TWD: Mixed Berry Cobbler

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life: Mixed Berry Cobbler. The great thing about this recipe is that you can make it year round. While fresh berries also work in this, Dorie actually intends for this recipe to be made with a bag of frozen mixed berries. Not only does this make the recipe practical, it also makes it very affordable. You can use any type of frozen berry (individually frozen, not in syrup), but if you are particularly fond of strawberries, you'll have to pare back on them, as they contain too much liquid to be used in this recipe. I used a bag of frozen mixed berries containing blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries. I heeded Dorie's warning and only included a few of the strawberries in the bag.


Dorie describes the cobbler topping as biscuit like. I think that's a very appropriate description for the texture of this crust. While several other TWD bakers complained that the crust lacked flavor and did not enjoy it, I thought it was quite good. My only complaint about the recipe is the crust to fruit ratio - there aren't nearly enough berries in this cobbler if you only use the indicated 5 cups. I prefer much more fruit in my cobbler and will probably double the amount of fruit in this the next time I make it. My husband, however, who is a crust lover, had no complaints whatsoever. So I guess it just depends on personal preference! :) I also used a trick I learned from my favorite cobbler recipe when making this - I brushed the top of the crust with some milk and sprinkled it with granulated sugar to add a little extra sweetness and a nice crunch to the the top.


I did have one small problem with this cobbler - the baking time. I found that even at 75 minutes, the upper end of Dorie's recommended baking time, the crust was still raw in the middle. I had to bake it for an additional 30 minutes before it was fully baked throughout. What's nice though, is that Dorie has you cut out a little hole in the middle of the cobbler, which makes it very easy to check the crust for doneness. If you find yourself baking the cobbler for a longer period of time like I did, be sure to cover it up with foil before it goes from golden brown to burnt!



So how did it compare to my favorite cobbler recipe? It was good, but I will probably stick with my old favorite for a few different reasons: (1) the spices add a nice subtle flavor to the crust (2) it uses milk instead of heavy cream and I could not taste a difference in Dorie's crust with the heavy cream - I prefer to consumer fewer calories if possible :) (3) the brown sugar lends the crust a sweeter flavor than the plain white sugar.


Thanks again to Beth for choosing the Mixed Berry Cobbler. It was so simple to make and perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. If you would like the recipe, you can find it here (with recipe tips here), or on Our Sweet Life. Make sure you visit the TWD Blog Roll to see everyone else's cobbled creations.