September 4-Berry good

"Berry good" is a companion image to "Life is." See my July 31 blog entry.

Sean and I took the dog for a walk and picked blackberries along the way. We saw a few other families out doing the same thing, carrying bags and buckets.

There are a lot of blackberries in DuPont. The invasive (but very tasty) Himalayan blackberries have huge berries and huge thorny vines. The native blackberry is smaller but equally tasty.

I found a recipe for lavender berry crisp from a 2004 issue of Sunset magazine that I have to share. It is really good. This is a modified version and is now lavender berry cobbler. I bought some Louisiana cobbler mix on sale a few weeks ago and used that on top instead of the streusel in the recipe. Yum!

Lavender Berry Cobbler

2-3 T culinary lavender buds.
2 T quick-cooking tapioca.
1/4 cup + 2 T Splenda blend (or 3/4 cup sugar).
2 tsp. cinnamon.
4 cups blackberries or raspberries, rinsed.
4 cups blueberries, rinsed.

Layer berries in shallow baking dish. Whir lavender and tapioca in a blender or coffee grinder (found this to be a critical step, otherwise the tapioca doesn't soften). Mix dry ingredients and sprinkle evenly over berries.

Follow directions for Louisiana cobbler mix and pour evenly over berries. Bake at 375 for 45-50 minutes.

For crisp topping instead of cobbler mix: 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup butter cut into 1/2-inch chunks, 1/2 cup chopped almonds, 1/2 cup sugar. Combine all but almonds in food processor or blender. Stir in almonds. Squeeze handfuls of mixture together, then crumble over fruit mixture. Bake at 350 for 60-70 minutes.

Serve warm topped with ice cream. Double yum!