Easy Southern Blackberry Cobbler
My Southern Blackberry Cobbler recipe is the best of the best of southern summer desserts. You’ll love its warm, buttery dough and tart-sweet blackberries. Serve it with a drizzle of heavy cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or vanilla yogurt for a family-pleasing treat!
Blackberry picking was a summer ritual when I was growing up. I grew up on a farm out in the country (until we moved into town when I was in third grade) where blackberries grew wild along the dirt roads, in the ditches, and along the edges of the fields.
To be more precise, those wild blackberries were technically dewberries. They’re the smaller, sweeter, first cousin to blackberries. Dewberries ripen in April and May and then they’re gone until the next year.
Most blackberries you find in markets now are “cultivated.” They’ve been bred to be larger and more attractive than old-fashioned dewberries, but they’ll never be quite as delicious :-)
Picking blackberries back then did require some preparation. We had to wear long sleeves for protection from the fairly vicious thorns on the berry vines. And, most important of all, we had to take a hoe or something similar for protection from rattlesnakes.
Everybody knows rattlesnakes love to live under blackberry bushes. You take the handle of your hoe and poke it all around under the bush, and if there’s a snake under there, it’ll run off leaving you free to gather your blackberries (or dewberries as the case may be).
If the snake doesn’t run off, you turn your hoe around and use the other end to deal efficiently and quickly with the now angry rattlesnake.
Sound like a lot of trouble for some berries? Maybe. But oh my word those berries were delicious. Mama would bake them in an old-fashioned southern blackberry cobbler, or make jam out of them, and sometimes we’d just enjoy them in a bowl with some milk and sugar. Yum!
These days, I buy my blackberries from the grocery store. But I haven’t forgotten those childhood blackberries. I think of them every time I make this cobbler.
❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Quick and easy to make – this cobbler has a spoonable dough rather than a top crust so there’s no pastry to roll out
- Children love it
- One of those simple recipes that are fun to make and to serve
- Uses familiar, easy to find ingredients
- It can be made ahead
🛒 Ingredient Notes
- All-purpose flour (if you want to use self-rising flour, just leave out the salt and baking powder)
- Raw cane sugar (substitute white granulated sugar if you want)
- Salt
- Baking powder
- Butter (like most southern cooks, I use salted butter for *everything*; you can use unsalted if you insist)
- Cornstarch
- Blackberries (if you have access to fresh blackberries, please do use them!; otherwise, frozen work fine – no need to thaw them before adding to the recipe)
- Cinnamon (optional, but adds a great background warmth to the berry filling)
- Vanilla extract (also optional, but vanilla tends to mellow the tartness of the berries)
You’ll find detailed measurements for all ingredients in the printable version of the recipe at the bottom of this post.
🔪 How to Make Southern Blackberry Cobbler
Prep the Oven and Baking Sheet
STEP 1. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Set aside.
👉 PRO TIP: Placing the cobbler on a baking sheet lined with foil makes your clean-up so much easier. Cobblers invariably bubble over during cooking and cleaning up the bottom of the oven is no fun. Tossing a little piece of foil is way easier.
Mix the Dough
STEP 2. Add the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together.
STEP 3. Add the butter to the flour mixture and stir lightly to mix.
STEP 4. Stir the boiling water into the flour-butter mixture to melt the butter and create a thick dough. Set aside.
Make the Berry Filling
STEP 5. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the cold water and cornstarch mixing to dissolve. Add the blackberries, the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir well to combine.
STEP 6. Transfer the blackberry mixture to a 10-inch cast iron skillet (or 8×8 baking dish). Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the fruit filling is bubbly and the berries begin to soften (about 6-8 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat.
Top the Filling with Dough and Bake
STEP 7. Drop the batter by large spoonfuls onto the hot blackberry filling.
STEP 8. Place the skillet (or baking pan) on the prepared baking sheet. Bake on the middle oven rack for 25 minutes or until the dough is golden brown. Remove from the oven and let the cobbler cool for 15-20 minutes before serving.
Serve the warm cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a drizzle of milk or heavy cream, vanilla yogurt, or sweetened whipped cream.
💡 Recipe Tips and Variations
- Taste the berries! If they’re really sour and tart, you may want to add more sugar. Also, a pinch of baking soda added to the cooked filling can help neutralize the tartness.
- The cane sugar can be swapped out with an equal amount of white granulated sugar. For a warmer, deeper flavor try substituting an equal amount of light brown sugar.
- If using frozen berries, you may need to double the cornstarch (frozen berries give off much more liquid when cooked).
- The vanilla extract is optional but recommended. Blackberries can be both bitter and sour and the vanilla helps to mellow the flavor.
- A great variation is to use half blackberries and half raspberries.
