granny-style blackberry dumplin cobbler

Summers here on the farm bring about sporadic rain showers, lemonade on the back porch, the smell of freshly-cut hay bales, and blackberry picking... I LOVE some southern summers! My favorite summertime dessert is blackberry cobbler, hands-down. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn over here but mine is my favorite. So, since it's so scrumptious, I decided to share the recipe with you!

Disclaimer:
This is granny-style y'all. Like put your apron on, and get out your rolling pin (literally). Granny style because I didn't get the recipe from an actual granny, I got the *original* recipe from a Southern Living cookbook. This is my third summer to make it and I have since tweaked it to my liking. But really, this is not one of those throw-it-in-a-dish-and-pour-some-milk-on-top Pinterest things. It's a bit more work, but once you taste it you will NEVER make it any different!

Now get ready to channel your inner granny!

I am a visual learner, so of course I am going to include plenty of pictures for y'all.

Ingredients: This is all you need! Everything is made entirely from scratch.

• 3 cups fresh blackberries
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 6 Tbs butter
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 12 Tbs butter, softened at room temp, not in the microwave
• 3/4 cup cold water

1: Put a metal or glass mixing bowl and a pastry cutter in your freezer for the next 10 minutes or so. Then, gather some fresh blackberries, about 3 cups or so. Wash-em up!

2: Put the berries in a medium pot. Add sugar, the 6 tablespoons of butter, and the cup of water. Don't turn on any heat yet.

3: Get your chilled mixing bowl and pastry cutter from the freezer. Put flour in the bowl (I sift mine to make sure there aren't any clumps). Add the 12 tablespoons of butter and cut it into the flour with your pastry cutter. This will take a few minutes but make sure the butter is well blended into the flour. 

4: Gradually pour in the cold water as you knead the dough into a ball with your hands. Form into a dough ball and put it on wax paper. Don't add any more water or your dough will be too sticky. Yes. I learned the hard way... 

Then, add some flour to your rolling pin and roll out the dough. 

Put the dough into the freezer to chill while you work on your blackberries, and go ahead and preheat your oven to 420 degrees.

5: Turn your blackberries on medium heat. Bring to a boil until the juice gets thick and syrupy.

6: Get your chilled dough from the freezer. Use a pizza cutter to cut into long strips. Save about half the strips for the top of the cobbler, and cut the other half of strips into small pieces for dumplings.

7: Drop the dumplin pieces into the boiling blackberries and stir. Let cook for 5-10 minutes or until all the dumplin pieces are cooked. 

8: Pour the blackberry mixture into a greased square (8x8 or 9x9) dish. Top with the dough strips you saved and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 420 for 20-25 minutes or until dough on top is browned. Let cool then serve. Preferably with vanilla ice cream. YUM!