Orange blossom berry & buttermilk cobbler.

I needed to find out that sometimes even your best is not good enough. And that in those times you have to give it everything you’ve got. And then move on.”

Ruth Reichl

How ironic is it, when you test recipes for a cookbook that probably won’t see the light anytime soon...it is a dream to cherish, even if its not meant to happen...and yet I will always hold onto it.

The day after my mom went to my grandmother’s house for a while, I couldn’t find the energy to cook and so I asked my brother to get us a mixed grilled from our neighborhood Lebanese restaurant.

On a dinner table silence prevailed for few moments, until my brother finally decided to fill the air: “do you remember that dish you made when we were in Houston..with jam & biscuit..cobel, coobler...”

A cobbler I responded?

“YES!! It was so good...could you make it again?”

The memory took me back to Houston when we used to stay in a temporarily apartment with a kitchen we barely used for daily meals. All of my recipes were simple enough that they didn’t require a mixer or any special equipment.

The cobbler I made that day was by Julia Turshen from her book Small Victories all of which are accessible & effortless.

I spread the filling in a large pyrex glass casserole that we used to roast almost everything in, and topped it with a buttermilk biscuit topping made with a fork & small bowl.

Dolloped on top of that, some macerated berries and baked blindly for 1 hour.

I thought of sharing the recipe here with a few changes....I’ve doubled the buttermilk biscuit topping in order to have a balance with the filling.

I added a hint of orange blossom to boost the fruity flavor of the berries, like my dear friend Ellen Grey, when describing that berries are best with just the slightest intervention, as seen on her blog:

https://www.nomoremrnicepie.com/blog/a-few-words-on-june-strawberries

The equal parts of a buttery rich crust mixed with the warm, aromatic fruity filling, must be topped with a generous dollop of ice cream.

Filling :

900g / 2lb of mixed berries, rinsed.

1 tsp of orange blossom ( good quality).

2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice.

(50g) ¼ cup sugar.

Sea salt.

Topping :

(260g) 2 cup all-purpose flour.

4 tablespoons of cornstarch.

100g ( 1/2 cup of sugar).

110g unsalted butter, melted.

(250ml) 1 cup buttermilk or full fat Laban.

Preheat your oven to 375°F. Lightly greasethe bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with the butter.

For the filling:

In a bowl Put the berries and drizzle with the lemon juice. Add the sugar, orange blossom and apinch of salt,  combine all of the ingredients gently by using spatula.

For the topping :

In a large bowl, combine the remaining sugar, the flour, cornstarch , and ½ tsp salt. Add melted butter & buttermilk and whisk until all the ingredients incorporated.

Use 1 tablespoon to dollop the dough evenly over the berries. Chill in fridge for 10 minutes.

Put the baking dish on lined baking sheet with parchment paper to catch the drips.

Bake the cobbler until the topping is golden brown and the berries are bubbling, about 1 hour. Let stand aton a wire rack for 15 minutes before serving so that the juices are thickened.

Serve warm with vanilla ice

Notes:

I don’t recommend using strawberries cuz they contain so much water, even if add more cornstarch I’m afraid the taste would be a bit bitter.

Taste the berries and adjust the sweetness of by using sugar & lemon.

and also to check how juicy they areif you’re using raspberries or blackberries I recommend adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.