And still more blackberries...

This morning after church, we had an all-church potluck. I didn't remember this until I woke up this morning and checked my Facebook page, and the church posted a reminder about said potluck. According to the first letter of my last name, I was to bring a dessert (I'm always upset when it works out that I have to bring a side - desserts are my forte). So at 7:30 this morning, I had the task of figuring out what wonderful dessert I would take. Remembering the 2+ pounds of blackberries in my freezer (see previous post), I decided to make a blackberry cobbler recipe that I had printed off from The Pioneer Woman.

It is a really simple recipe. Self-rising flour, sugar, milk, butter, and blackberries. Upon examining my pantry, I discovered that I didn't have self-rising flour, and I had given my son the last of our milk last night before bed. I did however, have heavy cream, and the I was able to find a way to make self-rising flour out of all-purpose. (To make self-rising flour, for every cup of flour needed, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt)

Mix 1 cup self-rising flour, 1 cup sugar (I accidentally added 1 1/4 cups), and 1 cup milk (or heavy cream in my case). Stir in 1 stick of melted butter. I then poured the batter into a greased 8 by 8 casserole. Then, 2 cups of frozen blackberries were sprinkled over the top. At this point, you are supposed to sprinkle 1/4 cup of sugar over the whole thing, but I had already added it to the batter - oh, well! Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, then sprinkle more sugar on top and bake 10 more minutes.

Fast forward about 5 hours, when I was getting ready to leave the potluck. I went to the dessert table to pick up my dish, which looked like it had been licked clean, and as I was walking out the door, I was accosted by an elderly woman. She informed me that she and her daughter had been watching my dish to see who would pick it up. She said that her daughter had to have my recipe. I laughed, and went over to meet her daughter, and wrote down my recipe. She said that her entire table had been talking about my cobbler.

I decided that I would make it again for my in-laws. We drove down to their house this afternoon, and I made it for dessert after our yummy dinner of hamburgers and baked beans. It is currently sitting in the kitchen, waiting for us to be hungry enough to devour it.

Blackberries, Blackberries, and More Blackberries!

I love berries! Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, boysenberries, and blackberries. This seems to be the summer of blackberries for our family. It all started about a month ago with my desire to make jam. It was my first time to can, and I was afraid of traditional canning methods, but I heard that freezer jam was pretty much fool-proof. I thought I'd give it a try.
We went to the Edmond Farmer's Market, and looked for berries to fulfill my jam-making desires. We found strawberries and blackberries. Once we had the berries at home, I commenced with the jam-making. It really is super simple. It's called "freezer jam" because it's stored in the freezer--NOT on the pantry shelf. It tastes more like fresh fruit because you don't cook the fruit!

I used about 4 cups of blackberries (I made a separate batch the same way with the strawberries), a lemon, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and a box of this:
1) Stir sugar and contents of package in a bowl into well blended.
2) Add berries and lemon zest. Stir 3 minutes.
3) Ladle jam into jars. I used ziplock twist lid containers, and they worked perfectly.

Both the blackberry and strawberry jams are delicious! One month later, and this is all of the jam I have left:

Yummy!

Last Thursday, John and I took Cohen to a blackberry farm to pick more blackberries. I don't think I've picked berries since I was 10, when I picked blueberries with my cousins in Canada.

I really want Cohen to grow up being connected to the food he eats. I figured picking berries is a good start.

We ended up with 4 pounds of blackberries. As we left the farm, the farmer gave us a pamphlet with recipes and general blackberry information. Like the fact that blackberries will remain good up to 2 days in your refrigerator.

Wait a minute - 2 DAYS?!?!?! We can't eat 4 pounds of blackberries in TWO DAYS!

So, it was off to the internet to try to find suitable ways to use up my blackberries. I ended up with four uses.

1) Eat them straight out of the carton (washed thoroughly, of course - do you know my husband?)

2) Freeze them

3) Blackberry Popsicles (recipe)

4) Blackberry Fruit Leather (recipe)


I think that I have fulfilled my blackberry needs for the summer. However, I have read about a pick your own peach orchard in the area...