Blueberry Maple Cornmeal Cobbler

This past weekend, my family got together to do some cherry and blueberry picking, which was my first time berry picking in years (when you don't have a car, berry fields are kind of inaccessible).  Fortunately, blueberries and cherries are probably the easiest things to pick - no prickly thorns to watch out for and no crouching down getting your shorts covered in berry stains.  It was crazy hot out, but it was pretty nice ending up with bags full of fresh berries with fairly minimal work involved.

Of course, I now have a ton of blueberries to eat, but that's not going to be much of a problem for me because they're one of my favourite berries to eat on their own.  If you like your blueberries more in dessert form (or if you just love blueberries in any form), this is the dessert for you!

I love crisps and cobblers because they're such the perfect summertime dessert - they can be thrown together quickly and with minimal dishes, there's only one dish in the oven to worry about, they highlight summer berries, and they're a fairly light tasting way to end a meal out in your backyard on a summer evening.

Which is exactly how we enjoyed this blueberry maple cornmeal cobbler on Saturday night.

And because I made this for my family to enjoy, I didn't style and photograph it the way I normally would for a blog post, making sure I have optimal lighting, accessorizing with napkins, and cleaning up the sides of my bowl from berry stains.  Instead, what you see is exactly what we saw before we all devoured our servings. 

The only difference you may see in your own version is that your biscuit topping will probably be a bit puffier because unlike me, you probably know how to follow recipe directions.  I realized only 15 minutes after I had put the cobbler in the oven that I completely forgot to add baking powder to the biscuit dough.  I had a minor little meltdown thinking it would turn out to be a disaster, but luckily, it still turned out wonderfully!

I had reduced the amount of sugar in the blueberry filling and added pure maple syrup (plus some cinnamon) for flavour, and I loved the hint of maple in the sweet, warm berries.  I also loved the crunch of cornmeal in the topping that paired so well with the blueberries, along with the crunch from the turbinado sugar on top that also added a lovely sparkle to the dish!  The original recipe called for forming biscuits and placing those on top, but I just dropped my dough across more evenly so every piece could have some of the delicious cornmeal biscuit dough with it!

The only thing missing from the servings pictured was vanilla ice cream - I didn't think to add it when I first served it but it would have been the perfect addition to cool down and cut the sweetness of the filling a bit.  My sister tried some of the leftovers with ice cream and assured me that it was the way to go - so make sure to serve this with ice cream (and don't forget the baking powder)!

Blueberry Maple Cornmeal Cobbler

Adapted from a recipe in Rustic Fruit Desserts

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon unsalted butter at room temperature, for greasing the baking dish

Filling:

3 dry pints (2 pounds) fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Biscuit Topping:

1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup fine cornmeal

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cubed

1 cup cold heavy cream

1 tablespoon turbinado sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Butter a 2 or 3 quart glass baking dish.

To make the filling, wash and drain the blueberries and place in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cinnamon.  Toss with blueberries to coat.  Pour in the lemon juice and maple syrup and stir to combine.  Transfer to the prepared dish, using a flexible spatula to scrape down the bowl and get all the juices.

To make the biscuit topping, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Add the butter and use a pastry cutter or your fingers to cut in the butter until the mixture reaches the texture of large crumbs. Pour in the cream and stir just until the mixture comes together (it will be wet).

Drop the dough by large pieces on top of the blueberries, leaving some gaps.  Sprinkle turbinado sugar on top.  Transfer to preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until biscuits are golden and filling is bubbling in the middle.  Serve warm, but let servings sit for a few minutes before eating as the filling will be very hot!  Serving with ice cream will help with this too (and is highly recommended).  Leftovers will keep for a few days at room temperature, covered with a tea towel.

Banana Whoopie Pies with Caramel Cream Cheese Filling

I'm sure most people buy a bunch of bananas with the intention of eating them all before they get too ripe, which always seems to happen too quickly. I, on the other hand, buy a bunch of bananas with the explicit purpose of waiting for them to get ripe before I will pay any attention to them. Sure, regular bananas are great too, but there's not a whole lot you can do with them (other than putting them in my very favourite sandwich - grilled peanut butter and banana, aka the Elvis sandwich). Ripe bananas, on the other hand, are the key ingredient to so many of my favourite snacks and desserts.

