Wookiee Hut Cuisine presents:
 Not So Portable Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
by McGonaGirl & Hermi2

Ginny Weasley had been late to class far too often — she'd run, huffing and puffing, into every class, no matter how far or close the next classroom was from her current classroom. So Professor McGonagal gave her detention.

You see, Ginny is the youngest of the Weasley clan, and the only girl. Her mother, a very clucking maternal sort of woman, packed her bags for her before the start of school. She'd been teaching Ginny to bake cobblers, and not wanting the girl to forget her lessons, thoughtfully packed all the ingredients she'd need to practice. Unfortunately, everything — including a small oven! — was packed into Ginny's bookbag, which was enchanted and could hold any number of items. Mrs. Weasley got carried away and even included a small refrigerator in there!

Alas, poor Ginny hadn't had anywhere to put all these things, so she simply carried them in her bookbag, which was very, very heavy ... and when asked, she offered this explanation to Professor McGonagal:

"In my pack, a treasure trove of random items hides waiting for me to find them as I frantically dig for my Muggle Studies homework. But every time I put my hand in, something unexpected comes out. I pull out my pink-stained cookbook spiral (filled with tips and tricks from Mum), and a purple heart shaped sealed container with a cow drawn on the cover, which contains strawberries. As my green pencil case flies by my ear (that's full of rhubarb, waiting to be cut with a carefully wrapped knife), a vial of powdered ginger hits me on the forehead. Tossing my transfigurations binder aside, my purple baking dish and its white mixing spoons get caught in the spiral binding of my orange potions notebook. When I tip my pack upside down to look for the homework that's due, a torrent of quills, pink measuring cups, oven screws, vanilla essence containers, and multiple jars of sugar and flour rain onto the floor, bouncing about. I hurriedly open the pockets to find a packet of cornflour and a key to the portable chiller my Mum had shoved inside (she was worried that the cream might go 'off' if they weren't chilled properly, and one has to chill the dough properly, in any case). As a last resort while looking for my homework, I check the mesh pocket on the back of my pack and find my Muggle Studies worksheet as well as a chocolate kiss, which my father got from a Muggle he was visiting on one of his work research trips. I eat the kiss, I wonder how I'm supposed to stuff all this back into the pack and drag it down the stairs to potions next period!"


After Ginny had explained the problem, the sentence was commuted ... to baking the cobbler she'd been taught to make! "Then you can remove the chiller and the oven, and that should lighten the pack some and we'll have a treat, don't you think, dear?" Professor McGonagal was very pragmatic!
    Dough
  • 1½ cups self-rising flour, or a biscuit mix like Bisquick
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1½ tablespoons white sugar
  • ½ teaspoon dried ground ginger
  • ¾ cups heavy cream
In a bowl, stir together the flour/Bisquick, brown sugar, white sugar, and ground ginger. Mix in "enough" heavy cream to form a dough; it shouldn't be sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator for an hour or more before rolling out.

    Filling and Assembly
  • 1 lb / 450 g strawberries, sliced
  • 1 lb / 450 g rhubarb, chopped
  • 1 cup sugar (brown or white)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract / vanilla essence
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch / cornflour
  • heavy cream, for brushing onto the dough
  • 1 tablespoon additional white sugar, for sprinkling
Put the strawberries, rhubarb, and sugar into a big bowl and toss them together. Let it sit out for an hour, then add the vanilla extract, and cornstarch, tossing it in thoroughly. Scrape out into a 9" x 13" / 23 cm x 33 cm square baking dish.

Heat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Roll out the chilled dough to ¼" / ¾ cm thick, and cut out into small rounds with a biscuit or cookie cutter. Place over the fruit in the cakepan or baking dish without overlapping the pieces so that there are gaps for the fruit to vent and bubble up.

Brush the dough with heavy cream, then sprinkle with additional white sugar. Place the dish on a foil-lined tray (the filling with bubble out and make a mess), then put into the heated oven and bake for 20 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling out of the holes. Let the dish sit for 10 minutes before dishing it up.

Serves 4 to 6; you can serve with vanilla ice cream, if you wish, or unsweetened whipped cream. Or serve it cold, if you wish.
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