About a half hour after I got home last night, I fell asleep, well almost. If you had asked me at 5:30 p.m. whether I was planning on cooking something, I would have grunted at you.

However, after a leisurely hour of tea with friends, I returned home and was greeted with blackberries. Lots and lots of blackberries. I guess my mom, brother, nephew and niece picked the berries yesterday afternoon “down by the river.” My mom said they were thinking I might make something from those berries. It’s nice to be thought of.

By 9 p.m. last night I must have caught a second wind. I was thrilled to see the bucket of berries. There are so many fun options with blackberries. However, being as late as it was, I knew I didn’t really have time to make a pie. I also didn’t want to have to follow a recipe. Blackberries make nice jam, but that was out of the question due to the time factor. Blackberries also pair nicely with peaches in pies, tarts and the like. Again, though, I had no time and no peaches. So I landed on the idea of a cobbler.

My cobbler is basically, as are most cobblers, I think, fruit filling topped with biscuits. I used our cast-iron skillet to make it because, well, it looks cool and was on the stove already when I decided to make the dessert.

I did have to look up ratios for flour to baking powder for biscuits, but other than that, I went with what I had on hand and what I remember from making biscuits a month ago or so. I have to admit, the cobbler turned out really well.

Rochelle’s Blackberry Cobbler

For dough batter:
1 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup cream
1/2 cup milk

For filling:
4 cups blackberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons butter, divided

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients for dough. Slowly add milk and cream. Mix until combined.
Mix blackberries, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon juice. Heat cast iron skillet or oven-proof pot over medium high. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in pan. Add blackberry mixture to pan and mix, heating until sugar is dissolved. Spoon flour mixture over berry mixture. Dab with chunks of butter and bake at 375 for 30 to 40 minutes, until lightly browned on top.