Blueberry Picking + Blueberry Breakfast Cobbler

A few weeks ago when I was making the trek out to P. Allen Smith‘s house the road quickly ushered me past a cute berry farm with a hand-painted sign advertising berry picking, at which point I almost turned the car around to stuff all the berries in my bag.

 

It’s true. I really did mentally gauge the size of my camera bag and purse in case I could stop by on the way back.

After about 1.5 weeks of rain we finally got a sunny day and promptly headed out the door to gather blueberries, a task that I was incredibly excited about and hoped beyond hope that Wes would be too.

See, it’s really important to me that he learns where food comes from so that he learns to appreciate the how and why behind what we eat too. I can’t tell y’all how many mornings I’ve made the most ridiculously excited exclamations over the tomatoes in our garden, the zucchini blossoms and the bell peppers. If I haven’t made him excited about growing food then I’ve at least solidified my status as crazy mom.

In all honesty though this was my first time ever to pick blueberries. We always had the sweetest strawberries that my mom grew in our garden when I was young that we would lovingly harvest and have for dessert, but blueberries were a whole new world for me. Luckily our new friends at BoBrook Farms were super helpful and incredibly kind. They offered Wes every color of bucket, to which he promptly started collecting rocks in, along with a little advice in picking the best berries for me.

 

After many attempts of getting Wes to gather berries I finally gave up and started gathering them myself although my boy got himself quite the rock collection in his little red bucket.

One quart of berries and a carload of sweaty berry harvesters later we had a quart of plump, sweet blueberries, a jar of blueberry jam and a newly found love of harvesting our own food. Not bad for an hour’s worth of work!

One thing that I’ve come to love about Little Rock is that there are such amazing little markets everywhere on Saturday mornings and the chances of exposing ourselves to fresh, locally grown produce is very high, but I love looking for chances to learn more about what grows in our area and how I can get my grubby foodie hands on it.

 

All that to say, berry season is in full swing and there are a ton of awesome farms to pick your own at. And you can bet that unless it’s raining (like it currently is as I type this) I will be out there harvesting berries while my offspring harvests locally grown rocks 🙂

Let’s chat for a sec about this breakfast cobbler shall we? I have made it with blueberries twice, pineapple once, and a mix of peaches and raspberries another time – all in the span of a week. It’s sort of ridiculous but I don’t even care because y’all? I’m eating dessert for breakfast and it’s actually GOOD FOR ME.

 

Done and done, right?

 

You can half the recipe to make less or double it to make more, change out your fruit or use different nuts. I have also made my billion different versions with maple syrup and/or honey (whatever I had on hand) and coconut oil, butter or olive oil (again depending on what was on hand), and while the flavors will of course vary it’s all so good.

 

The beauty here is that you have a completely variable recipe that could last you year-round with whatever fruit is in season. OR you could use frozen fruit. Options are endless, and at the end of the day that’s the kind of recipe we’re all searching for anyway, right?

 

Y’all enjoy!

BLUEBERRY BREAKFAST COBBLER

Makes 8 servings

• 8 cups berries or mixed fruit of any kind
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of ginger
• pinch of nutmeg (optional)
• 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl toss together the berries, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger and nutmeg. Spread the berries on the bottom of a 2-quart baking dish in an even layer. In a food processor pulse together the rolled oats, slivered almonds and walnuts until a very course crumble comes together. Add the coconut oil, honey and salt and pulse a few more times to combine. Using your hands sprinkle the mixture on top of the berries. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes until the berries are bubbly and the topping is golden and crisp. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.