Lazy Girl Cobbler

When I was young, my gran and I would go into the woods and pick blackberries and then go home and turn the picked berries into jams and jellies. As good as the jams and jellies were, we always made certain to save enough berries for a cobbler. If gran had the time, she would make the cobbler dough from scratch and cut the strips to place over the cobbler. If she was in a hurry, she would make this "lazy girl" cobbler. Since starting a family of my own, our children and I continue the tradition of picking the berries and making this cobbler. (I haven't made jams or jellies in years, but I may start back one day, hey, it could happen!) This cobbler was always my favorite because you can make the crust as thick or thin as you like. My cobblers tend to lean on the thick crust side, because the crust is good enough to eat on it's own and I love any kind of pastry. The photo shows a peach cobbler in a 15 cup glass baking dish with the recipe doubled. You can make this cobbler with any type of fruit that can be cooked in a pie, some fruit, like raw apples will require more cooking time.


Lazy Girl Cobbler

Preheat oven to 350◦

One 8 cup glass baking dish
1 quart fresh or frozen fruit (if using small fruit, like berries, you will need to double amount to get that much after the berries cook down)
1 stick of salted butter
1 cup of self rising flour (do not pack flour tightly into cup)
1 cup milk
1 cup sugar + sugar to be sprinkled over fruit before cooking

Prepare fruit for cooking, wash and clean if using freshly picked, thaw and rinse for frozen.
Place fruit into a sauce pan or microwave safe cookware and sprinkle a liberal amount of sugar over fruit. If you like the cobbler tart, you can skip this step.
Either place the fruit in sauce pan on top of the stove and cook on medium until the fruit has "cooked down", but, not over cooked (approx 15-20 min. depending on amount and type of fruit) or, place in microwave and cook for 8-12 minutes (again, depending on the type and amount of fruit). Do not drain.
Take 1 stick of salted butter and place in the bottom of the glass pan and place in the oven (or microwave) for melting. Watch and remove when melted. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, thoroughly mix flour, sugar and milk, it can be slightly lumpy, but, if you use a hand blender, be careful not to overblend.
Take the flour mixture and pour into the glass pan, over the melted butter.
Take the cooked fruit with the juices and pour over the batter.
Bake until the crust is brown (approx 15-30 min, Check after 15)
Let cool or serve with ice cream while hot.

Adjust your crust by halving or doubling the recipe, you may have to try several cookings until you get the cobbler tasting the way your family enjoys it the most.

Your fruit is already done after precooking it, so all you really need to do is let the crust cook and brown. The thicker the crust, the longer the cooking time.

Most of juice from the fruit will be absorbed into the crust the longer it sits, so if you like a juicy, fruity cobbler, make your crust thinner.

Sometimes when I cook with blackberries, I swirl the berries after putting the fruit into the batter and it turns the crust into a canvas of purple swirls.