Berry good (TWD)

I've mentioned before that my husband Jamie gives me a hard time about eating leftover desserts for breakfast.  In the case of this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, I really don't see how he can complain.  Biscuits and fruit--sounds like breakfast to me!  

This week's selection is Mixed Berry Cobbler, chosen by Beth of Our Sweet Life.  I really enjoyed this pick, in part because it's something I probably wouldn't have chosen myself.  I like fruit desserts, but I make crisps much more often than cobblers.  And even when I do make cobbler, it's more likely to be something like peach, rather than berry.  I tend to reserve berries for eating straight up or in fruit salad dressed with a bit of sugar or simple syrup.  But one of the great things about this recipe is that it works quite well with frozen fruit, so I can have my cake and eat it too, as it were.  =)

Another reason I enjoyed this recipe is that it gave me a chance to try out a new flavor combination.  Dorie's filling recipe calls for a mix of berries, some sugar, cornstarch and lemon or lime zest.  I'd usually go with the lemon without even thinking much about it.  But lately I've seen quite a few recipes for raspberry with lime, and I've been wanting to see if I like it.  So I went with a combination of raspberries, blackberries and lime zest.

I wasn't sure that I was in the mood for a big cobbler, so I decided to make half the recipe and make it in two smaller dishes (about 2-cup capacity each).  Even though the recipe says you don't need to thaw the frozen fruit, I was a bit skeptical, so after tossing the berries with the sugar, cornstarch and lime zest, I microwaved them for a couple minutes on half power.  Oh, and because a number of people mentioned in the P&Q that the cobbler was a bit soupy, I used close to the original amount of cornstarch even though I was halving the recipe.  I went with the topping recipe as written, patting the dough into two rounds and topping each dish with one.  I baked my cobblers for about 30 minutes, until the tops were lightly browned and the juices were very bubbly around the edges.  

The verdict?  Very tasty.  I thought that the simple biscuit topping was a nice contrast to the tart fruit, and I really liked the bit of lime in there.  I'll definitely make this again.  Probably even later this week, since I still have half a bag each of the raspberries and blackberries.  And it sounds better than the other things I have on hand for breakfast.  =)  

Want to give it a try yourself?  Check out Beth's blog, or check out this page, where Dorie shared the recipe with NPR.