DIY Family Recipe: Blackberry Cobbler

This recipe has been in my family for generations, and it's still SO good. It just is. Well, go find your aprons!

Make a glass of ice water with lots of ice. And no, this is not for you to drink. Sorry to burst your bubble.

    Put a quart (4 cups) of blackberries into a pot, and put a small amount of water into it.                                                                              

                                                                             

Then pour in 1 1/2 cups of sugar. (1 cup for wild berries) Turn the heat to medium.

Now put 2 cups of flour into a mixing bowl, and a tsp. of salt. Here's my cute measuring spoon again.

Here's the flour mixture.

And here are the delectable blackberries. Oh yum.

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Now put a cup of vegetable oil shortening in to the flour mixture. Now if you store your shortening in the pantry (as I do), put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes to make sure it's chilled. Mine was in the pantry so it was warm.

Chop up the shortening into the flour mixture until it's little bits. Yours may look a little different if your shortening is good and chilled.

Now measure 1/2 a cup of the ice water you made earlier, being sure you don't get any ice in it. You made it at the beginning, because it has to be good and cold. I hope you didn't drink it.

Now mix it thoroughly, but don't over mix. Then put flour into the bowl, and form a ball. (these are my mom's hands)

Flour your surface.

And grease a 14 by 9 inch pan. In this recipe you don't have to grease it like nobody's business. Just grease it.

Make sure your berries are just simmering, not boiling. Don't they look just absolutely delicious? Well don't eat them.

Now cut the dough in half, and roll both halves out, thin and oblong.

Now pick it up (GENTLY) and lay it on one half of the pan, with one side hanging out, like so. Do so with both halves. And the good thing about cobblers is that they don't have to be perfect. So just let it do what it wants to do.

Now it's time to......pour in the berries! Oh, it's so fun. Just SO fun. It will splatter, so pour them in slowly, or else....well, let's just hope you wanted your kitchen painted purple.

And even out the berries.

This step is optional, but I think it makes it all the better. Put small pats of butter all over the berries.

Now fold over the halves that were hanging out. Remember, it doesn't have to be perfect! So if it tears, parts sink, it gets scrunched up, just let it be! It will make it look yummy.

And bake it for 35-40 minutes....until it looks like this.......mmmmmmm....

YUM. Serve by itself, or with whipped cream. YUM.

Remember to try your hand at this recipe! And let me know if you do in the comments!

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Happy Baking!

First DIY Recipe: Sour Cream Coffee Cake

I bet you didn't think I would post a recipe this soon, did you? Well, last night I realized that the next morning was Sunday morning, so I wanted to make something fun for the family. My mom told me I could go ahead and mix up the batter last night, so I could just bake it in the morning. So the first DIY recipe is........Sour Cream Coffee Cake! It can be eaten as breakfast, which I'm doing, or dessert! Which I also might be doing. So get your aprons on, tie back your hair and let's get started!

                                                                                

What lies ahead...

The recipe called for two sticks of butter, but since I'm attempting to make it as non-fattening as possible.....

I made it one and a half.

So first, put the butter and 2 cups of sugar into your mixer or a bowl and pastry cutter. See the butter peeking out?

Cream it till it looks about like mashed potatoes. Or it just looks like this.



Now get two eggs. You DON'T have to use brown eggs! I just used them to make myself feel sophisticated.

Mix in the eggs one at a time on low speed, until it looks about like this.

Then get a cup of sour cream, dump it into the mixer and set it on low while you scrounge for your vanilla extract. Add 1 tsp.

Now dump 2 cups of all-purpose flour into a mixing bowl, and a tsp. of baking powder plus a tsp. of salt. I felt the need to show you my cute measuring spoon.

Your mixture should look like flour. If it doesn't....well, let's just say you may have forgotten a step.

Set the mixer on low and gradually pour in the flour mixture until it looks somewhat like this.

Now let's get started on the filling!

Here are the cute little 4 tablespoons of brown sugar. (I just used my flour bowl again)

And add 2 tsp. of ground cinnamon. Get a fork and break up the brown sugar, and stir in the cinnamon.

Here are the two bowls waiting for the morning.

So I put the bowls in the fridge, and as soon as I woke up this morning, I went straight to the refrigerator and got my precious little bowls that had been waiting patiently while I got six hours of sleep.

