TRIPLE BERRY COBBLER FOR THE ENDLESS SUMMER

Friday, September 3, 2010

Serves 6-8

Even though school has already begun, Labor Day is the unofficial final summer hoorah. It signals the transition from lazy summer days to the routines of Fall. In a few short weeks, the weather will cool off…for most of you. I will here about it and briefly wish that I lived in a place where there are four seasons because in the humid subtropical Southern United States, our calendars and schedules may say Fall, but our weather stays endlessly summer.

I will watch enviously while the rest of the country revels in the changing season – the crisp mornings, chilly evenings, and the changing colors of the landscape. In other places, people will wear jackets and sweaters to football games and burn dead leaves in grand bon fires. They will wear wool. Meanwhile, I will be sweating through November. Where I live, a crisp Fall day means the temperature stays below 90 and your skin doesn’t stick to the seat of your car. I will swelter at my children’s games. I will have an astronomical electricity bill from running the air conditioner until Thanksgiving. It is not the heat itself that is so bad. After all, I have lived here my whole life. I am accustomed to it. I freeze when it is below 60. It is just that I get so tired of it. I desperately want Fall, but I am stuck with an endless summer.

Today, it is still summer all over our country. A final celebration should be planned to say fair well to one season and hello to another even if the weather is slow to cooperate. Fire up the grill. Go to the farmers market and buy tomatoes, zucchini, and eggplant. Buy armloads of berries. Make a summer cobbler for your dessert and serve it with cold vanilla ice cream.

This cobbler recipe is a celebration of summer berries. Blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries are tossed with a little sugar mixture and then topped with a simple dough. You’ll know it’s ready when the sweet buttery biscuits on top are a golden brown and the berries are bubbling. When you take a bite, you will recall all of the good things about summer…..even when it seems endless.

I love Texas anyway. Our winters are glorious.

2/3 cup sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

1 1/2 tsp lemon zest

2 cups blueberries

2 cups blackberries

2 cups raspberries

2 Tbsp butter, chopped

Topping:

1 cup flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter, chopped

3 Tbsp heavy cream

1 egg, beaten

1. MAKE FRUIT MIXTURE AND SET ASIDE: Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl, mix sugar, cornstarch, and lemon zest. Set aside. In an 9-inch baking dish (square, rectangular, or round as long as it is deep enough to hold all of the berries), toss the berries together. Be very gentle as berries are delicate and you want them to stay whole. Sprinkle sugar mixture on top and gently shake the pan to distribute. Dot with butter. Set aside while you make the topping.

2. MAKE TOPPING: Into a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Using a fork or your fingers, add the butter and mix until mixture is crumbly. In a small bowl, beat the egg and cream together, and then add to the flour mixture. Stir with a fork just until combined. Drop topping by tablespoonfuls onto the berries.