Homemade Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

   Libby Klein On my last posting day, I told you of my love for fruit desserts which sounds way more healthy than it is in my case. My other love is ice cream. Put the two together and BAM! I'm a happy girl. And I don't just mean for summer. I'd eat ice cream in January standing in snow at the North Pole. My favorite flavor is vanilla, but I'm very picky about my vanilla. If I don't see those little black specs I'm not interested. That's what coffee ice cream is for - when you don't have good vanilla. (Coffee ice cream was my gateway to drinking coffee - but that's another story.) 

A couple weeks ago, I got so excited over the fat juicy blackberries at the farmer's market that I bought too many. Then I made a huge blackberry cobbler. You can see the recipe here. It was after making this huge cobbler that I remembered - my kids don't live at home anymore. I'm gonna have to eat this whole cobbler by myself. I am not up to that challenge. I love desserts, but a little goes a long way with me before I'm emotionally moving on to the next thing. That's when I thought about folding the cobbler into my other favorite dessert. 

You might know that I used to have a professional ice cream batch freezer in my kitchen back when my daughter in law and I had an ice cream business. In spectacular timing that defines most of my life, we launched it right before covid hit. Needles to say it did not survive. But my love for making homemade ice cream far precedes 2020. And it all began with Alton Brown. This recipe is adapted from his Vanilla Custard.

Most of this is taken right from of Alton Brown's recipe with minor changes. My memory says that I learned about adding alcohol from Alton Brown's Good Eats episode on ice cream. It acts as antifreeze and keeps the ice cream from getting too hard. I also remember it being a part of the original recipe but when I looked it up, it is not there. But trust me. You will be happy you added the alcohol when your ice cream is the perfect frozen consistency.

Homemade Blackberry Cobbler Ice Cream

Ingredients:

3 cups half-and-half
1 cup heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean scraped
½ cup vanilla rum (for anti-freeze)

Blackberry Cobbler (or any leftover pie or cobbler will do)

 Directions: 

Place the half-and-half and the heavy cream into a medium saucepan, over medium heat. Bring the mixture just to a simmer, stirring occasionally, and remove from the heat.

 

In a medium bowl whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla bean and whisk to combine. 

Temper the cream mixture into the eggs and sugar by gradually adding small amounts, until about a third of the cream mixture has been added. Pour in the remainder and return the entire mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat. Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon and reaches 170 to 175 degrees F. Pour the mixture into a container and allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Stir in the rum. Place the mixture into the refrigerator and once it is cool enough not to form condensation on the lid, cover and store for 4 to 8 hours or until the temperature reaches 40 degrees F or below.

 

Pour into a countertop ice cream maker and process according to the manufacturer's directions. This should take approximately 25 to 35 minutes. While the ice cream is churning, scoop your blackberry cobbler into little pieces and chill them. When your ice cream is thick like soft serve, stop the machine and spoon the vanilla ice cream onto the blackberry cobbler pieces. Gently fold them together until you have a nice swirl. Freeze for another 3 to 4 hours to allow the ice cream to harden.

I actually made a double batch of the frozen custard and ended up with three kinds of ice cream. A coffee ice cream with Kahlua and chocolate shavings, and caramel ice cream with caramel liquor and a caramel swirl. Let me know in the comments if you'd like me to post the recipe for either of these on the blog. And let me know what is your favorite ice cream flavor.

Gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister and her aunt Ginny are looking forward to a quiet, homey Christmas at their B&B in Cape May, but unfortunately, death isn’t taking a holiday this year . . .

Ever since Thanksgiving, Poppy and her pals have been left with an unsolved mystery of the romantic kind. But at least this mystery isn’t the kind that involves murder. That all changes when the body of a fish supplier is discovered in the kitchen of her ex’s restaurant—and he’s frozen, not fresh.

For once, it’s not Poppy who tripped over the corpse, yet she can’t escape being drawn in since the victim has a note taped to him reading Get Poppy. Figures—an engagement ring isn't labeled, but the dead guy is addressed to her. Now, while Aunt Ginny plans a tree-trimming party and pressures Poppy to decode a mysterious old diary, the amateur sleuth is asked to “unofficially” go undercover at the restaurant to help the police. Until then, the only crime Poppy had been dealing with was Figaro’s repeated thefts of bird ornaments from the tree; now it looks like it’s going to be a murder-y Christmas after all.

 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Gluten-Free Summer Blackberry Cobbler #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

  Libby Klein My favorite dessert is fruit. Not righteous fruit that your nutritionist would get excited about. But lightly sugared fruit baked in a crust or topped with a crumble. Then add some ice cream on top and you've got a winner. I'll eat a plain peach or some berries at lunch time but that isn't dessert.

Blackberry cobbler is a summer favorite. Probably because I remember my mother making one on top of the stop when I was a kid. Hers was kind of chicken n dumplings style, while mine is more traditional - until I do something crazy with it! You'll have to come back and see how I turn cobbler and ice cream on its head. 

Make sure your berries are very ripe. Nobody likes sour cobbler. Let me know in the comments what your favorite summer fruit dessert is.

Summer Blackberry Cobbler

serves 8

Ingredients

½ cup coconut sugar (or granulated sugar)
2 tablespoons cornstarch
6 cups fresh blackberries
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted (or refined coconut oil for dairy free)
2 1/2 cups gluten-free flour (or all purpose)
1 1/2 cups coconut sugar (or granulated sugar)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk (or dairy free alternative)
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted (or refined coconut oil for dairy free)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.