There are three things I use ripe bananas most often in, all of which you have to try if you haven't before!

1. Green Monster smoothies

These may sound and look like something that came from the swamp, but they are so good and good for you too. Keep a bunch of ripe bananas in the freezer, then add them to this smoothie with some milk, a bit of nut butter, ground flax seeds, and the secret ingredient, spinach. The spinach adds a ton of nutrients but the best part is that you can't even taste it. The classic green monster recipe, developed by Angela from Oh She Glows is here, but check out this page for a ton of other ideas!

2. One ingredient ice cream

This has been very popular in the blog world, but if you haven't heard of it before, prepare to be amazed! Throw a frozen ripe banana in the blender or food processor and sit back to watch. Pretty soon, you will see it magically reach the consistency of soft serve ice cream, and that's all there is too it! It's great for quickly satisfying an ice cream craving, but leaves you guilt-free! Feel free to experiment with other add-ins, like this peanut butter banana ice cream on Two Peas and Their Pod.

3. Baked goods

This one is a no-brainer. Banana bread, muffins, and cake are pretty much the best things in the world. Ripe bananas even make a healthy substitute for fatty ingredients like butter in some baked goods.

This brings me to this recipe for banana whoopie pies, which may be one of the least healthy uses for ripe bananas, but just whip up a green monster smoothie after you make these and I think that will balance it out.


The recipe comes from Annie over at Annie's Eats, who has never failed to disappoint me with her recipes. I only discovered whoopie pies recently, but have since been trying as many flavour combinations as possible. If you haven't heard of a whoopie pie before, it's basically a little cake sandwich with frosting in the middle. You actually might want to introduce them as cake sandwiches when you offer them to people, as I've found most people don't really jump to try a whoopie pie when they have no idea what it is.

The original recipe called for a swiss meringue buttercream in the middle, but since cream cheese icing is and will always be my favourite, I used it instead. I brought these to a party and probably ended up eating half of them myself, but anyone who got a chance to try one loved them!

Banana Whoopie Pies with Caramel Cream Cheese Filling

Slightly adapted from Annie's Eats

Makes 30-36 sandwich cookies

Ingredients:

Caramel sauce:

½ cup sugar
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons heavy cream
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup mashed ripe banana (about 1-1½ bananas)
½ cup sour cream
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream cheese frosting:

4 oz cream cheese (about half a block)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup icing sugar
½ cup caramel sauce (above)
 
*This may make more filling than you will need for this recipe. I used the leftovers on my pancakes the next day!

Directions:

Caramel sauce:

1. Pour the sugar in an even layer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Watch closely, and once the sugar starts to liquefy around the edges, stir it gently with a spatula towards the center. Continue stirring gently until all of the sugar is melted and no hard bits remain.

2. Once the caramel reaches a deep amber color, remove it from the heat.

3. Carefully whisk in half of the cream. The mixture will bubble and steam violently. Stir until the cream is thoroughly combined, then whisk in the remaining cream.

4. If the mixture has clumped up at all, return the pan to medium-low heat and whisk gently until smooth. Stir in the salt and vanilla.

5. Remove from the heat and let cool. (The sauce can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator and reheated.)

Cookies:

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In a small bowl, combine the mashed banana and sour cream.

4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and the sugars on medium high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Blend in the egg and vanilla.

5. With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding in the dry ingredients and the banana mixture, mixing each addition until just incorporated.

6. Drop the mixture onto the prepared baking sheets a few inches apart and smooth into about 1¼ inch rounds. If you want the cookies to be more perfectly shaped, you can use a pastry bag with a round tip to pipe them into circles, but I just use a spoon.

7. Bake about 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are just set and the edges are starting to brown. Let cook on the baking sheets 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Filling:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Add the vanilla and mix to combine.

2. With the mixer on low, gradually add the icing sugar until combined, then increase the speed to medium-high to continue mixing until smooth and creamy.

3. Stir in the caramel sauce until well blended.

Assembling the whoopie pies:

1. Spread out the cooled cookies with the flat sides facing up, and match them into pairs by size as best as you can. Spread a dollop of filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair, then sandwich the cookies together. Store in an airtight container.