Pear Raspberry Cobbler recipe

On Sunday evenings we have dinner at my parents' house. My mom makes a fabulous dinner (usually involving real mashed potatoes, she makes the best!) and I bring dessert. Though the tried and true cookies or brownies are always winners, I like to try new things, and yesterday I found myself casting about for ideas. Since I bottled pears this past week and had a few quarts that didn't seal properly, I decided to do something with them. I settled on a pear cobbler, and created my own recipe, which my husband rated a 9 out of 10, and my parents both raved over and came back for seconds.

Pears are great fruits, but they don't have a whole lot of flavor to them, so when I started looking at creating a cobbler recipe, I knew I would want to combine mine with a second fruit for color and an extra kick. Since I had frozen, unsweetened raspberries in the freezer, I decided they would be a good match.

Ingredients:
1 quart bottle pears in light syrup (could use a large can--around 30 oz--of pears instead)
1 to 1 1/2 cups frozen, unsweetened raspberries **
1 vanilla cake mix--white or yellow would work just as well
5 Tbspn butter or margarine
12 oz gingerale (a lemon-lime soda is my usual choice, but this is what I had on hand)

Empty jar or can of pears into a 9x13 pan, syrup and all. I cut mine up into smaller pieces so they covered the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle on the raspberries--I did this while they were still frozen, but defrosted or fresh would work just as well. Pour the cake mix as evenly across the top as reasonably possible, then slice your butter into thin pats and lay them out across the top of the cake. You could use a little more or less, this is just what it took this time. Pour the soda across everything else so it's fairly even.

I covered my pan with tin foil for the first half an hour so it wouldn't burn on top, but that may not have been necessary. Bake approximately 1 hour at 350 degrees. Can be served either hot or cold, and with whipped topping or vanilla ice cream if you'd like.

**You could also substitute other fruits like cherries, strawberries or blackberries if you'd prefer or have them on hand.