My mother-in-law, Cornelia Lewis, was featured in a major area newspaper in October 1994 as one of Georgia’s notable cooks. She often prepared this delicious old-fashioned fruit dessert. I have never known anyone else to make a berry pie this same way. She always called it a “roll.” I guess that was because of the process of “rolling” the crust around the berries. Cornelia enjoyed cooking for her family until she was ninety-six years old.
4 cups fresh or frozen blackberries
1½ cups granulated sugar plus more for sprinkling
2 cups biscuit mix or homemade biscuit dough
Butter
2 cups hot water
Wash the fresh blackberries and pour the sugar over them. Set them aside to allow the sugar time to release the juice from the berries. Preheat the oven to 350°.
Prepare the biscuit mix according to the package directions. Break off enough dough to make about two biscuits and roll this out until it is thin like a piecrust. Grease a 9 × 13-inch baking dish. Carefully lift the rolled-out dough and place it into the dish, allowing part of the crust to hang over the side of the dish. Spoon one-third of the berries onto the crust. “Roll” the crust over the berries. Repeat this process with the remainder of the dough and the berries. Dot the tops of the rolls with the butter and sprinkle with sugar. Pour the hot water into the dish around the rolls of dough. The water is necessary to make the rolls juicy. Bake for about 30 to 40 minutes until the rolls are golden brown on top.
Hint: Other berries may be used in this recipe
YIELD: 6 TO 9 SERVINGS
Rose Lewis
Covington, Georgia