OK, preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Get out your Bundt pan, and grease it like nobody's business. If you want the cake to come out in one piece, you better make sure that pan is good and greased.

Sprinkle flour into the pan to anti-stick it even more. Did that make sense? And put half of the batter into the pan.

Sprinkle half of the filling over the batter. Since I put my batter in the refridgerator, it got kind of doughy, so yours will most likely look more like batter.

Spread the rest of the batter over it.

And sprinkle the rest of the filling on top.

And put your cake in the oven for 55-60 minutes.

When the timer goes off, take it out and see if a knife sticks in the highest part and comes out clean. If it does, you're ready to flip!

Go around the sides and around the middle of the pan to loosen the cake. Lay a cooling rack upside down on the pan, then grab both the pan and rack, and flip it over! Pick it up and put it down a couple of times to make the cake fall out. Lift up one side and see if you can see cake. If you can, lift off the pan.

 Yay! If any part of the cake doesn't come out, just get it out of the pan and put it in the correct place on the cake. No one will know. I actually had to put a little piece that didn't come out on top, if you can't tell.

  
     With a bread knife, or any other sharp knife, cut the cake very delicately so it doesn't fall apart. Serve warm with fresh fruit if you want to.

Alrighty, hope you enjoyed it! I sure did, in both the making, the eating, and the posting. Let me know if you try it out! See you on the next DIY recipe!                                                                         

Spice Things Up with Zatarain's!

I'm going to write about food. It is definitely one of my favorite things. My blog has been pretty boring, (at least  I think so) so I'm going to spice things up a little. With ZATARAIN'S! If you do not know what Zatarain's is, Google it. The top result should be "ZATARAIN"S - A New Orleans Tradition since 1889". But back to the point. I'm going to cook different recipes, either old classic family recipes, or just some new ones I found. And I'm going to take pictures of them to make them look ever more delicious. I am looking forward to this so much. I hope I will gain attention and have fun at the same time. Which I believe I will. See you on the first DIY recipe! I can't wait!

P.S. Don't  be afraid to try out the recipes! That's one of the main points of this idea! As soon as I start posting, if you DO try them out let me know how they work for you!

Wind

Oh wind, I can't see you

But I know you are there

Like when it so happens

You blow in my hair

So powerful to push

The clouds in the air

So gentle to rock

A small rocking chair

The windmills turn

And the Daylilies sway

Oh wind you have made this

A beautiful day!

You Gots Some Color on Yo Face!

I don't have much to write except that we had the block party yesterday! So I'm going to show you the rest of the face painting pictures that my sister and I stayed up until 1:00 AM Friday night taking. I hope they're good.

Hope you like them! Remember to comment if you like!

As Time Goes By

Wow! I haven't written in a while! How has time gone by so quickly? That was a rhetorical question, by the way. Because no one knows the answer.....well, I might as well catch up. I performed at the Strawberry Jam 'n' Toast to the Arts Festival ( http://www.strawberryjam.org/) on the 17th! We (my theater group, The Octavians: http://www.theoctavians.com/ ) performed The Tortoise and the Hare. It was really fun! I was a rat.
 Next thing, Casey came home for her Spring Break! The 10th - 18th, but the last two days she was in Shreveport, LA looking at housing for when she goes there for Med school! I'm so proud of her!
 Next, I'm performing Puss in Boots (with the same theater group) in a week for all of the parents, and we're also performing a dance showcase that we have been rehearsing in Movement Workshops. It's going to be really fun, and we're dancing to Michael Buble!
 Next, my sister Erin has been trying out face painting ideas for a block party on me, so that kids can see what they look like. Here are the ones that she's done so far.

Let me know what you think of them! Comment if you like!
That's all I have, so see you later!

The Past has Past

Well, I'm sitting here on my laptop at Coffee Culture, waiting for a raspberry mocha and reminiscing about the things that have past this winter.

My beautiful sister Erin turned 16 on Thanksgiving!

My gorgeous sister Casey (middle) got accepted to LSU Shreveport Medical School on her birthday!
This is her shadowing Dr. Rooks in the operating room. 

Christmas! 

I performed in A Christmas Carol with my brother Caleb, produced by The Octavians!


Well, I can't put a picture, but I finally got my laptop! I've been saving for about two years, and I finally had enough money to be able to get it!

Well, I've enjoyed this past Winter, and I hope you have too! God bless you!