Saturday, May 10, 2014

Homemade Dewberry Cobbler Recipe

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There's just something comforting about harvesting food from the land and using it to nourish your body...or in our case, to satisfy a sweet tooth craving.

It's dewberry pickin' time here in Texas, and so we went on a mission to gather a bunch of them. We first searched around our neighborhood and found a few small bushes, but that yielded only about a cup of berries. But then some friends from church invited us to their co-worker's private property to go dewberry picking.

When I say that this property was covered in dewberry bushes, I'm not even exaggerating. Everywhere you turned, there was a bush ripe with dewberries. We filled a 16-cup container with fresh dewberries.

For those that don't know, dewberry bushes have thorns. Not the fat thorns like a rose bush, but the tiny needle-like kind that burrow in your skin and you feel scratchy for hours later.

But once we tasted the homemade cobbler, it was all worth it! So for those who are fortunate enough to find about 5 cups worth of dewberries, here is a recipe for turning it into a delicious cobbler. This recipe has a lot of crust because I'm the type of girl who likes a high crust to berry ratio, so if you want less crust, reduce accordingly. Enjoy!

Homemade Dewberry Cobbler

Bottom Crust Ingredients:
2/3 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 Tbsp maple syrup
2/3 cup oat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, combine the milk, vanilla, and syrup. Stir in the flour and baking powder. The batter will be runny. Pour into an 8x8 or similar sized dish (I used a ceramic oval shaped dish) and bake for 10 to 15 minutes - just enough so the crust hardens a bit and will support the weight of the berries in the next step.

Filling Ingredients:
5 cups dewberries (or other berries of choice)
2 Tbsp maple syrup or lemon juice (I used syrup)
1/3 cup brown sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp salt

Directions: In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients until berries are moistened and well coated. Pour on top of the bottom crust. Cover with a sheet of parchment paper first, then aluminum foil (so the aluminum doesn't directly touch your food) and bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Top Crust Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups oat flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp applesauce
2 Tbsp almond butter
Cinnamon sugar mixture for topping, optional

Directions: In a measuring cup, whisk the almond milk and vinegar together, then set aside for a few minutes. Then add the vanilla. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. In a small bowl, combine the applesauce and almond butter. Cut the applesauce mixture into the flour mixture with a fork or pastry cutter until crumbly. Then add the milk mixture and stir just until moistened (do not over-mix). Drop spoonfuls on top of the berries until evenly covered. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon sugar mixture if desired, and I even sprinkled additional cinnamon on top of that, because I LOVE cinnamon. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes.