… left me with slightly more strawberries than I intended to eat and a pound of ground bison.  The bison went quickly, and the strawberries followed suit… all the way up until the last pint or so.  Those just sat in the fridge for days.  I would open the door to get milk for my cereal in the morning, contemplate for a few moments whether I wanted to add strawberries to my bowl, notice their many bruises, and shut the door with only a gallon of milk in hand.  There’s something so very unappetizing about fruit that is past ripe.

This recipe was my attempt to deal with that.  The basic cobbler recipe (this minus the cinnamon) is something I got from Rebecca.  Where it came from before that, I cannot say.  I added the cinnamon because cinnamon and strawberries are on of the best food combos of all time… right up there with orange juice and cheez-its.  Don’t judge.  We served with strawberry ice cream, another excellent food combo.  Enjoy!

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Strawberry Cobbler:

• Strawberries
• 1 stick butter, melted (8 Tablespoons)
• 1 c. sugar
• 1 c. flour
• 1 c. milk
• 1 Tbs. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375.  Chop up strawberries.  Set aside.  Mix remaining ingredients.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan.  Place the strawberries over the batter.  Bake 35ish minutes or until golden brown.

I like cutting corners, but only to the degree that I can get away with it. Trust me when I say that these mini pumpkin pies are *so* worth the extra effort.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Crust:

2 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 T. molasses
2 t. ground ginger
1 t. cinnamon
1 c. salted butter (cut into 1 cm cubes, very cold)
1/4 c. water (more, if necessary)

Mix first five ingredients together. I like to use a pastry cutter to really work in the molasses. Then, cut the butter into the flour mixture until shaggy. (I never understood that term until I started working on this recipe. Trust me when I say that you will too.) Slowly add the water and work the dough until moist and doughy throughout. Refrigerate dough for at least 3 hours.

Filling:

1 pkg. cream cheese
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs
1 can pureed pumpkin
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
dash of ground cloves

With electric mixer, mix thoroughly cream cheese and brown sugar. Stir in condensed milk, eggs, and pureed pumpkin. Finally, mix in cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.

Putting it together:

Adding flour if necessary, push a tablespoon of dough into each muffin cup and up the sides. It’s important to make sure there are no holes in the mini pie crust. Spoon filling into crusts until full. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for approximately 40 minutes. You want the filling to be nice and puffy and the crust to be golden brown.