Ree To The Rescue

Post-pregnancy I've been trying to cut down the calories by cutting down on dessert in my life. Where before I would indulge my sweet tooth on a daily basis, (you better believe I made the most of those 9 months of being pregnant!) now I have to seriously discipline myself. It's an uphill battle, to say the least. I was a good girl for a few days, but then I went ahead and bought some french vanilla gelato from my grocery store. Big. Mistake. Because then I started thinking of all kinds of sinful ways to incorporate the gelato into my every day meals. For days it was stashed at the very back of my freezer on purpose. I swear I could hear it beckoning me each time I opened the door to the freezer, enticing me in a dulcet tone ... "Come away wiz moi, mon cher". Yes, my gelato has a french accent. It's french vanilla after all. Duh.

Still, my breaking point did not come till early this morning. I was looking through PW's cookbook to see what I could make for the FFPW - Desserts round-up. And instantly I knew that her Blackberry Cobbler would be the perfect Fred Astaire to my gelato's Ginger Rogers. Not only that, but I knew I could count on Ree to make it easy and quick for me. Two extremely important factors, especially on a day when your baby has been crying all damn day without any fathomable reason (do you moms out there know what I mean? Please say 'yes' and tell me I'm not going crazy!). Oh, one other thing - I was absolutely craving raspberries, so I decided to make it a mostly raspberry cobbler, with a few blackberries thrown in for fun.

My little raspberry, I want to squeeeeeeeeze you! Oh, erm, please ignore my dry, cracked skin - I think it's a casualty of breastfeeding.

PW's Favorite Berry Cobbler (find the original recipe in her cookbook or on her website)
Serves 6

Click here for printable recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup self-raising flour
1/2 cup + 3 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted
1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries/blackberries

Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Butter a baking dish.

2. Whisk together the flour and 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl. Pour in the milk and whisk till combined. Then add in the melted butter and keep whisking until fully incorporated.

3. Pour batter into baking dish and sprinkle berries all over it, distributing evenly. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of sugar over the whole thing.

Oh man, look at those insane raspberries. I could eat this as is.

But I'll throw in a few blackberries too, and now it looks even better!

4. Bake in the oven for 40-45 mins, or until golden and bubbly. 10 mins before the end, take out the dish and sprinkle the last 1 tbsp of sugar over the top - this just gives it that extra crunch. Once it's done, let it cool for 15-20 mins before serving with mandatory scoop of vanilla ice-cream/gelato. Stores well in the fridge, covered in foil, for quite a few days.

Verdict: *Smacking lips* I was licking that very spoon before sitting down to write this post. The aroma as it was baking in the oven was divine - strong enough to counter B's diaper smell! *Sigh* Feels good to have my raspberry craving satisfied. And my lovely french vanilla gelato paired sublimely with it. You've got to make this, dear readers. Cobblers are now my no-fail, go-to desserts. And this one is so easy, it's ridiculous. And yet it will bring out moans of delight in even the most crotchety of people, the manliest of men, the pickiest of kids. But listen, and listen well. You must have it warm, and you must have it with vanilla ice-cream. Don't try to separate the two - it would be a tragedy. It'll make me cry.