- This recipe works with almost any fruit. Blueberries are particularly good.
- Substitute any warm spice such as ginger, nutmeg, or cardamom for the cinnamon.
- Try adding about a teaspoon of grated lemon zest to the berry filling for an added fresh flavor.
🍚 Storage
Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
To freeze, allow the cobbler to cool completely, then wrap tightly in a layer of plastic wrap followed by a layer of heavy-duty foil. Freeze for up to 4 months.
❓ Questions About Blackberry Cobbler
There are lots of different kinds of recipes that consist of cooked fruit with some sort of topping. Crisps, cobblers, betties, pandowdies, grunts, and slumps all fall into this category. Grunts and slumps are cooked on the stovetop while the others are baked. Betties and pandowdies usually call for a pie crust dough. A cobbler has a doughy crust (sometimes with dumplings in the filling) while a crisp has a crumbly topping (usually containing a cereal such as oatmeal and sometimes nuts).
Blackberries are quite good for you. One cup of blackberries meets half the daily requirement for Vitamin C and 1/3 the daily recommendation for fiber.
You can make the cobbler the day before you want to serve. Bake it and allow it to cool completely. Cover and store in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, bring the cobbler to room temperature (takes about an hour) and then reheat at 350 F for about 15 minutes.
🧾 More Recipes You’ll Like
Questions? I’m happy to help!
If you have more questions about the recipe, or if you’ve made it and would like to leave a comment, scroll down to leave your thoughts, questions, and/or rating!
Thanks so much for stopping by!
📖 Recipe
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Southern Blackberry Cobbler
Ingredients
For the Cobbler Dough
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup raw cane sugar or white granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 5 tablespoons butter room temperature, cut into pieces
- ¼ cup boiling water
For the Blackberry Filling
- ¼ cup cool water
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 cups blackberries fresh or frozen
- ½ cup raw cane sugar or white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Set aside.
- Add the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together.
- Add the butter to the flour mixture and stir lightly to mix.
- Stir the boiling water into the flour-butter mixture to melt the butter and create a thick dough. Set aside.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the cold water and cornstarch mixing to dissolve. Add the blackberries, the remaining 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir well to combine.
- Transfer the blackberry filling mixture to a 10-inch cast iron skillet (or 8×8 baking dish). Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the fruit filling is bubbly and the berries begin to soften (about 6-8 minutes). Remove the pan from the heat.
- Drop the batter by large spoonfuls onto the hot blackberry filling.
- Place the skillet (or baking pan) on the prepared baking sheet. Bake on the middle oven rack for 25 minutes or until the dough is golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and let the cobbler cool for 15-20 minutes before serving.
Notes
- Swap out the cane sugar with an equal amount of white granulated sugar.
- If using frozen berries, you may need to double the cornstarch (frozen berries give off much more liquid when cooked).
- Try adding about a teaspoon of grated lemon zest to the berry filling for an added fresh flavor.
- Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
- To freeze, allow the cobbler to cool completely, then wrap tightly in a layer of plastic wrap followed by a layer of heavy-duty foil. Freeze for up to 4 months.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated by software based on the ingredients in each recipe. It is an estimate only and is provided for informational purposes. You should consult your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian if precise nutrition calculations are needed for health reasons.
— This post was originally published on August 6, 2021. It has been updated with additional information.
Thank you for the tips!!
You’re welcome!
Lana, my mother made the BEST cobblers, but she didn’t do “drop” dumplins–she rolled out a dough, cut it in strips (like Chicken & Dumplins) and fried the strips in butter and then pushed them into blackberry mixture. I’ve tried using canned biscuits but it doesn’t really work for me. Do you think your dough mixture would work if I rolled it out and cut in strips? Thanks for your insight.
Janice – I donn’t think this dough would be thick enough to roll. I would use a standard chicken and dumpling dough mixture with a couple of tablespoons of sugar added.
Lana, thanks for getting back to me.
So I made this last night but I didn’t have blackberries. I had a frozen triple berry mix that was delicious in it. I love the dough to this. It’s the best dough I have tasted for cobbler most of them taste like biscuits. Definitely this is my go to recipe for cobbler from now on. The only adjustment I will make next time is I will use 3 Tbs of cornstarch instead of 4 it was a little thicker for my personal preference.
These various ingredients sound delicious
Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe. It is now my go-to cobbler.
You’re very welcome! I’m glad you like it.
Best ever. Used the hints to improve flavor of less than perfect berries and cobbler was delish! Thank you
I’m so glad you liked the recipe! I can’t wait for ripe blackberries here.
Lana I made this recipe for times now and it’s perfect every time I love it! Thank you so much
My pleasure, Renee!
Looking forward to making this cobbler!