so familiar with and this recipe: 1,1,1,1! sounds delightful to me.
Like Bonnie, I love the images that accompany this post and yes-we used cool whip containers, too! Today, I hope your foot is okay. 🙂 And I just finished making apple brown betty for company dinner with the first apples of this changing season. xoxox
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I can’t wait to see you next week! And it’s funny what takes us back, eh? I hope your week away with Rich is relaxing.~W
I love blackberry season…and I can’t get me enough of ’em. An afternoon of picking is a failure if I come home without purple fingers, teeth and lips.
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I’m afraid we jumped the season a bit… the few we found were hard won. 😀 Maybe in a few weeks. ~W
You know…there are wild raspberry bushes in certain places here in AZ…now, if I could just remember where…all the blackberries up there remind me of Tom Robbins’ books. We used to all laugh at his description of how the blackberries come up through the sidewalks and take over houses…until we journeyed up there, and it was true…
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Yeah, they’re considered a weed here. And they grow everywhere. Yumm… wild raspberries sound wonderful! ~W
Gosh, I feel like I’ve been away for so long, I’ve missed you! I know it’s only been two weeks but it feels like an eternity! I want to comment on every single post I’ve missed, but I’ll probably have to settle for just reading since I’m still shouldering two houses here. But I wanted to stop in. I love blackberrying, and it surprises me that so few people do it these days. And, even more interesting, is that it seems that those who do aren’t from this area–maybe it’s just me, but almost everyone I’ve met who still picks wild berries is from the Midwest or the South. I wonder why? Anyway, I’m glad to be back, and thank you for being there! ~A 🙂
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No worries, you’ve had a great deal to do this summer. I hope you’re getting settled and we should connect sometime this fall. 😀 ~W
I always think I should move from Tucson to a place that I could go berry picking. I have to wait until October to go pick pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. How lovely that your boy gets to experience nature like that!
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It’s a lovely place to grow up. I’m looking forward to pumpkins… it’s starting to feel a bit like fall here already. ~W
Mmmm… where is that spot? I’d go berry picking in a heartbeat with that view. 🙂
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It’s on the edge of the riverwalk headed toward Alderbrook. 😀 ~W
Blackberries were on my mind and in my dreams this week, how I miss August in Lake County and the abundance of berries. Oh how I enjoyed picking and making jam, but my favorite was the cobbler. I dream of cold November nights drinking coffee and enjoying berry cobbler with ice cream. Love the photo of Georges my but he is growing fast.
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I would imagine right about now in this heat, that November sounds good! ~W
Miss Maddie picked some blackberries with our neighbors. We made the cobbler and you were right about its goodness. ‘Twas gone within an hour. ;~) Time for pie and jam! xo
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Oh! Wonderful… I’m glad you enjoyed it. It does tend to disappear quickly. 😀 ~W