Aunt Joshia Maes Blackberry Doobie Recipes

JUANITA'S BLACKBERRY DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Place blackberries, sugar, water, butter, and cinnamon in a large saucepan. Cook and stir occasionally over medium heat until have started to break down and form a sauce, about 20 to 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, whisk together the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening with a knife or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir the egg yolk into the crumbs. Add the milk a tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork, until the flour mixture is moistened. Do not add more milk than you need: when you squeeze a handful of the moistened pastry mixture, it should form a ball. Divide the dough in half and shape into balls.
• Roll one ball into a 1/4-inch thick round, like a pie crust. Using a floured knife cut lengthwise 2 to 3 inch wide strips of dough. Repeat with the second ball of dough.
• Holding each strip of dough over the boiling blackberries pinch off 4-inch lengths and drop into the berries. Repeat until all the dough has been used. Cook the dumplings over medium heat for 15 minutes. You may push the dumplings down into the juice but do not stir until they are fully cooked or they will clump together.

MAMA LACHUTE'S BLACKBERRY DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• For the blackberry filling:
• In a medium saucepan, combine the blackberries with the sugar, 3 cups of the water and lemon juice. Cook until the berries are soft and a heavy syrup has formed, about 15 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and strain off the syrup from the berries. Set the berries aside with 1/2 cup of the syrup and return the remaining syrup to the saucepan.
• Add the remaining 1 cup water, the vanilla, and the butter to the syrup in the saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
• For the dumpling dough:
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda.
• Using a pastry blender, 2 knives, or your fingertips, cut in the 6 tablespoons butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Add the yeast mixture and the buttermilk to the flour mixture, stirring only until just incorporated. Do not overwork the dough.
• Drop the biscuit dough, by the tablespoonful, in batches, into boiling syrup and cook until the dumplings float to the surface and they are cooked through, about 5 minutes.
• Remove the dumplings from the syrup and place in small bowls. Ladle some of the hot syrup and cooked berries over the top of the dumplings. Serve garnished with a dollop of whipped cream or a small scoop of ice cream.