Fresh blackberries are in season and that is a good thing! Berries and cobblers are what I would call a match made in heaven; this heaven is nirvana when both are cooked in a cast iron Dutch oven. Cast-iron and certainly Dutch ovens are some of the best baking implements you can find. Cast-iron Dutch ovens distribute the heat so perfectly that your dessert turns out perfect virtually every time (unless you of course decide to burn it). 

With fresh blackberries in hand and an easy cobbler recipe, I decided that it was a great time to try baking in my Char-Broil Big Easy SRG. The Big Easy SRG (smoker roaster griller) makes for great outdoor oven with its cooking technology. The temperatures is easy to control and very stable, this in turn gives you oven like qualities that added with a Dutch ovens even heat distribution almost guarantees you the perfect bake. 

My Dutch oven is a 10 inch indoor Dutch oven, no legs and no rim on the top that you would normally find on an outdoor version. The advantage to using this Dutch oven in the Char-Broil Big Easy SRG is that it allows the Dutch oven to sit safely on the racks that come with the Char-Broil Big Easy SRG. The base Char-Broil Big Easy SRG is deep enough that you could cook with multiple Dutch ovens inside (Stacked). Infrared cooking system allows for the heat to go up the walls of the Char-Broil Big Easy SRG heating all surfaces evenly at the same time very similar to your indoor oven. 

Here is the recipe: 

Blackberry Cobbler

Ingredients

For the cake mix:

1 stick butter

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 tbs baking powder

1tsp salt

1 1/2 cups milk

For the berries:

4 cups fresh or frozen blackberries or 2 bags frozen (thawed)

½ cup sugar

1 ½ tsp fresh grated lemon zest

¼ cup water

1 tsp cinnamon 

First things first, preheat your Char-Broil Big Easy SRG on high with your Dutch oven set on the top of the basket. You could very easily place your Dutch oven on the bottom of the Char-Broil Big Easy SRG; I didn’t because I was concerned about there being too much bottom heat. 

While your Dutch oven is heating up you need to start preparing your blackberries. Rinse your fresh blackberries and drain, place them in a bowl with your sugar, lemon zest, water and cinnamon; mix well and set aside. 

Now you can mix your cobbler batter. In separate bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; stir to mix. Add milk and beat until batter is smooth. 

Take one stick of butter in place in hot Dutch oven, stir till melted. Add your Blackberry mixture to the melted butter and pour your cobbler batter over the top. Replace lid on Dutch oven, close the lid to the Char-Broil Big Easy SRG and turn the control knob down to low. Bake for approximately 45 minutes. 

A different variation of this would be to take your batter and pour that in first place your blackberries on top. The advantage to this, would I think, be that the blackberries will retain their shape and form better if you are concerned about aesthetics and not eating. I have no preference so therefore I dumped blackberries first and then poured the batter on top of that. 

My Char-Broil Big Easy SRG worked perfectly! Nothing better than fresh Blackberry cobbler cooked in a Dutch oven and of course a little vanilla cream!

I hope you enjoy this!

Gary

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

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Grill, Cast Iron, Dinner, Side dish, Drinks, check, check ,check … whoops!

There is always a component or two that is forgotten at the time of execution or more simply put, I forgot to make dessert and was reminded of it half way through eating dinner. The boys never miss this detail and quickly make a, suggestion .

Ever the clutch player, I simply stated “No worries” and proceeded to grill up some dessert. Grilled dessert is with out a doubt one of the most visually pleasing sight to behold, akin to a beautiful sunset, a crystal clear lake, ah … well a poet I am not, but it sure is fun to watch.

My attempt was to say the least was fantastic! Of course I quite often say that as positive re-enforcement is necessary to my fragile grilling ego. I literally threw this together!

I threw in some butter!

I threw in some Brown sugar!

I threw in some Honey!

I threw in some Cinnamon!

I threw in some Bananas!

Sounds like a Winnie the Pooh story …

But thats all there was to it and it was the best dessert I have thrown together in along time! Ok, a couple of weeks to be sure …

I did slice the bananas and everything was measured by the handful, oh, the butter was half a stick. I know not very precise but why? I had my Cast Iron skillet to cook it all on the grill and it was a toss and cook dessert. The bananas took all of three or four minutes to get heated and coated, you can cook them till there mush if you want.

All of this was poured over some Vanilla Ice Cream and served Outdoors on a beautiful evening. Oh so good!

Here are a few other picture on my Flickr photo page: Grilled Banana Dessert

Enjoy!

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

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Awhile back I reviewed the Skookie cookie maker from Santé Cookware, you can see the post here: Skookies, It’s Cookie Heaven. Basically you are baking a giant cookie on the grill. It’s a lot of fun for the kids and it adds a really unique flavor to the cookie itself.

I, of course had to take it to the next level and make  Giant Ice Cream Sandwiches out of two Skookies! The boys loved them so much we had to take them to the Cub Scout meeting that night and share with everyone.

Here are the pictures showing how I made a Giant Skookie Ice Cream Sandwich:

I hope you enjoy this!

“Get out of the kitchen! Light the fire! Start cooking outdoors”

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