Read our favourite blackberry recipes for autumn, from healthy cookies to delicious vension fillet with blackberry sauce.
Blackberries are abundant at this time of year, and there are so many ways to cook with them while you have the chance. If you have a glut, you can freeze them for use later on, but with the rest why not try some of our favourite blackberry recipes?
Our kitchen garden cook whips up a blackberry sauce to serve with tender venison fillet and juniper, as a perfect representation of autumn on a plate.
Try making blackberry wine to add to your drinks cabinet for winter or try the blackberry jam recipe below.
How to make blackberry jam
Reader Sam Dixon reveals the secret to making simple blackberry preserve without a jam thermometer.
I developed this blackberry jam from a recipe for raspberry preserve that I already had. The fruits contain similar amounts of natural pectin and so need the same amount of help to thicken.
You can make a big batch and pour it into jars, but I usually just make a small amount to fill a sponge cake or for a special brunch.
1. Weigh out twice as many blackberries to caster sugar and place in a very large pan.
2. Add a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice to help the preserve thicken.
3. Bring to boil and then let simmer without stirring for 20 minutes.
4. Do the fridge test. Dollop a little of the jam liquid on a cold plate and put in fridge for five minutes. If it sets then it’s ready. If not, keep cooking and testing every five minutes.
5. If you’re using jars, rinse them with hot soapy water and dry in a hot oven while preparing your jam. When it’s ready, pour in and screw the lids on tightly.
Healthy blackberry and dark chocolate cookies
These super healthy cookies are a guilt-free way to enjoy chocolate.
Mix together 100g porridge oats, 50g coconut flour, 50g lucuma powder , 1tspn baking powder, 1tspn vanilla-bean paste, 50g mixed seeds such as pumpkin and sunflower, 1 small ripe banana, 200ml maple syrup and 150g blackberries. Roll into balls, flatten them, brush them with maple syrup and sprinkle slivered almonds over them.
Bake in a moderate oven for 12–15 minutes.
Eat with a bowl of fresh berries on the side.
Roast partridge with blackberry sauce and colcannon
Another delicious way to eat blackberries with game at this time of year.
Serves 4
Ingredients
- 4 shallots, halved
- 4 partridge, cleaned and gutted (suggested hanging time is 3-4 days)
- A splash of olive oil and a knob of butter for frying
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 4 sprigs thyme
- 900g potatoes, peeled and cut into even-sized pieces
- 400g kale, chopped
- 75g butter
- 200ml milk
- 2 spring onions, finely sliced
- 1 tbspn plain flour
- 200ml red wine
- 15g wholegrain mustard
- 30g redcurrant jelly
- 300ml hot chicken stock
- 250g blackberries
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Place the shallots into the cavities of the partridge and liberally season the birds all over. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan and cook the partridge on all sides until golden brown. Place them in a roasting tin and scatter with rosemary and thyme. Roast the birds in the oven for about 20 minutes or until cooked through and the juices run clear when a skewer is inserted to the leg.
Put the potatoes into a saucepan of salted water, bring to the boil and cook until tender. Meanwhile, place the chopped kale into a saucepan with a little boiling water and cook until soft. Strain the potatoes, remove from the heat and add the butter and milk. Mash with a potato masher and then stir through the cooked kale, spring onions and seasoning. This can be covered with foil and kept warm in a low oven until ready to serve.
When the partridge are cooked, remove them from the oven and put them on a separate board to rest, covered with foil. Place the roasting tin over a medium heat on the stove and sprinkle the flour over the pan juices, using a metal whisk to mix it in, scraping the bottom of the roasting tin as you do so, for about 2 minutes. Pour the red wine over it and continue mixing. At this point, you should have a good rolling simmer so that the wine reduces and the alcohol burns off. Add the mustard and redcurrant jelly, again mixing in well for a further few minutes, and then pour in the hot chicken stock. Add the blackberries, breaking half of them up with the whisk, but leaving the others whole. Continue on a rolling simmer until the sauce has reduced by half to a gravy consistency, then season to taste. Serve the partridge drizzled with blackberry sauce, with the colcannon on the side.
More recipes with blackberries
Stewed blackberries and apples
Add to a saucepan a glass of white wine, 1 tbspn orange peel, 4 star anise, a pinch of cinnamon, 3 tbspn honey, 3 apples (peeled and sliced), and, after 15 minutes of simmering, add 100g blackberries. Once cooked, spoon Greek yoghurt into four individual glasses and top with the stewed fruit and a sprig of mint.
Blackberry and white chocolate muffins
Place 175g butter and 175g caster sugar into a bowl and mix until fluffy. Add a teaspoon of vanillabean paste and mix again. Stir in 3 beaten eggs followed by 175g self-raising flour. Gently stir 100g white chocolate broken into small pieces and 100g blackberries through the mixture. Pour it into muffin cases and bake in a moderate oven for about 25 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Dust with icing sugar and serve for afternoon tea.
