The first time I saw someone picking blackberries it was along the side of the road in Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona(just outside of Sedona). It was a man, standing there, facing bushes along the road beside his car. I assumed he was peeing. Ew, I thought…and said.
“Ew? You don’t like blackberries?” said J, our neighbor across the street from us, who’s kids I spent almost everyday with.
“I don’t think I have ever had blackberries…and what does that have to do with the man peeing?”
Boy they had a good laugh at me and then pointed out that the man was not peeing but picking blackberries from the blackberry bushes along the road. The sheltered Suburban girl in me was shining through at that moment(I was only like 10 or 11). But still, I never stop to think up to that point how food even got to my table. I mean, didn’t it just magically show up in those plastic containers, eh? 🙂 Apparently not. Apparently, people pick and gather all types of fruit and vegetables. Who knew…obviously not the girl who mistakes someone picking blackberries for peeing. 😛
I never did pick blackberries, well not until I moved here. The dense bushes are blanketed across many parts of Western Washington and when I saw them I knew I would be dragging myself out there to experience blackberry picking. The good news is, it’s nothing like peeing. 😛 The bad news is, you have purple fingers for the next three to four days. It is the price one pays to have the bounty that is fresh blackberries.
Having been in the Northwest cuisine mindset as of late I was drawn to the blackberries(the ones in the magic plastic containers) that I saw at the store. A little steep in the price range with todays evil grocery prices, I knew I would need to mix them with something…I went with the other Northwest staple…apples. And since I am too lazy to be a pie maker, I went with the ever easy but equally satisfying crisp. If I had hazelnuts, I would have used those, but I did not so walnuts won the nut lottery for this recipe.
Since crisps are a little on the boring side, I found an ice cream recipe for Blackberry Ice Cream(on My Husband Cooks) that screamed make me…so I did. It just takes the homey crisp to a whole new level of happiness.
If you have never been blackberry picking or any fruit picking I encourage you to do so. Just make sure to keep your hands where everyone can see them and no one can mistake you for peeing. 😉
Apple Blackberry Crisp
Filling:
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
2 cups blackberries
¾ cup sugar
2 TBSP flour
Preheat oven to 350F. Butter a 9 by 13-inch pan or individual ramekins.
Cut apples into thin slices. Place apples and blackberries in a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle with flour and sugar. Gently fold to coat the fruit pieces. Pour fruit into prepared pan.
Topping:
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/3 tsp brown sugar
Combine all ingredients together in a bowl until everything in moist from the butter and has a crumbly appearance. Sprinkle topping over fruit. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until fruit is soft and topping is browned.
Serve warm and top with Blackberry Ice Cream or vanilla.
Blackberry Ice Cream
1 quart blackberries
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup half and half
1 tsp lime juice
1- 1 ½ cups sugar(depending on how sweet your berries are)
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp salt
Directions:
Add the yolks and sugar to a medium-size bowl. Whisk together and then set aside.
Using a double boiler over medium-low heat, add the half and half, cream, blackberries and salt. Regularly whisk the mixture, heating until the temperature reaches approximately 145F. The mixture should begin to turn purple.
Once the cream mixture has reached the desired temperature, slowly add about half of the mixture to the eggs and sugar while whisking vigorously. This will prevent the eggs from curdling. Once the eggs and cream have been thoroughly integrated, pour back the egg mix into the remaining cream.
Whisk constantly and slowly as the mix rises in temperature. Once the temperature has reached 165-170F ¢â¬â€ or when the mix evenly coats the back of a spoon ¢â¬â€ remove from heat and add the lime juice and vanilla. Whisk them in completely and run through a sieve to remove blackberry seeds. Move to a new container to cool. The mix can be placed in the freezer for 2 to 3 hours or, preferably, into the refrigerator overnight.
Churn according to your ice cream maker¢â¬â„¢s instructions. After churning, place in freezer to firm up. I recommend placing a seal of plastic wrap tight against the ice cream after making it to prevent a skin from forming on the ice cream¢â¬â„¢s surface. Serve once firm enough. Enjoy!
Source: Adapted from My Husband Cooks
VeggieGirl says
HAHA!! Too funny about mistaking that guy picking blackberries for peeing :0D
You made Apple-Blackberry Crisp AND Blackberry ice cream??? Peabody, you’re amazing – it all looks too good to be true!!
