Cook it Fresh

Piece of fresh berry cobbler

For my first foray into the world of comparison cooking, I decided to make a seasonal favorite:  Blackberry cobbler.  For the past few Summers, we have traveled to a farm about half an hour from our house to pick fresh blackberries   and made cobbler from the berries that very same day.  So, my “fresher” version of blackberry cobbler uses fresh blackberries, picked just hours before the cobbler was made, and a made-from-scratch cobbler topping. However, I know that the biggest drawback to making cobbler with fresh berries is the cost.  It cost $11 to pick the 2 pints of berries that went into this dish, and fresh blackberries can be even more expensive in grocery stores.  So I decided to try the same recipe with canned blackberries and, for the topping, Bisquick.

First, for the homemade, fresh berry cobbler, I used the same recipe I have been using for years, a simpler version of the blackberry cobbler recipe from Dorry Sander’s Country Cooking:

Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients:

• 4 cups blackberries
• 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 4 Tablespoons butter, melted
• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tablespoons cream

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Gently toss the berries with the cornstarch, lemon juice, zest, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1 Tablespoon of the melted butter.  Set aside.

2.  In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt.   Beat together the egg, cream, remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, and remaining 3 Tbsp. of melted butter. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients.  Mix just until a soft dough forms.

3.  Pour the blackberry mixture into a 9-inch pie plate or 8 inch square baking dish.  Using a large spoon, top the berries with large dollops of the cobbler batter.  Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.  Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

The results of the homemade blackberry cobbler recipe were, predictably, delicious.  The cobbler topping was a little crunchy on top but with a soft, delicate crumb underneath that soaked up all the wonderful blackberry juice.  The berries themselves were still a bit firm but oozing red, sticky juice and had just the right amount of lemony zing thanks to the addition of lemon zest and juice.

It would be hard to find a cobbler recipe easier than this one.  You basically mix up the filling ingredients, then mix up the cobbler topping and spoon it on top. It took exactly 1 hour from the time I started measuring ingredients till I took the cobbler out of the oven, and 45 minutes of that was just baking time.  The cost was fairly high, as I thought it would be.  The fresh berry cobbler cost about $14 with the bulk of that going towards the fresh berries.

I have never used bisquick before, but it seems to be a staple of many cobbler recipes online and I thought it might cut down slightly on the preparation time.  The only canned blackberries I could find were in a “light syrup”  so I ended up tweaking the filling a little bit to accommodate the extra liquid and sugar.  If you can find plain canned berries, not in syrup, they would probably be better; just increase the amount of sugar in the filling to about 1/3 cup or so. I used a mash-up of several different bisquick cobbler recipes for the topping.  Here is the final recipe I used for the “faster” version of blackberry cobbler:

Bisquick Blackberry Cobbler

Filling:

• 2 15 ounce cans blackberries in light syrup, drained
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon peel
• 1 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/4 cup sugar

Topping:

• 2 cups Bisquick
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 milk
• 1 Tablespoon butter, melted

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  To the drained berries, add the cornstarch, lemon peel, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup sugar.  Stir very lightly to combine and set aside while you prepare the topping.

2.  In a medium bowl, stir together the Bisquick mix, 2 Tablespoons of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Add the milk and melted butter and stir to form a soft dough.

3.  Pour the berry mixture into a 9 inch pie plate or 8 by 8 inch square baking dish and top with large spoonfuls of the batter.  Sprinkle the remaining 1 Tablespoon sugar over the batter.

4.  Bake cobbler for 20 to 25 minutes or until berries are bubbly and topping is browned.  Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream.

There was a big difference in the appearance between the two even before I baked the cobbler.  The berries in the “quicker” cobbler were mushier, less plump and juicy looking, and the batter on top was kind of grey and sticky looking.  After baking, these differences in appearance remained and were reflected by the difference in flavor.  The topping tasted stickier, salty, and kind of had a chemical taste to it.  It became hard and dense after baking rather than crunchy and light.  I was less disappointed by the taste and texture of the canned berries than I expected.  They were less flavorful than the fresh ones, but were still pleasing in taste and texture.  The canned berries rendered a more mellow, sweet filling while the fresh ones had a tangier edge but both were pleasant and flavorful.

The preparation time for the two was almost identical (15 minutes) but the baking time was shorter for the bisquick recipe (25 vs. 45 minutes).  The biggest difference was in the cost of the berries:  $6 vs. $11 for the fresh. The bisquick baking mix, however, ended up being more expensive than I expected and I had to use over half the box just for this one recipe.  The total cost of the bisquick recipe was about $10, less than the fresh recipe, but not as big a difference as I expected due to the high cost of the bisquick.

Bottom Line:

If you’re on a tight budget, get a craving for blackberry cobbler when the berries are out of season, or just prefer a sweeter, mellower cobbler,  canned berries are a great alternative.  However, I would not recommend using bisquick to make your topping, no matter what the circumstances!  It not only tasted salty, tough, and chemically,  but also did not save any time or money.

Homemade Cobbler Bisquick Cobbler

Price:  $14                                               Price:  $10

Time:  1 Hour                                         Time:  40 Minutes