berries

Foraged Dewberry Cobbler (vegan)

April 26, 2019 By Courtney West 1 Comment

This simple and tasty vegan dewberry cobbler pairs wild dewberries with notes of cardamom and lemon. Ready with just 10 ingredients and 10 minutes of prep time, this lovely vegan dessert has a cakey texture and is best served warm with a scoop of your favorite ice cream. If you don’t have access to dewberries, you can use blackberries in their place.

If you find yourself with access to some wild dewberries or blackberries, I highly recommend making the simple cakey cobbler. You need just 10 ingredients and about 10 minutes of prep time! I’ve tested it vegan (as it is written below) as well as with regular unsalted butter and whole milk and both versions are equally delicious. I love adding in a bit of cardamom because it’s my favorite spice and it pairs so incredibly well with most fruit desserts, but you could use ground cinnamon instead. This is definitely a dessert that is best served warm with a big ole scoop of your favorite ice cream!

What are Dewberries?

Dewberries are a wild relative of blackberries. They tend to grow along the upper banks of creeks and streams, or along fence lines, often in disturbed areas. I like to think of them as liking that sweet spot between development and the “wild”. When ripe, they’re a blackish purple color and incredibly juicy. Since Texas is hot as heck in the summer, dewberry season is typically in the springtime (April, May, and sometimes very early June). Dewberries are generally a bit smaller than blackberries and have a more intense flavor. If you can’t find dewberries, this recipe can be made with an equal amount of blackberries.

Dewberry Cobbler Ingredients & Substitutions

Since this is more of a standard cakey cobbler that is made by pouring batter over the fruit, the base of it is made up of a combination of butter, sugar, milk, and flour. Vanilla, cardamom, and lemon lend flavor while baking powder gives the batter a little lift. Though I’ve written this recipe as vegan, it can also be made with regular unsalted butter and whole milk for equally delicious results (I’ve tested both!). If you don’t like or don’t have cardamom, feel free to leave it out or use cinnamon instead.

Recipe Tips

Make sure you allow enough time for your butter, whether you’re using vegan or regular, to come to room temperature. You should easily be able to press your finger into it but it should not look melty.
Allow your oat milk (or regular milk) to come to room temperature before using it in the recipe. Using cold milk will make the butter seize up and affect the texture of the cobbler.
If you are making this cobbler recipe vegan as written, make sure to use a vegan butter block or sticks that are made for baking rather than a spread style butter that is sold in a tub. The spread style is too soft and too salty for this recipe.
Allow the cobbler to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. This allows the fruit juices to thicken which keeps it from being soupy.

If you find yourself with some leftover dewberries after making this cobbler, I highly recommend trying out these gluten free and vegan zucchini cakes with dewberry glaze! Or, you can try making this dewberry shrub with lemon thyme.

Foraged Dewberry Cobbler

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Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 55-65 minutes
Yield: 6–8 servings 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Ingredients

Units Scale

3 cups dewberries
1 medium lemon, zested and juiced
1/2 cup vegan butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup oat milk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour, or white spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cardamom

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Add your berries to a 1.5 to 2-quart baking dish along with the lemon zest and juice. Gently stir the berries to distribute the zest and juice.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, combine the vegan butter and the sugar. Beat them together until the mixture starts to look fluffy then add the vanilla extract and oat milk. Mix well then add the flour, baking powder, salt, and cardamom. Mix until you have a thick batter. Pour the batter over the top of the berries in the baking dish. Tap the dish a few times on the counter before putting it in the oven to help remove air bubbles and encourage the batter to settle down over the berries.

Bake the cobbler for 45-55 minutes or until the top is golden and the juices are bubbling. Remove from the oven and cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.

Keep leftovers covered in the fridge. Enjoy within 4-5 days.

Notes

Make sure you are using a vegan block style butter rather than a spread style butter for the best results.
If you don’t need this recipe to be vegan, feel free to use regular unsalted butter in place of the vegan butter and whole or 2% milk in place of the oat milk.
Feel free to use blackberries in place of the dewberries. Raspberries and blueberries would also work well here.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 45-55 minutes
Category: dessert

Coconut Milk Panna Cotta with Ginger Cranberry Compote & Fresh Grapefruit

December 4, 2018 By Courtney West 1 Comment

These vegan coconut milk panna cottas are topped with a ginger cranberry compote and fresh surpremed ruby red grapefruit segments. They’re a great festive dessert option for the holidays, especially when served in dainty glasses. And, they’re under 10 ingredients!

