Let Not Light See My Blackberry and Deep Desires

          There's a rainfall warning in Vancouver right now which basically means we're going to get a lot of rain in a short amount of time. This differs from normal when we get a lot of rain in a long amount of time. Not that I'm complaining, grey and drizzly is my climate and perfect weather for trying out a new recipe!
       

           My Pinterest is full of delicious looking recipes that are just asking for a day like today (as well as most of the recipes on the blog!) so I started sifting through looking for one that tickled my taste buds. Seeking a bit of guidance I asked Papa Bear what he was in the mood for and he requested after much humming and hawing (he's not used to having a say in these things) that we have a surplus of frozen blackberries and he'd like some sort of cobbler. One of his summer past-times is hunting down blackberry bushes and picking them clean. I believe we have some on our property along with our raspberry bushes but judging from the seven containers in our freezer right now I suspect he imported from neighbouring properties. He picks and Mum and I make the pies, or cobblers in this case.
     
           I had actually just deleted the one cobbler pin I had as it didn't seem as appealing to me but it was fresh enough in my mind that I could search it out and upon re-examination it looked like a pretty delicious idea. A cobbler, but with a sugar cookie topping instead of biscuits. For anyone unfamiliar with cobbler, it's like the filling of a pie but with a soft biscuit on the top instead of a pie crust. This particular recipe was for a blueberry cobbler so I adjusted it for my own purposes.

Blackberry Sugar Cookie Cobbler

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt, divided

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar, divided 

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla

2 pounds blackberries (I didn't weigh, I just eyeballed a good amount)

zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1/2 tsp. cinnamon      

Combine flour, baking powder and 1/4 tsp. salt. In a separate bowl cream butter, 1 cup sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. Wrap dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate. 

In a large bowl, combine berries, remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 tsp. salt, cinnamon, and lemon zest and juice. Add a little extra sugar if you're not crazy about the tartness of blackberries, I kept the original amount from the blueberry recipe which Mum appreciated but Papa Bear found to be not quite sweet enough for his tastes. Stir, mashing slightly. Cover and refrigerate 2 hours. 

Strain berry mixture, adding juice to a small saucepan, and return berries to bowl. Simmer juice on medium heat until reduced by half, about 10 minutes or until you get frustrated by the fact that it's not reducing, crack and accept that your cobbler will be soup. Approximately 30 minutes. Pour over fruit and stir.

Preheat oven to 350°. Spoon fruit mixture into a 9" x 13" oven-safe dish. Flatten balls of dough between your palms into 1/2"-thick rounds and lay over fruit. Or roll out to 1/2" thickness and use cookie cutters to make fun shapes. I didn't, but I kind of wish I had. Repeat until fruit is mostly covered. Place dish on a baking sheet and bake until the top is golden, about 1 hour. Any leftover dough can be baked off as cookies and snacked on while waiting for the cobbler to bake as they only take about 15 minutes. 

Original Blueberry Cobbler recipe courtesy of Lady O and can be found here: http://www.oprah.com/food/Blueberry-Sugar-Cookie-Crisp-Recipe