Cafe Johnsonia says
That looks lovely. I adore blackberries. We often find wild raspberries along the road here in NY. I can’t wait until they appear late next month.
Abby says
That is HILARIOUS about the peeing thing. I thought I saw a guy peeing yesterday, but he was talking on his cell phone with one hand, with his back to the road. I guess he COULD have been peeing in the creek …
Anyway – I bought a basket of blackberries at Costco the other day – they were a great price there. I think I’m going to make some jelly with them (strain the seeds, of course), but blackberry cobbler is my FAVORITE kind.
Someone else has to pick the berries, though. I hate the BEES. This Southerner is too much of a belle for bugs and purple fingers …
Sherri says
this looks A-Ma-ZING!
Mandy says
love the purple hue of your blackberries ice cream! I didn’t understand how you would mistaken the man from peeing, until I saw the last sentence. Then I get it. LOL~
Rosa says
I LOVE blackberries! Close to where I live, there are thick blackberry bushes…
That ice cream looks gorgeous and so does the apple blackberry crisp! A wonderful dessert!
Cheers,
Rosa
Ally says
Lol, what a funny story! I’ve never been blackberry picking, but I love to pick strawberries. That ice cream and crisp is a dish I could eat all summer, looks lovely!
Dana McCauley says
I’m quite jealous that you have ripe wild berries already! Here in Ontario it will be at least 3 weeks until we see any wild berries. We don’t have an abundance of blackberries but our raspberries are pretty much wonderful!
Must count the moments.
Your cobbler looks pretty fab! Do you think it would mail well?
veron says
When I see blackberry cobbler on a restaurant menu, I just have to order it. This blackberry crisp looks just as awesome. I’ll have mine a’la mode please!
Husband says
Hey there! I love to see the recipe used that way, in fact I’m fairly confident its never looked better… and the peeing part is hysterical.
ashlee says
that looks wonderful! i love ice cream with a warm dessert! i can’t wait for berry season here so we can go picking.
deb says
o peabody! that looks so great!
i went blueberry/huckleberry picking on one of our local mountains last fall and had the purple fingers for DAYS! lol! but man, were those ever good!
i’m hoping to take my kids to an organic strawberry field this summer… mmmm!
Mary says
That looks fantastic! Blackberries are one of the very few fruits I actually like! (And I prefer crisps to pies any day.)
steph (whisk/spoon) says
that story is totally funny! my mum, who lives in sammamish, picks roadside blackberries when the weather gets warm. they are so delicious in the northwest, and i guess it’s actually lucky for her that peeing is a little more complicated for girls, so noone thinks she’s up to something gross!
jasmine says
The colour of the ice cream is just sublime.
Tee hee…peeing in the bushes…
j
courtney says
I love making ice cream and finding the inspiration for diffrent flavors. This ice cream looks great in clor and taste.Perfect.
Jade says
That ice cream looks unbelieveable! I’m definitely bookmarking this recipe. I love picking fruit – we pick blueberries around here in the summer.
Elle says
When our family went for Sunday rides in the country, my Dad would always pull over if he saw ripe blackberries by the side of the road. Never occured to anyone that auto exhaust covered berries were not that good for children (because the berries went straight into our mouths!), but now I have my own blackberry bushes, including those that have covered the chicken coop, so I’ll keep the crisp and ice cream in mind for when they ripen…looks really yummy!
cindy says
this looks wonderful! i love blackberries too, and when we first moved here a dozen years ago (wow, that long already?!) i was thrilled to find that blackberry bushes were everywhere. not so much now, after having ripped them out of the garden every year, but i still love the berries!
Nina says
What a stunning looking dessert. I love any crumble, but this one is the best I’ve ever seen.
Jenny says
Hehe Thanks for the giggle with the story.
Dessert looks great, bet my kids would love it.
Meeta says
We have a blackberry bush on a path we normally go for bike rides – I’ll be looking at that with different eyes now and probably giggling at your story. This is such a great recipe to adorn ice creams. Gorgeous Pea!
Carrie Fields says
OK, so how do you spell the sound of drool???? Does drool make a sound? You are so phenominal with the pictures and the photos, and the journaling…ya killin’ me! That is IT when I come to visit my brother, I am lookin’ you up!! Don’t be afraid..I am nice, I promise.
katie102006 says
Oh my goodness. seriously. You continue to amaze me with your beautifully put together baked goods. I LOVE this idea and I LOVE how delicious it looks. I could totally eat a bowl full of this. YUM!
