Bungalow Black-Raspberry Cobbler

I liked the cobbler I made for Tuesdays with Dorie so well that I decided to try it again, with a number of changes and variations. It gave me a chance to use up the last of our home-grown frozen black raspberries. (We just started picking this year's crop today, so it's time to get rid of the old stuff!)


The recipe is below. I made double the recipe and baked it in two pans. The small pan above is half a recipe, baked in a 6-inch casserole dish. The large pan below is a 10-inch casserole dish, holding one-and-a-half times the recipe.


What would I do differently next time? I'd increase the sugar just a little. Also, it was easy to slide the dough onto the smaller cobbler, but quite a pain to do it for the larger one. I might try cutting the dough into smaller pieces and putting them on individually next time.

Other than that, I was very happy with the recipe I came up with!

Bungalow Black-Raspberry Cobbler
by Bungalow Barbara

For a 9-inch round or 8-inch square baking pan, with a capacity of at least 8 cups.

Fruit Filling:
1 Granny Smith or other tart apple, grated,
sprinkled with 1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice (about 4.95 oz / 140 gm total)
7 cups individually frozen black raspberries, not thawed (27-28 oz / 770-791 gm)
7 Tablespoons sugar (3.1 oz / 88 gm)
Note: next time I would use more, say about 9 Tbsp. (4.0 oz / 113 gm)
Note: my husband and I prefer cobblers with less sugar in the filling.
If you like sweeter fruit desserts, increase the sugar to 3/4 cup or 1 cup.
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon potato starch or scant 1 teaspoon cornstarch

Butter the baking pan.
Peel and grate apple. Sprinkle grated apple with lemon juice. In small bowl, rub lemon zest into sugar with fingers. Mix in salt and starch. Place berries in large bowl; add grated apple and sugar mixture, and mix well. Place in baking pan.
At this point I wrapped and froze the filling (the raspberries hadn't even had a chance to defrost).

Biscuit-Dough Topping:
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (2.55 oz / 72 gm)
1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (2.6 oz / 74 gm)
1/2 c. unbleached pastry flour (2.35 oz / 67 gm)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
3 T. sugar (1.3 oz / 37.5 gm)
1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest
6 T. unsalted butter, frozen (3.0 oz / 85 gm)
cut into 6 or 8 pieces
9 Tablespoons buttermilk (4.8 oz / 136 gm)
plus an extra Tablespoon if needed
1/2 tsp. vanilla
For the top:
about 2 teaspoons cream or half-and-half
Demerara sugar for sprinkling

Place flours, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in bowl of food processor. Rub lemon zest into sugar with fingers and add to flour mixture. Process briefly to mix.
Add about one-third of the butter to processor and pulse until mixture resembles fine crumbs and no lumps of butter remain. Add the remaining butter and pulse until butter lumps are no larger than peas. At this point, you may put the mixture into a plastic bag or container and freeze until ready to use.

When you are ready to bake, bring pan with fruit filling out of the freezer. Place topping mix into a bowl and set in refrigerator. Measure out the 9 T. of buttermilk and mix in the vanilla, set that in refrigerator as well.
Set oven rack to middle position or slightly lower. Place silicone mats or aluminum foil on lowest rack or bottom of oven to catch drips. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Measure your pan before you put it into the oven. Then, place pan with fruit into oven. Bake for about 35-45 minutes, until fruit is very hot and bubbling around the edges.
About 5 to 10 minutes before the fruit is ready, take topping ingredients out of refrigerator. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients with a fork or spatula, being careful not to overmix. If more than a few dry crumbs remain, add in more buttermilk or other liquid as needed. The dough should be moist and fairly sticky.
Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and pat out to dimensions of pan. You did remember to measure it before you put it into the oven, right? Cut out some steam vents.
When fruit is ready, take it out of the oven and turn the oven up to 425 degrees.
Slide the dough onto the top of the fruit. I like to use a flexible cutting mat for this (just don't use the one you use to chop garlic and onions). Brush top of dough with cream or half-and-half, sprinkle with sugar.
Put it back in the oven and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until top is well browned and filling is bubbling vigorously.

Cool on rack for half-an-hour to 45 minutes. Best served warm, with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Inspirations for this recipe:
Mixed Berry Cobbler from Dorie Greenspan's "Baking from My Home to Yours," or here, or here.
Best Blueberry Cobbler in Cook's Illustrated magazine, July/August 2002 or here.
Best Blueberry Pie in Cook's Illustrated magazine, July/August 2008 or here.
and Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Pie and Pastry Bible" for general good advice, and weights and measures.