Mmm....berries

It's blackberry season out here in Northern California.

For those of you who haven't spent much time here, I should explain that blackberries are actually a weed. A highly flammable weed that's thorny and difficult to remove.

The nice thing is that when there actually are berries, you can find them EVERYWHERE. They're all over downtown Nevada City and pretty much anywhere else. Karen recently picked a batch of them from the dog park -- "You have to get the ones from the higher branches." That took me a minute to get. -- and she requested a cobbler be made to honor this rite of summer.

So if you've never gotten my top-secret family recipe for cobbler, here tis:

Fill a metal bowl (dog dish will work, but I usually just use a cast-iron pan) 2/3 of the way with fruit....can be anything. Peaches, blueberries, strawberries, it all works great.

Cook the fruit for 10 minutes. If the fruit is tart, throw a few tablespoons of sugar. You can also add some vanilla extract. If you're doing apple, add cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, mix 1 cup self-rising flour (I'll give a recipe for that below, in case you're not in the South), 1 cup sugar and 1 cup milk. Whisk together and pour over the hot fruit. Don't be discouraged if the fruit is liquidy. That will work out great. If you're using a pan, you might want to pour the fruit into a ceramic dish and then pour the batter over. The other night, I made mini-cobblers in medium sized ramkins.

Dot the top with butter. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 to 60 minutes. Check occasionally near the end for a golden brown crust. The end product should be firm.

So give it a shot this summer and let me know how it goes. This recipe has never failed me.

Oh yeah, the footnote:

1 cup self-rising flour = 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 tsp. salt.