Triple Berry Sonker with Dip
"Never heard of a sonker? You’re not alone. This dessert is beloved in a particular part of the South—Surry County, North Carolina, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, to be exact. Cookbook author Nancie McDermott hails from the Piedmont region of North Carolina, yet had never tasted a sonker. “It’s amazing to me that there could be something so distinctive and so wonderful that flourished within a half day’s drive from where I grew up, which I would not even know about until my work as a culinary detective got me sleuthing around the regional South,” she said. Those who know the dessert agree that it must be baked in a large, deep pan (big enough to feed hungry farm hands) and topped with a creamy vanilla sauce called “dip.” This is where the agreements end, however. Opinions vary as to how it is made: some declare it has to have a bottom crust; others argue it only needs a top crust; the rest insist that a true sonker is made only with sweet potatoes—everything else is simply a cobbler...."