Growing up in southern Ontario, most people had a weeping mulberry tree in the gardens around their home. These were mainly decorative and a popular feeding spot for robins and squirrels once the berries were ripe. My mother would use mulberries in her fruit tarts mixed with other berries and they add a lovely splash of colour with their deep purple hue. At their ripest, their taste is sweet and a bit earthy. Mulberries provide iron and Vitamin C! What throws most people off is the tiny stem that is attached to each berry. But once the fruit has baked and melded with the flavours of the cobbler, you won’t even notice them! I got up early on this Canada Day morning and picked the mulberries from my own tree, all the while swatting at annoying mosquitoes in search of an early morning snack- me!
Cobbler is a 2-layer baking process. The fruit is the bottom layer and is topped with the cobbler. As the berries bake, the cobbler puffs up and browns, spreading a bit over the berries.
Let’s begin! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ingredients:
4 cups mulberries
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. dried culinary lavender (optional)
2 tsp. corn starch
Rinse the berries lightly and tap the strainer to ensure that most of the moisture is out. Place berries in a medium sized bowl and add all the other ingredients. Gently fold the berries and ingredients together. The berries may break down a little bit, but that’s perfectly acceptable.
Grease a baking pan (any medium sized one will do – I’ve used an 8’x8′ or a 9’x13′) generously with butter, bottom and sides. Place berries into this baking pan ensuring that they are fairly evenly spread. This is the base of your cobbler.
Now for the cobbler. Using a medium-sized bowl, assemble the following ingredients.
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
6 tbsp. soft butter or margarine (salted is fine here)
1/2 cup milk or half and half cream
Place all ingredients together in a bowl (no particular order) and work with a rubber spatula until all ingredients are combined. The texture should have a smooth consistency.
I use a measured spoon or ice cream scoop to place dollops of cobbler on top of the fruit. Anything goes here as long as you have good even coverage of the fruit. Keep in mind – this is “Peek-A-Boo” cobbler, so the fruit is meant to be seen between the cobbler. If you have coarse sugar, sprinkle generously over top of the cobbler. This will give it a nice crust as it bakes. White or brown sugar sprinkled over top works well too. This is a relaxed recipe where you can make concessions as need be.
Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until the cobbler is nice and brown and the berries look like they are bubbling. You’ll notice a lovely fragrance in the house after about 30 minutes. This is an indication that the fruit is cooking. I always have dried culinary lavender on hand and find that combining almond extract and lavender is such an appealing taste and makes this cobbler just a bit more refined. You can also add a bit of lemon zest to the fruit if you wish. Concentrated lemon juice like Realemon or any non-name brand product at your local grocery store also works well if you don’t have lemons in the house.
Once the cobbler has baked, let it cool for about 5 minutes, then scoop into bowls and top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and serve immediately. Or you can let it cool down, which is what I prefer to do and let the fruit thicken up a bit and enjoy it with a cup of coffee or tea as a snack later. Of course you can top it off with a dollop of whipped cream for an elegant treat with family and friends!
Enjoy! Lolita
Lolita Bakes! 