News You Can Bruise for 2003 December 2

Last night I tried my hand at making blackberry cobbler. I just combined a couple recipes off the web (filling and buttermilk biscuit crust (ATK link requires registration)), so I won't give you a whole recipe, just some lessons learned.

• This is some really expensive cobbler because--stay with me here--blackberries are not exactly cheap in the middle of winter. I should have used frozen blackberries; if they're going into the oven it probably doesn't matter whether or not they're fresh.
• Don't mash up the blackberries to get them to absorb the sugar. Okay, maybe one application of the masher, ONE. If you mash them up too much, as I did, the cobbler becomes runny.
• Use all of the dough to bake biscuits, even if you have to make two trips to the oven. Alternatively, make the biscuits much bigger than you think they should be.

I think the cobbler turned out very well for a first attempt. Future cobblers will be more effective in their consistency and tastiness.