Baking with Blueberries: Blueberry Cobbler

With blueberries at the height of their season and a 7 year old eager for more baking projects, I decided to try out the blueberry cobbler from Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson Rustic Fruit Desserts. The cobbler called for 6 1/2 cups of blueberries that were tossed in sugar. cornstarch, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

For the biscuit, I used a cuisanart to pulse cubes of butter with flour, cornmeal, sugar, and baking powder.  Then I mixed in a cup of buttermilk (the recipe calls for cream, but I had buttermilk in the house from the buckle baking).  We divided the dough into 9 biscuits that we arranged over the fruit and sprinkled with a generous 1/4 tsp of raw sugar.   

The crumbled came out of the over after 45 minutes golden brown and bubbling, and was delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Blueberry Cobbler with Cornmeal Biscuit

Adapted from "Rustic Fruit Desserts " by Cory Schreiber and Julie Richardson

Fruit filling

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 pints (6 1/2 cups or 2 pounds) blueberries, fresh or frozen

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Biscuit dough

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fine cornmeal

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 cup cold heavy cream or buttermilk

turbinado (raw) sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 2-quart baking dish.

2. To make the fruit filling, rub the sugar, cornstarch and salt together in a large bowl. Add the blueberries and toss to combine, then gently stir in the lemon juice. Spoon the fruit mixture into the prepared pan, being sure to scrape the bowl well.

3. To make the biscuit dough, whisk the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Add the butter and toss until evenly coated. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the size of peas. Pour in the cream and stir just until mixture comes together.

4. Divide the dough into 9 pieces and pat each piece into a 3-inch biscuit. Evenly distribute the biscuits atop the fruit filling, then sprinkle ~1/4 teaspoon of the turbinado sugar on each biscuit.

5. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden and the filling is bubbling in the middle. Serve warm.