Blackberry Cobbler

One of my favorite things to do this time of year has always been blackberry pickin'. Dad used to take me and Scott over to Scott County at the old homestead of his grandparents, and I can remember like it was yesterday how we would return with so many berries. Such awesome memories! Mom would always either make jam, cobbler, or both. I've certainly continued this tradition. Now, however, I head over to one of my best friend's house (Cindi Burtnett). She has them growing wild in the property adjacent to her own.

Cindi says that this is certainly the year for blackberries. Knowing that I'm still recovering from my emergency appendectomy, she called in the troops (Kim Suiter and Cindy Pickett) to pick blackberries for me last night since I'm unable to. What a labor of love! I was so tickled to get a huge bucket full today. Although I'm not quite ready to actually turn them into jam, I was able to clean and crush them to get 10 cups. This will eventually be turned into two batches of jam. After this, I was left with just a little more than 1 cup of berries. I knew just what to do:  make Mom's fruit cobbler. Mom first got this recipe from Dad's grandma, Lucretia (Lucy) Lawson. It was a no-brainer to include this in the family cookbook.

This recipe is very similar to the "Cuppa Cuppa Cuppa" recipe that some Southerners are quite familiar with. It was even featured in the play, Steel Magnolias. In the movie version of Steel Magnolias, Clairee (played by Olympia Dukakis) asks Truvy (played by Dolly Parton) for her recipe. Admittedly, it is a little different from Mom’s version. Put on your best Dolly Parton voice:

“Oh hell, Clairee, you don’t need a recipe. It’s just a cuppa flour, a cuppa sugar, and a cuppa fruit cocktail with the syrup, stir and bake in a hot oven ‘til golden brown and bubbly. I serve it with ice cream to cut the sweetness.”

The best thing about this recipe is that you can make as much or as little as you want. In my case, I only had about a cup of berries, so I used a very small casserole dish . . . about 4" x 4". I first sprayed the dish with Pam before putting in the berries.

Mom's version uses a cuppa self-rising flour, a cuppa sugar, and a cuppa milk. Instead of using a "cuppa" each of these, I only used half a cup of each since I'm making such a small amount. Mix together and pour over the berries.

The original recipe says to bake for 60 minutes. For this small size, though, I only needed 50 minutes.

Gosh, I love this stuff! And I agree with Truvy, it is "best served with ice cream to cut the sweetness."  :)

Thanks so much Cindi, Kim, and Cindy! You guys continue to make my road to recovery just that much sweeter!  :)

Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

• any kind of fruit (Of course, I used blackberries.)
• 1 cup of sugar 
• 1 cup of self-rising flour 
• 1 cup of milk
• approximately 1/2 stick butter (optional)

Directions:
Pour any kind of fruit in a greased 8x8 casserole dish. Mix together sugar, flour, and milk. Pour over the fruit. Top with pats of butter (optional). Bake at 350 degrees for one hour or until done.