Shaggy's Recipe Number 1 – Bacon Cobbler

Like, hello out there.

I've never written anything that wasn't forced on me in school and I guess this isn't much different. My talent agency is, like, threatening to drop me if I don't do something to generate some income that they can take their cut from. If Velma was reading this, she would say something about a 'dangling participle'. Scooby and I would elbow each other, say 'dangling', and laugh. Then she would call us 'children'.

I miss Velma.

You don't have to worry about me and Scoob. We're doing fine. The Shaggy and Scooby's Place restaurants are all doing pretty well. We just opened the tenth one in Los Angeles. You can hit our website to find the location nearest you. That's what they say on the television ads, anyway.

You can still find me or Scooby Doo most nights at our flagship restaurant here in Crystal Cove—conveniently located on Riley Highway just north of Lamont Avenue (another line from the TV ads).

I was talking to Fred recently and he talked about this thing going on overseas called the Corona Virus. It sounds bad, but the news always blows everything out of proportion. I mean, like, it couldn't really have much of an impact here in the good old U.S. of A. Besides, restaurants are immune to problems like that. People still have to eat, right?

It's been a while since I've seen Fred and Daphne together. When I asked Fred about it, all he said was "You have to ask her." I'll admit that I'm more than a little worried about their marriage.

But none of that is what you bought the book for (Yes, Velma would catch that dangler, too). You want to know some of the recipes that have made the Shaggy and Scooby's Place restaurants one of the top restaurant chains in the country (I'm almost done quoting that TV ad, I promise).

As with all great meals, the best way to start is with dessert. In case you're wondering, you end with dessert, too. That is a big part of what makes it a great meal.

Meals are a big part of my and Scooby's lives. That's a lie. They're the biggest part. The second biggest part is snacktime. And snacktime starts right after mealtime and ends just before the next meal. Snacktime is divided into three segments. For example: After breakfast, there is post-breakfast, mid-morning, and then pre-lunch. The same is true after lunch. After dinner it changes to: post-dinner, mid-evening, late evening, bedtime, and then dreaming about food. This is followed by breakfast and that is how my day is planned.

In all of this time devoted to food, Scoob and I noted that people rarely actually ordered peach cobbler. It was usually part of a pre-planned meal. And then, when they were served the peach cobbler, we would see about fifty percent would end up at the dishwasher station with a little pile of peaches in the corner. Diners were surgically removing the peaches and eating just the cobbler. It didn't take Albert Einstein to figure out that the world needed Cobbler Cobbler. From the name, you have probably figured out that this is peach cobbler without the peaches. Scooby Doo felt that adults would be embarrassed ordering this. So, we put it on the kid's menu.

Adults were embarrassed about ordering it, but not about eating it. At one point, we caught a couple that had borrowed their neighbor's kids to have an excuse to order it. The kids refused to give it up and a row ensued. The police did not have to be called, but it was touch-and-go there for a minute.

It was time for me and Scoob to hit the kitchens. We needed something based on Cobbler Cobbler that would be put on the main menu. Simultaneously, the Seventh Annual Baconfest was occurring in Riley and we needed a recipe to enter. We combined the two projects and Bacon Cobbler was to be the recipe.

For our first try, we decided to go gourmet. I bought Polish Bacon (or becon, as they say it) and we diced it into small cubes. That one didn't pass the test. The Polish bacon had a very strong flavor and fought with the sweetness of the cobbler. Of course, since it was made of sugar, flour, butter, milk and bacon, Scooby and I had to continue testing until it was all gone. That took about three minutes for two nine-by-thirteen-inch casserole dishes of the dessert. Not everyone has our culinary tastes, so we tried again.

The second time, we tried a more traditional approach and used standard bacon bits (not the fake ones—they have to be real bacon), mixed them with maple syrup, and poured the mixture in the bottom of the dishes and then poured the batter over it. That created a problem with the maple syrup and bacon sticking to the bottom of the dish and not adhering to the cobbler. Another round of furious eating to clear the casserole dishes and we were ready for try number three.

