Tuesdays With Dorie~ Mixed Berry Cobbler

Hooray!! It is my week to choose the recipe for the dynamic baking group,TUESDAYS WITH DORIE, and I (with Nate's help) picked the Mixed Berry Cobbler out of Baking; From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. This recipe is so summery, so delicious and SO EASY!



I have been having a wonderful time baking the recipes from this book, and can't believe that the less than thirty folks baking together when I joined has blossomed into more than TWO HUNDRED!! So, about a month ago, I explained to Nate that my pick was coming up and we went through the book together and marked our top (it was going to be 10 but ended up being like 25) recipes. Since life has been bustling lately, and I know summer is a big change of pace for a lot of people, I wanted to choose something that was basic, easy, classic and something you could make with kids. YAY SUMMER!
It came down between the banana cream pie and this cobbler. Considering I had everything on hand for the cobbler, it won out.

One of the great things about being part of this group is the creativity, ideas, support and tips that come from a group all trying the same recipe at the same time.
So you have to go around and check out all the different, fabulous cobblers!



Nate has always told me how much he loves cobbler, with the biscuit crust baked INTO the fruit. I've never made it this way before so I mixed up the dough, prepped the fruit filling and let him put it together.





We just made a few lil'changes...
Since it is my week, I am posting this recipe for anyone who wants to give it a whirl~ but that said, if you haven't already, get your tushy out and BUY THIS BOOK!
I am also not writing it EXACTLY as it is in the book, just paraphrasing...



Dough/"Topping"
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder I used a heaping tablespoon
3 tablespoons sugar I used 2 T. white sugar, 1 T. packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold, unsalted butter, cut into little bits
3/4 c cold heavy cream
I added 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Filling
5 cups mixed berries (Dorie suggests going light on the strawberries because they can be too watery for cobbler). Frozen, not is syrup, no need to defrost (WOOHOO!) or frh We used frozen peaches, blackberries & blueberries, and more like 6-8 cups since the dough was going to be mixed in and soaking up lots of juice...
4-5 tablespoons sugar used 4
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon or lime I used the zest of 1/4 of an orange
(optional) 1/4 tsp (or to taste) freshly ground black pepper.

Vanilla ice cream of course, for serving.



Preheat the oven to 375, butter a 9-inch, deep-dish pie pan (or other similar sized baking dish, we used a large round cornningwear dish).

In a large bowl whisk together all the dry "topping" ingredients. Toss in the butter and working quickly with your fingers mix the butter into the dry ingredients. When you've got pieces the size of oatmeal, and the size of cornflakes and in between, it's good to go.
Pour cream in the the bowl and toss ingredients until you have a soft dough. When it comes together use your hand to incorporate everything, but don't over do it, you don't want to "overwork" the dough.
(the dough will be soft & sticky.)
We switched it up here by not pressing the dough into a 9-inch circle to set atop the fruit filling before baking, as per the recipe- but set aside the dough to make the filling.

Making the filling:
Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix together.
The recipe calls for the fruit to be added to the bowl and topped with the 9 inch circle pressed out of the dough..Nate assembled it by taking hand fulls of the dough and putting them around in the pan first. Then adding some fruit, then more dough, then more fruit. Then I put some cut-outs (circles) of dough on top and we baked it for 70 minutes. (the recipe calls for 60-75 minutes)
Because of the dough IN the cobbler it was not yet done at 70 minutes, so we put in back in for another 30 minutes, then it was good to go.
Let sit 30-45 minutes before serving.
Serve warm or at room temp with ice cream.