Recipe #52: Blackberry Cobbler

Recipe: Blackberry Cobbler

Source: The Pioneer Woman Cooks

Time: Prep: 15 minutes Bake: 1 hr

Ease: 1

Taste: 9

Leftover Value: 6

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer: Keep it in the Strainer!

I find it crucial that you understand that I am not a fruit dessert lover.  This must be completely understood before I discuss this blackberry cobbler.

Until my twenties, fruit and dessert were completely separate items.  Combining the two was complete and utter nonsense.

Pioneer Woman's fruity dessert dishes have brought me into a completely new realm of desserts.  My days of chocolate desserts only have become compromised.

I love it.

And I hate it.

Now there are so many more choices to think through when ordering dessert at a restaurant.

This blackberry cobbler is amazing.  Even my brothers who were also raised with the no-fruit-for-dessert mentally have all been wow'ed over this dessert.

My favorite thing about it is that it is insanely easy to assemble.  The dry ingredients are mixed, then the wet are tossed in followed by the berries.  The only problem is you need to be patient during the hour of baking time.  For me, that ends up being time for me to catch up on my dirty dishes!

You'll have to turn a blind eye to all the sugar that is used in this dish, because it is quite a lot.  

It is dessert, after all!

Though it is called "Blackberry" cobbler, PW says at the end of the recipe that you can use blueberries, peaches, raspberries, etc.  My first time making this cobbler, I used blueberries.

It probably won't surprise you that in addition to not being a fruity dessert person, I also hadn't explored the depths of the category of berries.  Cherries and grapes were the closest I had ever come during my childhood.  Blueberries seemed right for this recipe.  They are often used in muffins, so I imagined they would be perfect in this recipe.

And they are.

Though the blackberries were nice, I still prefer the blueberries. 

The dish might not be aesthetically pleasing at first...

But after you serve it to your guests like this...

They'll ooh and aah without even taking their first bite.

Please, please, please--never ever ever serve this without vanilla ice cream!

Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Recipe: Vanilla Ice Cream 

Source: Woman's Day, August 2010 

http://www.womansday.com/recipefinder/vanilla-ice-cream-recipe-wdy0812

Time: 10 min to make, 8 hours to freeze

Ease: 1

Taste: 9

Leftover Value: 9

Down the Drain or Keep in the Strainer:  Keep it in the Strainer!

Wow, wow, and again, wow.

As I was making this I kept thinking, "It can't be this simple.  Something this simple cannot possibly be wonderfully delicious, or even just slightly okay,".

So I prepared myself for extreme disappointment.

Three simple ingredients.  That's all!  

You can see why I was a little hesitant. 

And boy, am I glad I have a Kitchen Aid mixer!  I threw the ingredients in, turned it on, and let it do its thing.  In five minutes it went from this....

...to this!  

Peaks of creamy, smooth, heaven on earth.

At this point, if you want to add anything like fudge, cookies, peanut butter, go ahead and knock yourself out!  Just fold it in lightly with a spatula.

The hard part was that at this point I had to put it in the freezer for eight hours.  Eight hours!  That's a whole day of work.  That's a good night of sleep.  That's a drive from New Jersey to Canada!  Such a very long, long time to wait.

I surrounded it with some of my favorite things to keep it company: bacon, beef, and pork chops.  Yes, life is good.

After eight hours, it was done!  If you look closely, you'll see the spot in the left corner that I kept going to every hour on the hour to see the progress of the freezing.

And I can absolutely confirm that eight hours is definitely needed for ice cream perfection.

Hubby commented that it tasted like Edy's Slow Churned ice cream.  It put me in mind of Halo Farm's vanilla ice cream.

I topped mine with hot fudge and sprinkles.  Next time, I'm definitely going to try my hand at chocolate ice cream.

I think maybe I'll do that tomorrow...

Watermelon and Vanilla Ice Cream

Recipe: Watermelon and Vanilla Ice Cream

Source: Inspired by the Fourth of July

Time: 5 minutes at most

Ease: 5 (cutting a watermelon is a lot more difficult than cutting a pineapple)

Taste: 10

Leftover Value: 10

Down the Drain or Keep it in the Strainer:  Keep it in the Strainer

I have found the most wonderful and beautiful combination of food today.  I never would have thought this combination to be even merely satisfying, yet it rocked my world in a variety of different ways.

And here is how I know it truly was delicious.  There are times when you eat something and you are so hungry that you think it's awesome and then you go back to have it again at a time when you aren't so hungry and realize that it really wasn't so awesome.

Sorry, that last sentence was really long.

Well, this was the reverse.  I was so full from barbecue that I wasn't sure I could manage to eat anymore.  Yet, I recognized this as an amazing discovery in dessert and knew I had to forge on, lest others discover it's worth and devour it all right in front of me.

It began with watermelon.

Whenever we have watermelon at my parents' house, my dad hacks away huge circle slices for everybody.  If you're neat like my dad when you eat your circle, you'll carefully use your fork to slice around the entire outside of the red ring and then neatly cut square bites of deliciousness.

I always start out like that, but then get impatient.

Watermelon is one of my favorite things in the whole wide world of fruit.

My mom had also bought ice cream.  Now, most of the family gave her the 'eyes'.  The 'eyes' said, "Watermelon and ice cream?  Are you kidding?"

Yet, my soon-to-be sister-in-law Mallory did not give the 'eyes'.  She gave the 'look' that said, "Let's try it".

And try it we did.

I'm not sure what it was about the combination.  I can't use the 'salty and sweet' reasoning, because this was 'sweet and sweet'.  But something about the duplicity of the two sweetness-ess was incredible.  As I ate, I would get a little taste of ice cream on my fork, then dig into a bit of watermelon.

It was sweetly satisfying.

Seriously, try this out right now.

P.S.  When you're picking out your watermelon, make sure you find one that has a yellow spot.  That means it wasn't picked prematurely or moved around a lot when it should have been growing.

I tell you, because I care.