This third attempt won the blue ribbon at Baconfest 7 in the dessert category and made its way onto our adult menu where it has been one of our most popular items ever since.

And now, I share our secret recipe with you.

Ingredients

2 Cups – Self-Rising Flour

2 Cups – Sugar

1 Cup – Whole Milk (Don't use 2%. This is not a diet food. Look at the rest of the ingredients—who do you think you're fooling?)

1 Cup (1 Stick) – Butter (When I say 'butter', I mean butter! There are uses for margarine. This recipe is not one of them.)

1 to 3.5 ounces (to taste) – Real Chopped Bacon (Don't use the cheap stuff. Splurge a little.)

Have a bag on hand – Brown Sugar

Have a bottle on hand – Maple Syrup

Utensils and Pans Needed

One Big Mixing Bowl

One 9" x 13" Glass Casserole Dish

One Pastry Blender or Two Knives

One Cheese Grater

Directions

Pre-Heat the oven to 350F (175C).

To prepare the casserole dish, butter and flour the bottom. You do this by taking a pad of butter and rubbing it over the bottom and little up the sides of the dish. You then put in a little flour and roll it around in the dish until the entire bottom and about halfway up the sides is coated in a very thin covering of the flour. The color should be about the same color as one of the ghosts in our old show.

To make the batter:

Mix the flour and sugar together in the mixing bowl. Just stir it around a little with a fork.

Here comes the first secret part of the recipe. Cut the butter into the flour/sugar mixture. This is all of the information that most recipes give. Like you're supposed to know what that means. 'Cutting in' is taking a stick of chilled butter and, using two knives, cutting downward through the butter over and over and over until it is cut into tiny pieces so small that they are blended completely with the flour/sugar mix. The end result should look like slightly yellow breadcrumbs. This takes forever and your thumb muscles get really, really tired.

Here are some tips:

First, make sure the butter is thoroughly chilled. If it is just a little mushy, then the cobbler sinks in the middle and gets really heavy and dense.

Second, there is a thing called a Pastry Blender which you can order online. It is pretty cheap and replaces the two-knife approach. It decreases the time for cutting butter into flour at least in half, maybe even more. If, in the future, you want to try your hand at southern-style biscuits or even homemade pie crusts along with the cobbler, it is a worthwhile investment.

Third, use a cheese grater to grate the chilled stick of butter over the top of the flour/sugar mix before you use the pastry blender to cut it in. Using the grater and the pastry blender turns a ten-minute task into a one-minute task and saves the thumb cramps.

Whichever method you use, work fast to keep the butter from going soft.

After the butter has been added, add the milk and stir. You can use a mechanical blender if you wish. At the restaurant, I go mechanical because of the large portions. But at home, I hand stir. It works just as well and makes for less clean-up time.

Once the mixture becomes a loose batter, pour it into the casserole dish. Then sprinkle bacon bits over the top of the batter. You don't want them to sink. I buy the bacon bits in 3.5-ounce bags and I sprinkle about half a bag. After you have tried the recipe, you can adjust that to your liking.

Next, you swirl on the maple syrup. It works best with a plastic squeeze bottle and you go back and forth down the batter with a line of syrup. It is a light addition. The strips of maple syrup should be about an inch apart. Again, after you have tried the recipe, you might want to add more or less.

Last, sprinkle a layer of brown sugar over the top. Again, do this by eye. If you want there to be a crust on the top, use more. Otherwise, use less. Whatever you like.

Put it in the oven. Hopefully, you have an oven with a window in the door and a light that works. While the cooking time is around ten minutes, it could be several minutes longer. You will see that the edges around the top turn brown quickly. Don't panic and take it out too early. You have about five more minutes after the edges brown.

Keep a watch on it. When it is done, the edges will be a darker brown and the interior a lighter brown.

As much as we all love baked goods fresh from the oven, let it cool for at least thirty minutes before serving. Like, trust me. It will be better after it cools down. It stays good in the refrigerator for two or three days.

You now have my secrets. But, if you don't feel like cooking, come to the Shaggy and Scooby's Place restaurant nearest you. We'll keep a serving in the fridge waiting... unless Scooby Doo finds it.