What To Do With a Bag of Self-Rising Flour, or Skillet Cherry-Berry Cobbler

Over the years, I’ve purchased many types of flour: all purpose, bread, high gluten, cake, unbleached, rye, corn, etc.  But I’ve always been leery of self-rising flour.  To me, it was just a Little Too Close to Bisquickville, and that is Not a place I want to visit. 

After taking a quick peek at the ingredient list, self-rising flour is just a combination of flour, baking powder and salt.   My only concern is that the leavening in this particular version of self-rising flour is aluminum based, and I try to stay away from that.  But, I also try to stay away from throwing away four pounds of flour, so there you have it.

I did not use any recipe, although I did a quick search for cobblers made with self-rising flour.  Most of the formulas were similar: a cup of SR flour, a cup of sugar, a cup of milk and a stick of butter.  Oh, and fruit–usually some sort of fruit-in-syrup or pie filling.  Pretty basic stuff, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

I decided to Embellish a bit, as I am Wont to Do, and I knew I was using IQF fruit (individually quick frozen–or just “frozen fruit from the freezer section” in the Vernacular) and need not turn to canned fruit.  So, with some approximate measures, here’s what I came up with, complete with Asides and Justifications.

Cherry-Berry Cobbler
for the batter

• 1 1/2 cups SR flour (I just scooped and swept since I wasn’t weighing)
• about 1/3 cup sugar (I used demerara, and I just dumped some in)
• heavy pinch of cinnamon
• pinch of ground mace (mace is known as the cherry pie spice, so whenever I bake with cherries, I use a little mace)
• roughly 1 1/2 cups of dairy–I was using up what I had left, so I used whole milk, some buttermilk and a little half and half.  No measuring–I just poured and mixed until I had a Battery Consistency

• 1 stick of butter (you could certainly use half a stick if you think a stick is an Egregious Amount)

for the fruit

• 1 small bag frozen cherries
• 1 small bag frozen mixed berries
• about 1/2 cup sugar (again with the demerara)
• juice of half a lemon (to balance the fruity sweetness)
• heavy pinch of salt
• mace and cinnamon, maybe 1/4 teaspoon each

Note:  I didn’t add any flour, corn starch or other thickener to the fruit, although I certainly could’ve added a tablespoon or so to give the juices some body.  I was looking for a fairly runny cobbler, one that needed a fork and a spoon.  Spork cobbler, if you will.

How to Make It

Heat cast iron skillet (or other nonstick pan) in a 350F oven.

Toss in the butter and let melt completely.

While butter is melting, toss all the Fruit Portion ingredients together.

Mix together all the batter ingredients.

Pour the fruit into the skillet and then pour on the batter evenly.  Sprinkle on some demerara sugar for crunch and sparkle (or not) and bake until golden brown and bubbling all over.  If you’re starting with frozen fruit, you’ll find that it can take a Long Time for this to happen.  If the cobbler is getting a little too brown, loosely tent it with foil until it’s done.

Of course, you could also let the fruit thaw first.

At any rate, serve with some ice cream or whipped cream.  Or stir some sugar into some plain Greek yogurt along with a pinch of salt and a tiny splash of vanilla.  Wait a few minutes for the sugar crystals to dissolve and Have At It.

Mmmm.  Fruity-juicy goodness.

Spork cobbler, indeed.