Lately I’ve been feeling the need for simplicity in my food. At a time when there’s countless sources of stress present, simplicity is incredibly comforting and grounding. I posted something on instagram last week to the effect of recipe development feeling challenging lately as all I want is simplicity. I get tired of trying to “reinvent the wheel” with flavor combinations or cooking methods. I’ve caught myself several times recently wondering if a recipe was inventive or creative enough. But I’ve come to a point where going too over the top or complex all the time feels rather inauthentic.

So where does this dessert fit into this discussion? Well, I really love cranberries and fresh grapefruit this time of year. Their flavors and bright colors are most welcome as fare becomes heavier and more substantial. Once fresh cranberries start showing up in stores, I make easy jammy compotes to go along with my breakfast. I’ll spread it on toast, stir it into oatmeal, or eat it by the spoonful. As for grapefruits, I prefer ruby reds HANDS DOWN. I begin to crave their bitter and tart zing this time of year as they begin to ripen on the tree. Considering how much I love these two things, it wasn’t too great a leap to combine them in a recipe.

Since cranberries and grapefruit are rather tart, I wanted something creamy and mellow to balance them out. My brain went through a few wormholes before landing on panna cotta. Traditional panna cotta is made with heavy cream and gelatin but this version favors agar flakes and coconut milk for a delicious vegan alternative. To make these feel festive, I layered the compote and grapefruit segments on top of the panna cotta. And just like that you’ve got a multi-component holiday dessert that is vegan, gluten-free, and under 10 ingredients.

Coconut Milk Panna Cotta with Ginger Cranberry Compote & Fresh Grapefruit

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Author: Courtney West
Total Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 4 servings 1x
Diet: Vegan

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Description

Ingredients

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1 can full fat coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp agar flakes
2 tbsp raw cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
12 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
1 1/2 inch piece of ginger, grated or finely minced
8–10 tbsp maple syrup (depending on how sweet you’d like the compote)
1 large ruby red grapefruit

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Instructions

Add the coconut milk, agar flakes, and sugar to a 2-quart pot (you want lots of extra room as the coconut milk bubbles up pretty high in the pan). Whisk everything together, then set the pot over medium-high heat. Once it begins to rapidly bubble, whisk it continuously for 2-3 minutes, then remove it from the heat. Stir in the vanilla extract. Divide the panna cotta mixture between 4 small glasses. Allow the glasses of panna cotta to sit for 1 hour at room temperature, then move them to the fridge to chill entirely, about 2-4 hours.

While the panna cotta is chilling, make the cranberry compote. Add the cranberries, orange juice, ginger, and maple syrup to a pot set over medium heat. Stir occasionally while the cranberries burst. Once most of the cranberries have burst and the sauce starts to thicken, turn the heat down a bit. Stir the sauce regularly until it becomes jammy and turns a deep red color. Remove the sauce from the heat. Allow it to cool about 30 minutes at room temperature before you move it to the fridge to chill completely.

To prepare your grapefruit, supreme it: cut the top and bottom off the grapefruit then set one of these flat ends cut side down on your work surface. Slice lengthwise down the grapefruit, removing strips of skin until you have removed all of the skin and pith. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut segments of the grapefruit out from in between the white membranes. Do this over a bowl to catch the juice. Once you’ve removed all of the segments, squeeze any remaining juice from the membranes into the bowl. Discard the membranes.

To assemble: Spoon a layer of cranberry compote into each glass of panna cotta. You can put as much or as little as you want. Top the compote with 2-3 grapefruit segments and a spoon or two of the juice. Serve chilled.

Makes 4 panna cotta plus extra compote.

Notes

If you’d like to elevate the recipe a bit, you cab opt for a vanilla bean in place of the extract. Slit it down the center then scrape out the seeds and add them to the pot along with the bean at the beginning of the recipe. Make sure to remove the bean before pouring the panna cotta mixture into glasses!
If you’re not a grapefruit fan, feel free to replace it with any kind of orange you like.

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Category: dessert