Place blackberries into a mixing bowl and drizzle with melted butter. Sprinkle cornstarch and sugar over top, then toss until evenly coated. Add to the baking dish.

In another mixing bowl: Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Stir in milk, melted butter, and vanilla until combined but still slightly lumpy like pancake batter. Pour over the berries in the baking dish.

Bake in the preheated oven until berries are tender and the crust is golden brown, 55 to 60 minutes.

    Serve with vanilla ice cream – or ­– come back at the end of the month and see what I do with     the cobbler next!

Gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister and her aunt Ginny are looking forward to a quiet, homey Christmas at their B&B in Cape May, but unfortunately, death isn’t taking a holiday this year . . .

Ever since Thanksgiving, Poppy and her pals have been left with an unsolved mystery of the romantic kind. But at least this mystery isn’t the kind that involves murder. That all changes when the body of a fish supplier is discovered in the kitchen of her ex’s restaurant—and he’s frozen, not fresh.

For once, it’s not Poppy who tripped over the corpse, yet she can’t escape being drawn in since the victim has a note taped to him reading Get Poppy. Figures—an engagement ring isn't labeled, but the dead guy is addressed to her. Now, while Aunt Ginny plans a tree-trimming party and pressures Poppy to decode a mysterious old diary, the amateur sleuth is asked to “unofficially” go undercover at the restaurant to help the police. Until then, the only crime Poppy had been dealing with was Figaro’s repeated thefts of bird ornaments from the tree; now it looks like it’s going to be a murder-y Christmas after all.

 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/

Blackberry Cobbler

By guest Mollie Cox Bryan

Even though my book (Scrapbook of Secrets) has a scrapbooking theme, food is front and center at times. Scrapbooking can be a social hobby and often where we gather, we also have food. I’m so happy to be posting here today because I know the writers and the fans of this blog really get that. I am preaching to the choir!

This is one of my favorite scenes in the book. It tells you a lot about Vera, one of my main characters.

Vera made her mind up to stop dieting last year. She decided to become a better role model for her students—and there was just no point in starving herself any longer. She would never be a ballerina. She had been on a diet for thirty years or so—after her dance teacher, when Vera was about ten—made a remark about her thighs.

Forget her. I am not starving anymore.

It was so freeing.

The first thing she ate—really ate, with abandon— was her mother’s blackberry cobbler. Not a piece of cobbler, but the whole thing.

She sat at her mother’s 1950s chrome and turquoise Formica kitchen table—the same table on which she ate almost every meal when she was a girl—and ate a piece while it was still fresh out of the oven.

“Do you have any vanilla ice cream, Ma?”

“Huh? Yeah, sure,” answered Beatrice, who was visibly taken aback by her daughter’s sudden love of blackberry cobbler.

“I have always loved it, Ma,” Vera said, as if reading her mind. “I just was always watching my weight. And I figure, well, what’s the point?”

Vera then ate a slice covered with vanilla ice cream. Real ice cream—for her mother never bought any thing low fat or low carb or low sugar. She almost fainted at the creaminess, the mixture of textures and temperatures in her mouth. The next piece was covered with dollop of whipped cream, while her mother tried to look busy wiping of a non-existent crumb from the teal, speckled Formica counter, not wanting to stare at her only child as she seemed to be enjoying a private moment with the cobbler.

As Vera relished each bite, the mixture of the gritty and gelatinous mingled with sweet, juicy berries, covered with a light but substantial crust, her mother gave up her stance and watched intently. Her mouth hung open after Vera’s fourth piece.

She handed her the pan. “Here, baby, this is the best way. Have at it,” she said and left Vera alone with the blackberry cobbler.  Later she explained that she felt it was the only proper thing to do.

After all, Vera had not touched cobbler, pie, or cake since she was ten-years-old.

So, Vera had put on about twenty pounds. But it was a good gain. She had more breasts and hips and thighs than ever before. And she loved her body. It was hers and it did everything it was supposed to do and more. She rewarded it often with good chocolate—preferably fresh and artisanal. She was still a graceful woman and dancer, even with the extra twenty pounds and she was a happier person.

Beatrice’s Blackberry Cobbler
(Vera’s first cobbler after years of not eating anything sweet)

2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 cups blackberries, picked over, rinsed & drained
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, cold, cut in small pieces
1/4 cup boiling water

In a large bowl, stir together the cornstarch and 1/4 cup cold water until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Add 1 cup of sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries; combine gently. Transfer to a cast iron skillet.

In a bowl, combine the flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 1/4 cup boiling water and stir the mixture just until a soft dough is formed.

Bring the blackberry mixture to a boil, stirring. Drop spoonfuls of the dough carefully onto the boiling mixture, and bake the cobbler on a baking sheet (line with foil to avoid a mess) in the middle of a preheated 400°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the topping is golden. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Photo by Gluten Free Cooking

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cookingglutenfree/

Mollie Cox Bryan is a freelance writer, a mystery author, and the author of "Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies," "Mrs. Rowe's Restaurant Cookbook" and a NEW mystery novel, "Scrapbook of Secrets: A Cumberland Creek Mystery." Who says writers can't cook?