Ellie @ Kitchen Wench says
Alas, we have very little blackberry bushes growing here – declared a noxious weed by the government, they’re only found at berry farms, though my mother discovered a tiny one growing on her golf course! We managed to get some off that which are frozen, and I think a crisp would be great for these winter months!
Kara says
Ditto the first comment… blackberry crisp AND blackberry ice cream! This looks absolutely amazing!
Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) says
We have a neighbor up the road who kindly lets us pick blackberries and raspberries on his land. I bring them home and freeze some to have in the winter, and make ice cream just like yours with the rest. it’s just too good…..
RecipeGirl says
Yummy crisp! And that blackberry ice cream just puts it completely over the top!! How funny that you can find blackberry bushes in AZ (or even WA for that matter.) I always assumed they were something that grew back east. I’ve picked huckleberries before in my dad’s yard in Northern CA!
Julie O'Hara says
The color of that blackberry ice cream is so great! Fresh berries are the best. I can’t wait till blueberry season.
noskos says
It will be at least 2 months before the blackberries here are ripe. But I have bookmarked your recipe for the ice cream 🙂
I life a mile from the sea and the dunes are covered in blackberry bushes and each year I pick a couple of kilo’s and turn it into jam.
jennifer says
that ice cream looks so crazy good! with the summer coming soon, i’ll have to get an ice cream maker!! thanks for the great recipe idea.
Deborah says
Haha! I’m laughing right now! I’ve never been lucky enough to pick blackberries, but I imagine I’d end up eating more than I brought home! This dessert looks fabulous!
Melody says
I’ve never had blackberry ice cream, but I want some right now! Lovely looking dessert!
MyKitchenInHalfCups says
Wish I could pick with you out there. Love blackberries.
Your ice cream looks divine Peabody. It’s so muggy here how I wish I could have a bowl of that.
Cakespy says
Oh Peabody, only you could start a story with a guy peeing and STILL leave me hungry by the end of the writeup! 🙂 Looks and sounds delicious.
Aran says
beautiful!
kellypea says
I’ve heard about all the wild blackberries you guys have. We did have some in the backyard of our old house down here, and could gather up quite a few, but nothing like wild bushes produce. The color on that ice cream is to die for. And the crisp? Well.
Kate says
I grew up picking strawberries, blueberries, apples, pumpkins….but I have ALWAYS wanted to pick blackberries!
Tartelette says
I have been picking blackberries in front of the house almost daily…my fingers are stained, my hands are scratched but my belly is happy!! The dessert is gorgeous!
Lynn says
Mmmm, I’m definitely saving this one for August when the brambles by our house are loaded with blackberries. Your ice cream and your crisp both look amazing!
sher says
When I was a little girl living in the South, we picked dewberries, which are a form of blackberries. They are marvelous in cobblers and ice cream, and as syrup!
Sylvie says
I try and get out there to pick blackberries every autumn and having them like you in an apple and blackberry crumble is one of my favourite ways to enjoy them.
Jen Yu says
gawd, you are a kick in the pants! i laughed so hard when i read that you thought the dude was peeing. ha ha ha! i love that your roadside weeds produce those wonderful fruits. what a gorgeous ice cream!! i’d like to make some, but our store-bought berries are nothing compared to your “pee” berries 😉
sara says
Wow, that looks amazing! I’ll have to try that blackberry ice cream next time I visit my parents (as they have an ice cream maker and i don’t). Yum yum yum!
Hannah says
Ha, picking berries vastly trumps peeing in the bushes!
But seriously, I can’t even put to words how good that whole dish looks… !
Candace says
YUM! I’m loving the purple shade of the ice cream… lovely… I also lol’d at your thinking the guy was peeing on the side of the road. I totally would have thought the same.
Joy the Baker says
Hilarious as always! I have such good memories of picking blackberries with my family of a trip up to Seattle. We took took them all the way home to Los Angeles and my Dad made the best pie. I LOVE your dessert. The color of the ice cream and the inevitable comfort of the crisp. I’m so in. This is going to be my new summer must-bake recipe. Thanks for sharing!
Jaime says
waaaaah. i want an ice cream maker! we used to pick blackberries w/the dog in our neighborhood – the area wasn’t fully developed and there were blackberry bushes around…it was so fun, and she loved to eat them too LOL