Berry season is always such a treat with fresh berries in plenty and for a good price. During this short but plentiful season, I often use berries to bake and make smoothies and salads. One of my favourite things to make though is a cobbler.
It's the American cousin to your British crumple. Oh so simple to make and even more satisfying to eat. I often find myself having just the cobbler as my only meal of the days. Shameless you say? Nope, I have no shame.
The one thing we cant agree on in this house is what goes best with it; vanilla ice cream or unsweetened marscapone. I prefer marscapone because it is super creamy and super rich, a perfect partner to this sweet and sour dessert.... but I'll leave that to you to decide.
Serves 6
For the Biscuit
200g all purpose flour
2 tsp baking Powder
100g chilled unsalted butter cut into cubes
50 - 75ml milk, and a bit extra for brushing
50g white sugar or castor sugar
A bit of granulated sugar to sprinkle on the raw pastry
For the berries
500g frozen mixed berries (you can use fresh berries, about 2 punnets each of strawberries (halved), blueberries and raspberries)
75ml balsamic vinegar
110g icing sugar
Pre-heat your oven to 180°C
In a bowl, mix together your berries with the sugar and balsamic vinegar then transfer them to a glass baking dish.
In a separate bowl, add your flour, sugar, salt and baking powder and mix well. Next, add the butter and use your fingers to work in the butter until the flour starts to look like little breadcrumbs. Add the milk little by little until the mixture begins to bind and form a dough. Knead into a ball. If the dough is too soft, add some flour little by little until the dough comes together.
Roll out the dough into a rectangle using a rolling pin but not too thin. Cut the dough right down the middle and then twice across; enough to get 6 thick squares.
Place the squares on top of the macerated berries in the baking dish, about an inch apart. Brush the top of the squares with milk and then sprinkle the granulated sugar over this.
Put the dish in the middle shelf of the oven for about 30 minutes or until the squares have a light golden brown colour.
Serve with some vanilla ice cream or unsweetened marscapone.