Bramble Berry Cobbler

From the garden

• 6 cups bramble and wild berries (blackberries, raspberries, honeyberries, lowbush blueberries, or whatever the patch gives), picked over and rinsed · about 2 pounds; any mix from the row works, and frozen berries go in unthawed

From the pantry

• ¾ cup granulated sugar · for the fruit; use the low end for dead-ripe blackberries
• 3 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 lemon, juiced · about 2 tablespoons, to keep sweet berries from tasting flat
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour · whisked with 3 tablespoons sugar for the biscuit topping
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 6 tbsp butter, cold, cut in small cubes · plus more for the dish
• ¾ cup heavy cream · for the dough; buttermilk or whole milk works too, plus more cream to pour at the table
• ½ tsp salt

1. Heat the oven to 375°F and butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Toss the berries with the granulated sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice until no dry streaks of cornstarch remain, then tip them into the dish and spread level.
2. Whisk the flour mixture and salt in a bowl, then work in the cold butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until the largest pieces are the size of peas and the rest looks like coarse meal.
3. Pour in the cream and stir just until a shaggy dough pulls together. Stop while it still looks undermixed: worked-over biscuit dough bakes tough instead of tender and short.
4. Drop the dough over the fruit in eight rough mounds, leaving gaps for steam to escape. Bake 45–50 minutes, until the biscuits are deep golden through the center and the juices bubble thickly at the edges, not just at the rim.
5. Rest 20 minutes before serving so the juices go from soupy to spoonable. Serve warm in bowls with cold cream poured over, or with vanilla ice cream if the crowd expects it.