Most of the local parks have nearly endless blackberry bushes scattered throughout, and one in particular had easily accessible berries. So one sunny day, we grabbed our largest plastic bowls and some scissors, and paid a visit to the park to raid the lucious berries.
I'm pretty sure I baked about 3 or 4 blackberry cobblers in about 2 weeks...I honestly can't remember. You see, I was in a bit of a sugar/gluten/fat coma. I was tripped out on cobbler. I would have injected it into my eyeballs if it would have made the taste linger a little longer on my tongue (how injecting anything into your eyeballs can directly affect your taste buds is beyond me, but just roll with it).
I was addicted. And I could hide behind my husband, point to him and say, "HEY, he ate most of the cobbler!" but I would be lying. I daresay I ate 3 of the 4 cobblers I fixed by myself...
I was addicted.
Fast forward a year, and blackberries are starting to show themselves at farmers markets, and naturally, all I can think of is, "How can I have my cobbler this year???" I might have fought back a tear a few times as we passed by the berry stands...
So I decided to go out on a limb and actually try to make some GF/DF (gluten-free/dairy-free; Josh doesn't eat dairy) cobbler.
I knew I wanted a biscuit top because...well, that's just cobbler to me! So I found this excellent recipe for drop biscuits:
http://www.glutenfreecookingschool.com/archives/how-to-make-gluten-free-drop-biscuits/
The only problem is that the flour mix she suggested is definitely not Paleo (shhhh, I know rice isn't Paleo either, but we can talk about that another day), so I knew I would have to improvise, and here's what I came up with.
Semi-Paleo Blackberry Cobbler
Topping
2 cups flour mix (I measure out about 1 cup of brown rice flour, 1 cup of sweet white rice flour, and 1/2 cup of tapioca flour to make my flour mix.)
1 tsp baking powder (I don't use baking powder - instead, I put in a bit of baking soda and a pinch of vinegar)
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
6 tbsp shortening (I used palm shortening)
1 cup milk (I used whole fat coconut milk)
1 egg beaten
Sugar
Filling
Berries - I used 4 pints of blackberries, but you can put in as much as you want. Try mixing different berries!
Agave nectar or honey
Sugar
1 tsp arrowroot powder (though tapioca starch would probably work)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Pour the berries into a baking dish. Start with maybe 1/4 cup of agave or honey and coat the berries. Mix well. Sprinkle some sugar on top and mix again. I like to crush the berries a bit, but do whatever you want there.
Set the berries aside and click on the drop biscuit link above, and follow the directions. When you've got your biscuit mixture, drop spoonfuls of the dough on top of the berry mixture and spread it out a bit. Then sprinkle sugar liberally on top of the dough, and place the cobbler in the oven.
Honestly, I don't know how long it takes, so stick the timer on 35 minutes, and check on the biscuits every few minutes after that - you'll know it's done when the berry mixture is bubbling and the biscuit top is a nice golden brown.
I suggest topping with some gluten free ice cream - <3
Enjoy! If you make this recipe, let me know how it went! I'd love to hear stories or see some pictures of the finished product.
Peace out my hommies.
PS: I also tried making a few drop biscuits w/ the leftover dough. Good stuff. Give it a try!
