Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cherry-Raspberry Cobbler

This week's choice for Tuesdays with Dorie was Cherry-Rhubarb Cobbler, chosen by Amanda of Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake... (Hop on over to her blog for the recipe.)


I was hoping to actually use rhubarb in this cobbler. The notion of contrasting the sweet cherries with the tart rhubarb sounded intriguing. But alas, rhubarb season is over here. And can you find frozen rhubarb in any of the stores? No way. Maybe it's because every farmhouse and quite a few town and city houses have rhubarb in their gardens. People don't buy rhubarb in southern Wisconsin, apparently -- they grow it themselves or get it from their neighbors.

We don't grow rhubarb. But our neighbor Ardie does. I went over to see if she might have any in her freezer. "Not this year," she said. "My rhubarb did really badly this spring," pointing at a few small, spindly stalks. I called my friend Edie who lives about 6 blocks away. No rhubarb. She said it's never grown well for her since she moved off the farm and into town.

Jim said "Great! I don't like rhubarb." I said, "How do you know? I've known you for twenty-one years and never even seen you taste it." He said, "Yeah -- that's because I don't like rhubarb."

Fate was against me. But then Fate nudged me in a new direction -- our neighbors Deb and Lin stopped by to say, "Can you take care of our cats for a week? Oh, and please feel free to pick and eat our red raspberries while we're gone."

O.K. Fate was telling me to make a cherry and red-raspberry cobbler. I already had 20 ounces of frozen sweet black cherries. I thawed them and added in 12 ounces of fresh ripe raspberries. I added about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to give it at least some tartness, kept the sugar the same, and used 1/2 teaspoon fresh grated ginger and 1/4 teaspoon ground dried ginger. I increased the thickener to 2 1/2 tablespoons of potato starch since the fruit mixture had a lot of liquid.

Once again, I decided to pre-bake the fruit before putting on the topping, as suggested by a recipe from Cook's Illustrated. I pre-baked it for 25 minutes, made up the biscuit dough while it was baking (for once, I followed the recipe exactly!) and then divided it into 16 pieces. Dropped them on top of the hot fruit mixture (they sank in a bit, it was still very liquid), sprinkled with ginger sugar, and baked for another 25 minutes.

What is ginger sugar? It's the sugar left over at the bottom of a bag of candied ginger. I love it! Every time I open a new bag (wonderful Australian candied ginger, from Penzeys) I dump in some extra sugar, just to make sure I have enough.


We let the cobbler cool for 20 minutes and dug in! Perfect! The topping was done, the filling was just runny enough, and the ginger added a wonderful, subtle kick. This will become my "go-to" cobbler recipe!

And I think I will plant some rhubarb.

25 comments:

Di said...

The raspberries sounds like a fine addition. I need some neighbors like that. =) Your cobbler looks delicious.

Steph said...

Your cobbler looks great! I was going to make my cobbler with raspberries too.. but then I just used strawberries and blueberries because they were in my fridge. Don't you just love CI's tips.. I think that they turn great recipes into excellent recipes! I also prebaked my fruit too.

marae said...

that looks so wonderful...and wow you have neighbors that grow rhubarb?! how amazing! btw my dough didn't spread either and i wondered if something was wrong. ha!

Sherry Trifle - Lovely Cats said...

Your cobbler looks just beautiful and absolutely delicious! I will have to give the recipe a try once my oven arrives - end of next week.

Engineer Baker said...

I want to cat-sit with raspberry privileges! Lucky you!

Anonymous said...

Oh, I was thinking the same thing about needing to plant some rhubarb...definitely on the list. I grew up in Northeast Iowa and, like you said, everyone grew it and I miss having rhubarb crisp every year and other things...def need to plant rhubarb. Are you with me?

I thought my cobbler looked fairly good until I saw yours...wow, that looks so great! I would need to fill my tiny bowl up several times with yours, I'm afraid. Raspberries are my favorites!

I love your posts...I love the little stories that come with them and the little vignettes of life in southern Wisconsin...very lovely. It reminds me of reading those books by Jan Karon, the Mitford series, which I just loved. If you have not read them, I think you would enjoy them also. You write like that. So nice.

Thanks for sharing!

CB said...

Mmmm I bet the raspberries and cherries were amazing together! Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought

BAKE-EN said...

I save the sugar from the bottom of candied ginger too! When I worked at a chocolate shop they used to get 30 pound bags of candied ginger. There was so much sugar at the bottoms of those bags, it was great. Cherry raspberry cobbler sounds delicious!

Michelle H said...

That combo sounds delish! :o)

kimberly salem said...

it looks yummy! raspberries sound like they would go really well with the cherries.

Unknown said...

Great idea with the ginger sugar...the cobbler with raspberries sounds delicious!

Meandering Eats said...

Wow, that sounds incredible and looks fabulous. I love how your fruit combination occurred serendipitously! Also, yay for Penzey's, which I came across for the first time last month in Pittsburgh. Great job!

Dolores said...

I love your raspberry renovation. And the ginger sugar... brilliant!

Anonymous said...

Raspberries sound great. Looks beautiful.

Aaliyah said...

I wonder if there is a taste difference from rhubarb growing wild or one that we plant? Hmmm...google here I come.

Your cobbler looks amazing with that creme' on top! Can you send me some...please? lol.

I look forward to your post next week!

ostwestwind said...

I discovered preserving sugar, which contains pectin to prevent running. Your cobbler looks amazing, I am curious what you use next week for the rhubarb, plums perhaps?

Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Anne said...

Raspberries sound perfect! It looks wonderful and I'm glad you liked it.

Anonymous said...

yum, delicious! Your biscuits are shaped so perfectly.

Shari said...

Your cobbler looks delicious! Nice to have neighbors who share their rhubarb!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Judy said...

Your version with the raspberries and ginger sugar sounds delicious!

I've tagged you for a meme -- the details are on my blog.

Molly Loves Paris said...

Wow, you are full of good ideas. You juicy cobbler looks great, and I'm going to right away add sugar to my candied ginger.

Sarah said...

Thanks for visiting my blog! Your cobbler looks delicious as well, I love raspberries.

Shandy said...

Oh YUM! The raspberries sound delicious too! Especially straight from the raspberry bush. Your cobbler looks perfect too =D.

Jules Someone said...

That's gorgeous! And I'm going to have to remember the ginger sugar trick.

Flourchild said...

Love it! Your cobbler is great. to answer your question about the crust. I did like it, but..I do have a pie crust I like better. I have used it for 20 plus years, so it's kinda hard to get away from it!