Blackberry Peach Bourbon Cobbler

End of the summer fruits…

Even though summer officially ends on September 22 I feel like we are getting to the end of our fresh berries and peaches and for the rest of the year will just have to take our chances getting a good ripe peach or plump sweet berries of any type.

I love blackberries, I love fresh peaches and I love cobbler. The way my mother and grandmother made cobbler was with pie crust strips on the bottom of the pan, then the fruit and on top of the fruit more pie crust strips and then baked until crisp, no ice cream or whipped cream, just fruit and crust.

While visiting New Orleans a couple of years ago I saw an article hanging on the wall at Willa Jean’s Restaurant about Kelly Field’s Blackberry and Bourbon Cobbler and I knew once again I was going to be searching for that recipe and guess what, it was in one of my old Southern Living magazines.

Kelly Fields is a chef/owner from Willa Jean in New Orleans. I have to say I had never heard of her until we lunched there. She grew up in South Carolina and worked at some of Charleston’s best patisseries. She started working with John Best and eventually took over his pastry program at Restaurant August in New Orleans. She believes farm fresh is the way to go and her recipes use a lot of different ingredients so you get a different taste in every bite. I remember the cornbread pudding with bourbon and buttermilk ice cream I had there. The pudding kind of soft, the fruit tasted of bourbon, the buttermilk ice cream kind of tangy and then there were these crunchy sweet cornbread crumbs/croutons to the side; lots of texture and different flavors.

I love reading about chef’s and how they got to where they are today and who couldn’t love a good pastry chef like Kelly Fields. So, here’s her recipe with just one change; I added some fresh peaches but then later when I was searching some of her recipes I see whee she used similar recipe and added peaches with her blackberries. 

Hope you will give this a try. I served it to my hub with a bit scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

BLAST FROM THE PAST: Blackberry Spinach Salad takes advantage of those beautiful blackberries you will see in the markets during the summer.

These peaches were delicious and I went right back to the store and bought more.

Pour the bourbon over the fruit and toss. Add more bourbon if you want a stronger bourbon taste.

Sprinkle the fruit with the 3/4 cup of turbano sugar.

Add the melted butter to the batter and mix until well blended.

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Blackberry and Peach Bourbon Cobbler

A delicious blackberry cobbler from Chef Kelly Fields from New Orleans

Ingredients

• 12 cups fresh blackberries I used about 5 cups peaches and 5 cups blackberries
• 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1/4 cup bourbon
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 1/2 vanilla bean
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons butter melted

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Toss together first 3 ingredients in a large bowl. Transfer mixture to a lightly greased (with cooking spray) 13- x 9-inch baking dish.
2. Split vanilla bean, and scrape seeds into granulated sugar. (Rub the sugar between your fingers to distribute the vanilla bean seeds evenly.)
3. Sift together flour, next 2 ingredients, and granulated sugar mixture into a large bowl. Stir in lemon zest. Whisk together milk, egg, and vanilla extract; stir into dry ingredients. Stir in melted butter.
4. Pour batter evenly over fruit; place dish on a baking sheet.
5. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 5 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until crust is dark golden brown and done in center.