After our blueberry picking outing, I was left with a ton of blueberries.  Ok, so about half of our haul got eaten on the way home, but that still left us with a fair amount of fruit.  I thought about doing a pie or a tart, but in my week with the girls at home between the end of school and the beginning of their summer activities, making crust just didn’t sound like that much fun.   So, I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks: Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home.  His recipe manages to keep the freshness of the blueberries, and is simple enough to make with kids.  You can heap mounds of blueberries into the dish (seriously, if you have a bit more than the recipe calls for, just toss ‘em in), and the result is finger licking good.   Keller suggests serving it hot with Vanilla ice-cream, but I served mine at room temperature with Basil whipped cream.  One thing we did, and you absolutely must do (Keller highly recommends it) is try to save some leftovers to have with your morning coffee.  Trust me, this cobbler is great fresh, but it only gets better a day later.  Enjoy!

Blueberry Cobbler

Adapted from Thomas Keller: Ad Hoc at Home

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

 

Topping

1¾ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

½ cup buttermilk

 

Filling

8 cups (4 pints) fresh blueberries

¼ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest

 

Cinnamon Sugar

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.

 

Put butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed to combine, then beat on medium speed for approximately 3 minutes until the mixture is light and creamy. Scrape down the sides as necessary.

 

Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated.  Add the dry ingredients in three batches, alternating with the buttermilk in two batches (dry, buttermilk, dry, buttermilk, dry). Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again to make sure all the ingredients are combined.

Meanwhile, place the blueberries in a large bowl and toss with the sugar, flour, and zest.  Spread berry mixture in an 11 inch square baking dish or a 9×13 inch baking pan.  Spoon mounds of the batter over the berries, leaving space between the mounds.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over the batter.

 

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling and the topping is golden brown and cooked through.  If the top becomes too brown before everything is cooked through, lay a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the cobbler. Let the cobbler stand for at least 10 minutes before serving.  Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

 

Note: I garnished mine with basil leaves to complement the whipped cream and add a fresh, interesting flavor.