Rumble and Ramble in Blackberry Bramble

My Mother-in-Law came home from a trip to Dyersburg the other day with a wonderful surprise.  A huge plastic bag FULL of blackberries.  They were still warm from sitting in the back of the truck where the farmer had been selling them.  And they were gorgeous!  Ranging from deep purple to almost black and all the way to a rosy pink. Summer was in that bag.

 We immediately thought of blackberry cobbler or blackberry jam.  Being more of an instant gratification person (and not wanting to drive in the car to get canning jars) I made the executive decision of blackberry cobbler.
We had friends coming over for a BBQ the next day, so I thought it would be the perfect dessert.
And it was.

The only complaint I had about this recipe, was that mine browned a bit too much...but that's an easy fix!  No one else seemed to mind.

Blackberry Cobbler #2 (adapted from The Pioneer Woman)

6 cups fresh blackberries

1/2 cup granulated sugar + 1-2 tablespoons sugar

juice from half of a lemon

zest from aforementioned lemon half

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 cup Crisco

4 tablespoons butter

1 egg

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons turbinado sugar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Mix blackberries, 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in bowl.  Stir until combined, and spread out in buttered baking dish.

Rinse out the bowl (this is my keeping-the-kitchen-clean trick so my MIL will continue to let me experiment in her kitchen).  Now pour in flour, salt, baking powder and 1-2 tablespoons sugar, depending on your taste. Stir with a whisk to combine. Plop in shortening and butter and combine with fingers until the whole lot resembles coarse cornmeal.  Measure 1/2 cup of milk and add egg to milk.  Whisk to combine.  Pour milk and egg into flour mixture and stir until just combined.  If it's a little dry just a bit more milk.  Batter should be smooth, and not too too sticky.

Take small clumps of dough and place them on top of the blackberries.  Sprinkle with the turbinado sugar.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool for as long as you can wait.  Serve in bowls with big scoops of vanilla ice-cream.

Enjoy!