Cooking Floyd: Red Currant Cobbler

This was Michael's first foray into the world of desserts.  We had a box of red currants that needed to be used but were still stocked with red currant jelly from last year.  So Michael bravely forged ahead, found this Icelandic recipe for Red Currant Cobbler, and to the tune of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" successfully created a sweet, tangy, beautiful dessert.

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Red Currant Cobbler courtesy of Delicious Iceland

The berries

4 cups  red currant berries

1 cup sugar

1 tbs chopped fresh tarragon leaves

Remove the red currant berries from their stems, taking care not to crush them. Put the berries in a bowl and drizzle the sugar over them. Leave this for a while for the sugar to melt a bit into a kind of syrup. In order to mellow the tanginess of the red currant berries a bit, chop the fresh tarragon leaves finely, add them to the berries and mix them in thoroughly. The tarragon gives this dessert the desired and unique flavor.

The cobbler dough

2¼ cups flour

8 tbs sugar

1½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

6 tbs cold butter

1 egg yolk

1 cup buttermilk

For the dough, put the flour into a bowl along with the sugar, the baking powder, the baking soda and the salt. Mix these dry ingredients together and add the butter and work it in with the hands. Whisk the egg yolk into the buttermilk to form an even blend. Pour the blend over the mixture in the bowl and work it in, again using the hands, until the dough is completely even, light and easy to work with.

The baking

The cobbler dough

½ cup / 120 ml sugar

½ cup / 120 ml sliced almonds

Now spoon the berry mixture into ramekin bowls or a baking pan that will fit for your party, filling the containers almost to the brim. Break small pieces off the dough and put them on top of the berries covering them to about 90%. Sprinkle the sugar over the arrangement and then the sliced almonds. Put the ramekins, or the baking pan, into an oven, which has been preheated to 375 degrees Fahrenheit or 190 degrees centigrade. The baking time is to be 30 to 40 minutes.

The red currant sauce

1 cup / 240 ml red currant berries

½ cup / 120 ml sugar

½ cup / 120 ml white wine

While the ramekins, or the baking pan, are in the oven, prepare some red current sauce by putting the berries in a pot, adding the sugar and then the white wine. Leave the mixture to simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the cooking time is up, strain the mixture and let the liquid cool.

Serving

Vanilla ice cream

Fresh sprig of tarragon for decoration

When this dessert is served, put a scoop of ice cream on top of the cobbler in the ramekin, or the piece cut form the baking pan. Then pour some sauce on top of the ice cream. A small piece of decorative greenery can be added to make the arrangement more pleasing to the eye.