In which we turn blackberries into black bear, in a roundabout way

 It's hard for me to believe, but 20 jars of blackberry jam is probably enough for the year.

Of course, I have given some away.  But there is still plenty of jam in the pantry.

But the vines are still making blackberries!  What can I do with them?  Hmmmm. 

The answer was inspired by a visiting auntie with a notorious sweet tooth.  

My mom and her sister wanted to feed treats to the young goats,
so I brought them entire sunflower plants to hand through the fence grid

I generally make scones for visitors to the Farm, but it seemed like Aunt Judy would like a Little Something Extra.  So:  brownies it is.  

But not ordinary brownies.

Brownies...with a kick

I made raspberry-brownies earlier this summer when we were up to our elbows in raspberries.  Those were delightful.  

Blackberries have a courser texture and harsher flavor, though, and I wanted something that was sweet but not too sweet.

Aha!  Jim made honey-and-blackberry infused bourbon in 2019, and there was still an unopened pint jar of the stuff on the shelf.  

Perfect.

The star-shaped pan (a $2 thrift-store treasure) gives us 5 corner-pieces instead of 4!

The result: gooey, chocolate-y and not overly-sweet brownies, with sweet whole blackberries and a little kick of booze-y flavor.

I started with Mel Newton's basic brownie recipe , and then began adding stuff.

Here's my modified version:

Blackberry-Bourbon-Brownies

The night before baking (or several hours prior, at least):

Place about a half-cup of fresh blackberries in a shallow glass bowl (I use a glass pie plate) Cover the berries with something alcoholic: bourbon is good.  Rum or whiskey also good.  Whatever you have is fine.  Leave them there to mingle and socialize while you do other things.

When you're ready to bake:

350 degree oven

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 2 unbeaten eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use more than that because MMmmmMM vanilla, so maybe a tablespoon, or perhaps even more!)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup flour (possibly a bit more if you are adding a lot of juicy berries)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

Mix all the stuff (above) together, but don't beat the hell out of it.  Just mix it. 

Then, gently fold in:

• 1/4 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips (I use unsweetened chocolate chips, but any dark, not-too-sweet chips will work)
• 
  
• The blackberries (I squeeze most of the extra liquid out of the berries without crushing them so my batter doesn't get all soupy.  The leftover booze-juice gets mixed with chilled seltzer over ice on very hot days)

Pour into greased 8" x 8" pan (or a star-shaped pan, if you have one) and bake for 20-25 minutes.  

DO NOT OVER-BAKE.  The center will look liquid and unbaked when you take it out, but it will firm up as it cools.  

Serve to visiting aunties...

Oooooh, we do know how to eat well around here!

or trade some to the neighbor who got an 400-pound black bear on his last hunt, and offered bear meat for brownies.  

That's how we do it here!