By By Lisa Tindell
With blackberry season in full swing, this may be the perfect time to get ahead with some good recipes using these special berries.
Last year I missed the blackberries. Their season is short and is very dependent upon the weather. A friend of mine remembered how disappointed I was and let me in on a great deal this past week. You can bet there was a blackberry cobbler on my table for Mother's day.
I hope you'll like these blackberry recipes. The first blackberry cobbler I ever made was one that was written for use with blueberries. I simply substituted and it worked out great. These recipes will probably work well with either. Give them a try and let me know what you think.
Blackberry Pie
1 and one-half cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
One-half tsp. salt
One-half cup butter
3 tablespoons boiling water
Three-fourths cup white sugar
3 tbs. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
Dash teaspoon salt
4 cups fresh blackberries, rinsed and drained
1tbs. lemon juice
2 tbs. butter
To begin making pastry dough, sift flour, baking powder, and one-half teaspoon salt. Cut in butter or margarine. Add boiling water to the flour mixture. Stir until mixture clings in a ball. Divide dough in half, and roll out two crusts. Combine sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, cinnamon, and dash of teaspoon salt. Mix with the berries. Place berry filling in an unbaked pie crust. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dot with butter or margarine. Fit and seal upper crust. Bake on lower shelf in a 425 degrees oven for 30 to 40 minutes.
Of course you can use ready-made pie crusts in this recipe. You choose the degree of difficulty you'd like to pursue here.
Blackberry Cobbler
One stick butter or margarine
2 cups self-rising flour
2 cups white sugar
2 cups milk
3 and one-half cups blackberries
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Once oven temperature is reached melt butter in a 9×13 inch baking pan. In a medium bowl stir together the flour, sugar and milk; batter will be slightly lumpy. Pour mixture on top of melted butter in baking pan. Do not mix butter and mixture together. Drop blackberries into batter; if more crust is desired add less blackberries. Bake in preheated oven for one hour or until golden brown.
And finally, here's a little something different. A cool treat to any late spring or early summer meal.
Blackberry and Spinach Salad
3 cups baby spinach, rinsed and dried
1 pint fresh blackberries
6 ounces crumbled feta cheese
1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
1 green onion, sliced
One-fourth cup finely chopped walnuts (optional)
In a large bowl, toss together baby spinach, blackberries, feta cheese, cherry tomatoes, green onion, and walnuts.
A good sweet vinaigrette dressing would compliment this salad nicely. Try a raspberry vinaigrette to keep the fruity freshness of this salad special.
Now that I've given you a good reason to go berry pickin', get out with the kids and let them see nature up close. The family will enjoy the meal more if they've all been involved in gathering the ingredients from Mother Earth.
Here's hoping you have a great week. Until next time, Happy Cooking!