Fresh Blackberry Slump

Desserts

Origin: American Northeast

Equipment: Dutch Oven or Skillet

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During our time living in eastern Washington, one of our favorite activities to do with the kids was to visit one of the many orchards in the area and pick fruit. In Washington this typically consisted of cherries, blueberries, and apples. After moving to the suburbia in the midwest we had a couple years hiatus from berry picking before one of our children asked why we did not go pick fruit anymore.

After a little bit of online searching we have thankfully discovered several wonderful orchards and farms within an hour of Kansas City, and the summer tradition of fruit picking has begun again. The blueberries and strawberries tend to be our kids favorites, but this summer we found a bumper crop of huge juicy blackberries. It was a fun summer of blackberry ice cream, crisps, and plenty left over for jams to last us the rest of the year. Out favorite blackberry dish, however, was blackberry slump.

What is a Slump?

I was first introduced to slump in Washington, where Anthony's Seafood had possibly the best dessert ever, Huckleberry Slump. No visit to Anthony's was ever complete without a warm helping of slump topped with a scoop or two of the ice cream of the day. For those unfamiliar with slump (also called a grunt in some areas of the U.S), it is very similar to a cobbler, except where a cobbler may be topped with dough or dumplings and then cooked in an oven, a slump is cooked on the stove top, grill, or campfire in a covered skillet or dutch oven. Drops or balls of dumpling are added to the fruit and as the fruit is steamed during cooking the dumplings are also cooked to chewy perfection.

Making the Fresh Blackberry Slump

To prepare the dumplings whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar in a medium sized bowl or food processor.
If using powdered buttermilk, reconstitute it in a measuring cup. Dice the butter into small cubes and cut into the flour. Continue to cut in the butter until the flour resembles small peas.
Stir in the milk all at once and mix until just combined. Then form into a loose ball and set aside.

Prepare a dutch oven or skillet on the stove top. Add the blackberries, sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice, nutmeg, vanilla, and water to the dutch oven and heat until boiling, stirring a few times to make sure the berries are well coated in syrup.
Tear small pieces off of the dumpling dough ball and drop into the boiling fruit mixture. You want about 8-10 dumplings, and try not to crowd them too much in the pan.

Cover the pan or dutch oven and reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 25 minutes, without opening the lid, then remove the lid and check the dumplings for doneness with a tooth pick.

Serve the slump with ice cream and a couple pieces of fresh fruit. Looking for more great recipes to use up your fresh fruit? Give a few of these a try.

Blackberry Red Sangria

Blueberry Moscow Mule

Southern Comfort Blackberry Bramble Style Arnold Palmer

Grilled Peaches with Amaretto Whipped Cream

We hope you enjoyed this summertime treat. Thanks again for visiting Carne Diem. If you tried and enjoyed our recipe, please share with others. Also don’t forget to tag us @Carne_Diem_Culinary or #CarneDiemBlog, we love to see your pics! To be notified of future recipes please follow us on Facebook,  Instagram, or Pinterest, or sign up for our e-mail notifications.

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