Let's Bake a Blackberry Buckle

Remember my post HERE where I talked about picking blackberries?  Well, we celebrated our June birthdays at work last week and since I still had 49203942820 a lot of blackberries in my refrigerator, I decided to scan recipes calling for these berries.

I was in the mood to make something new and started search in Allrecipes.com (love that site).  After a bit of perusing, I decided to give Chef John's Blackberry Buckle a try.  I had no idea who "Chef John" was, but the reviews were good so I decided to trust him.  By the way -- curiosity got the best of me so I did a little research.  I found out Chef John does online cooking videos and can be found on Food Wishes blog.  I think he and I are going to become BFFs.

Here's the ingredient list:

3 cups of fresh blackberries
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Batter:
1-1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup almond meal (I hadn't used this before and found it at our Fresh Thyme store)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground cinnamon
1 cup milk
7 tablespoons butter, divided
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, or to taste

Step by step:

~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

~ Stir blackberries, 2 tablespoons sugar, and vanilla extract together in a bowl; let rest for 15 to 20 minutes.  (I went ahead with mixing the batter and the 15 minutes disappeared.)

~ Whisk flour, 3/4 cup sugar, almond meal, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl.  Stir milk into flour mixture until batter is just combined.

~ Melt 6 tablespoons butter in a skillet over medium-high heat; pour into the bottom of a 8 x 12 inch baking dish.  Pour batter over melted butter into the baking dish, using a spatula to gently distribute batter without mixing it into the butter, leaving a 1-inch butter border around the sides of the dish.

~ Scatter blackberries over the batter and spoon any accumulated blackberry juices over the top.

~ Bake buckle in the preheated oven until crisped and browned around the edges, about 1 hour.  Mine did not take quite an hour.  More like 50 minutes.

~ Melt remaining butter in a small skillet over medium-high heat.  Cook and stir almonds in hot butter until golden brown and toasted, 2 to 3 minutes.  Sprinkle toasted almonds over blackberry buckle and cool buckle to room temperature.

End result - yep, it was good.  Just look at this berry goodness!

Not quite as sweet as a cobbler, but very flavorful.  Truth be told, I ended up making two of them because I got involved in a lengthy phone call with one of my friends and totally overcooked the first one.  Eric and I kept it at home and had no problem finishing it off.  The second one, cooked properly, made it to my office for my coworkers to enjoy.  Hope you enjoy it too!

Linking up with:
Pint Sized Baker
Mandy's Recipe Box

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Green Fashionista and Martinis & Bikinis: Recipe Swap Eat Drink & Be Mary: Delicious Dish Tuesday Love From The Kitchen: Tuesday's Table The Diary of a Real Housewife Andrea at Momfessionals The New Mrs. Adventures Caleigh's Kitchen Tuesday Talk Pennies into Pearls