How on earth was there a time when I didn’t want fruit in my desserts?!
Because black raspberry cobbler is where.it’s.at. All the exclamation points!
My obsession with fruit desserts and cobblers continues. Last summer I was nutty about it. Convinced that it was just a pregnancy thing, I thought for sure that I wouldn’t care or be interested in such desserts this summer. I’d be all over the chocolate peanut butter ice cream things and on the s’mores train and what not.
But I was oh-so very wrong.
MY OTHER RECIPES
Behold the perfect black raspberry!
I can only find these for about 32 seconds in my area every summer. A local farm has their own in June and I ran in there last week, bought seven quarts of them like a psychopath and was embarrassed to check out at the counter.
I made this cobbler for dinner Sunday night (where it was devoured by all!), made it again on Monday to share with you and then froze the rest.
What to do with the remaining gems?
My thing with black raspberries is that the seeds are INTENSE. Lots and lots of little seeds and since the berries are so small, it seems they are in every bite. I know that some people love this but I’m not one of them – so my solution is to take ’em and make them into dessert.
When the berries are warm and bursting and then topped with ice cream? The seeds don’t even come into play. Sure, they still have that bit of crunchy texture (which you would assume that I love being the #texturequeen and all!), but it’s the flavor that really shines through.
OMG and the color. I mean, how stunning is this color? It’s kind of natural lipstick and I’m very into it.
And! I’m still having a moment with lavender. Clearly. My lavender plant is going wild right now and it thrills me.
For someone who has ZERO interest in floral flavors and scents, I can’t get enough.
Also! I’ll let you in on a little secret. While I’ve been infusing syrups and cream and desserts for a few years with culinary lavender flowers, and I love doing that… for this? I used an organic lavender extract and I found it added the PERFECT amount of lavender.
Sometimes when you infuse your own, the floral flavor is super overpowering. While I’ll always use the flowers for cocktails and drinks and coffee and things like that, using the extract here made it ridiculously easy and also took the guess work out of it. Love!
Oh and p.s. I find mine on amazon! Easy.
The flavor here is rich and fruity from the berries. But the lavender adds this floral hint that makes you wonder just what the heck it is, because it tastes fantastic. And I’ve always said that when lavender is mixed with sugar, it takes on an ice cream shop flavor and scent. That’s exactly what happens. It’s SO good.
Makes me think I couldn’t even make this cobbler without the lavender.
The cobbler itself? It’s a batter poured on butter and topped with the berries. It’s based on paula deen’s peach cobbler and while this doesn’t produce the “pretty” biscuits-on-top-of-cobbler masterpiece, the taste more than makes up for it. It is SO so good.
And who doesn’t want to eat hot purple dessert.
Black Raspberry Lavender Cobbler
Ingredients:
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 quarts black raspberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk (any kind works!)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon lavender extract
- vanilla ice cream for serving
- fresh lavender for garnish
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Place the butter in a 9×13 inch baking dish. Once the oven is at temperature, place the dish in the oven until the butter melts, about 5 minutes or so. You want it melted!
Place the berries in a large bowl and sprinkle on the 1/2 cup sugar. Toss gently. Add the lemon juice and toss gently again, trying not to break the berries. Set it aside for a moment while you make the batter.
Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a measuring cup, whisk together the milk and extracts. Pour the milk into the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Pour the batter mixture on top of the melted butter. Don’t mix it! Just pour it on top and spread it to the edges if necessary.
Gently toss the berries once more. Spoon them over the batter in the dish (again, not mixing, but just placing them on!), covering all the batter.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the mixture is golden brown and not very jiggly in the center. Let cool slightly before serving with vanilla ice cream!
All images and text ©.
This melty bowl should be framed.
