Cherry-Berry Cobbler - A Presidential Salute

"This is delicious! You didn't make it yourself, did you?"

Last February when we were snowed in, we hosted an impromptu dinner party for a handful of neighbors who were brave - and tall - enough to wade through the snowdrifts and reach our front door. The dinner fare was pretty basic, prepared entirely from food we had on hand in the pantry and freezer, which is actually a pretty fun way to cook.

But it was the dessert - a toasty warm cherry-berry cobbler served with the last half-scoops of vanilla ice cream from a nearly empty carton - that had everyone at the dinner table salivating and questioning whether it was truly homemade.

Since it just happened to be the week of President's Day, I had the satisfaction of responding to my dinner guest's query in character: "I cannot tell a lie," I said solemnly. "I did make it myself...but I did not cut down the cherry tree."

Here's my recipe for the simple but scrumptious cherry-berry cobbler I made that evening in my beloved crockpot, a perfect tribute to both George Washington and getting creative with whatever cooking ingredients you have on hand:

• 1 can (20 ounce) cherry pie filling ("No Sugar Added" type is plenty sweet for this recipe)
• 4 cups frozen berries (any type of berry or combo will work just fine)
• 1 roll (16 ounce) prepared sugar cookie dough
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Slivered almonds or other chopped nuts (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of cherry liqueur or cherry bandy (optional)
• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Spray the inside of the crockpot with a light coating of spray cooking oil to make cleanup easier. Mix the pie filling, frozen berries, cinnamon, and cherry liqueur/brandy together in the crockpot. Crumble or coarsely cube the sugar cookie dough, and spread it evenly across the top of the mixture. Top with almonds/nuts if desired.  Cook on high heat for 4 -5 hours, until cookie dough is browned and fully cooked, and the cobbler is bubbling.  Serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream on top, and ideally on a snowy February night with some good friends around the table.

Photo by outdoorPDK via Flickr Creative Commons.