Years ago, in New Bern, North Carolina, Bill Smith’s great-grandmother offered him a deal. Anytime he’d pick a quart of blackberries, she’d bake a pie. “She was a fabulous cook,” he says. So each year, when the berries were ripe, he walked along the railroad tracks gathering fruit. Today, Smith’s blackberries come from a prolific patch across the street from the legendary Crook’s Corner. During the summer, they play starring roles in desserts such as this blackberry and peach cobbler, topped with a pecan-studded, shortbreadlike crust that has been on the restaurant’s menu for decades. “That crust recipe was here when I got here twenty-three years ago,” Smith says. “It’s somebody’s grandma’s, probably, and it tastes like a delicious cookie.” Easier than pie, this timeless cobbler feeds a small crowd of hungry berry pickers.
Blackberry and Peach Cobbler
Yield: Serves 12
Filling
8 cups fresh blackberries
8 cups peeled, sliced peaches
3 cups sugar
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Crust
1¼ cup (2½ sticks) butter, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup light brown sugar
½ cup crystallized ginger, chopped
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
4 cups all-purpose flour
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- For the filling: Place fruit in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt. Sift dry ingredients over fruit and fold them in with a spatula. Then let fruit mixture sit for 20 minutes.
- For the crust: Place butter and white and brown sugars in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy. Add ginger and pecans, stirring to combine. In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, salt, and flour. Add dry ingredients to butter-and-sugar mixture one cup at a time. The result should resemble cookie dough.
- Pour fruit filling into a deep 4-quart baking dish, and then drop pieces of dough over the top to cover.
- Place baking dish in a jelly-roll pan—to catch any filling that may overflow—and bake for 1 hour. Check the cobbler periodically to make sure the crust doesn’t become too brown before the filling is fully cooked. (You may need to turn the oven temperature down to 325°F.) Filling should be bubbly around the edges.
- Serve with fresh whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or both.
Recipe from pastry chef Bill Smith of Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.