A Welcome Home Treat!

Mr. Ripe had been away for 3 weeks and he returned tonight. While I was sure he'd have jet lag and not want to do much of anything, who can refuse berry cobbler upon an anticipated homecoming? I deliberated over what kind of treat to make all evening yesterday and morning today. I wanted to make use of some of the berries I froze after wild blueberry picking upstate a few weeks ago, and I wanted it to be good! (It's always so hard to choose what recipes I want to put special, limited time foods in - I feel this tension between wanting to save them for as long as possible and wanting to share them with everyone, not knowing exactly when the right moment to use them will come!)

So I settled on a triple-berry cobbler with strawberries and blueberries I picked and froze, and some raspberries from the store. And then I decided a warm berry dessert wouldn't be complete without some sort or ice cream, so I whipped up a batch of cinnamon gelato as a sidekick.

The recipe for the cobbler is below, adapted only slightly from a woman who really knows what she's doing.

Filling:
5 c berries (I mixed 1 c tiny strawberries, 3 c raspberries, and 1 c blueberries)
3/4 c sugar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 t salt

Topping:
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 3/4 t baking powder
pinch salt
1/4 c sugar
6 T butter
3/4 c cream + more to brush top with


Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, combine filling ingredients and set aside. Although the topping can be made by hand, I did it in my food processor by combining the dry ingredients and then adding the butter and hitting Pulse until the mixture looked sandy with some pea-sized chunks of butter remaining. Then, through the top, pour in cream slowly, and Pulse just 5 or 6 times, until evenly distributed but still crumbly. (If making by hand, mix dry ingredients, then cut in butter until it looks the same, and add cream and mix with a fork.) Dump topping dough out onto a cutting board or clean surface and knead only a couple of times - you don't want it to warm up from your body heat! Now roll out or pat dough into a square about 1/4" thick. Cut into 9 squares. Place berries into a 9x9 baking dish and and layer cobbler dough on top - Some of my dough pieces overlapped. Bake for 1 hour, let cool (I know, but you must resist the temptation to dig in right away!), and enjoy with ice cream or alone. Perfect for dessert or breakfast!