Southern Blackberry Cobbler

Old-fashioned Southern blackberry cobbler starts with a simple buttery batter poured into the pan before the berries, then bakes into a golden crust that rises up around every juicy blackberry. It's the kind of dessert that's been stealing the spotlight at church suppers and family reunions for generations.

This family recipe was most often made with wild dewberries. Since they're hard to find nowadays I'm using blackberries, available almost everywhere.

Table of Contents

• 🥰 Is this blackberry cobbler recipe for you?
• 🧾 Ingredients
• 📖 Recipe
• 📖 Variations
• 🔪 How to make blackberry cobbler
• 🥫How to store blackberry cobbler
• 💭 Tips for making blackberry cobbler
• 👩‍🍳 FAQs
• 📚 More old fashioned fruit desserts
• 🍽️ Serve with
• ✍🏻 A note from Marye
• 💬 Comments

🥰 Is this blackberry cobbler recipe for you?

• You like an old-fashioned Southern blackberry cobbler with a buttery, golden crust instead of cake mix or biscuits.
• You want a recipe that's easy enough for a weeknight but worthy of a Sunday supper. Just pour the batter in and top with berries. The batter rises to the top to form the crust.
• You have fresh blackberries, frozen blackberries, or a bucket of wild dewberries that stained your fingers purple before breakfast.

🧾 Ingredients

This ingredient list is shorter than the line at the salad bar at a Texas steakhouse.

• All-purpose flour. The sturdy foundation that keeps this cobbler from becoming blackberry soup.
• Salt. Just enough to remind the sugar who's actually in charge. I use kosher salt, if you use regular table salt use ¼ teaspoon.
• Sugar. Sweetens the berries without trying to erase their sassy little tart streak.
• Baking powder. Gives the crust enough lift to strut into the oven like it owns the place.
• Butter. The reason the crust turns golden instead of disappointing.
• Milk. Brings the batter together into something that pours like a dream and bakes like a Southern legend. Whole milk works best here.
• Blackberries. Juicy, tart, gloriously messy, and fully prepared to stain your fingers as proof you made the right dessert.

📖 Recipe

📖 Variations

You can vary this easy blackberry cobbler recipe with different fruit fillings.

• half raspberries and half blackberries
• strawberries
• blueberries
• peaches - peeled
• plums - peeled
• raspberries
• a mixture of all of it!

🔪 How to make blackberry cobbler

This is one of those recipes that looks impressively homemade without demanding a full day's commitment.

1. Mix sugar and fresh berries and simmer.
2. Combine flour and remaining topping ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Melt the stick of butter in the baking dish and pour the topping mixture in.
4. Place blackberries over the top of the batter and gently pour in any juice that's left in the pan.

🥫How to store blackberry cobbler

Leftover blackberry cobbler should be covered with plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container and stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

I don't like to freeze it because the fruit loses texture but you can. Wrap it in plastic wrap then aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months.

💭 Tips for making blackberry cobbler

Expert Tip: If your berries are very sweet and ripe you'll want to cut back on the amount of sugar you add to them. Instead of 1 cup try ¾ cup.

• You can use 1 ½ cups of Bisquick instead of flour, salt, and baking powder in this classic southern recipe if you wish.
• Wild blackberries or dewberries are the absolute best if you can find them.
• Use frozen blackberries if you can't find fresh.
• I like my blackberry cobbler thick so I use a smaller baking dish (9x9-inch square or similar). For a thinner top crust use a 13x9-inch pan as directed in the recipe.
• Don't over mix the batter or it will be tough.
• If you have a lot of fresh blackberries you can double the amount for more berry-to-topping ratio. Add more sugar to taste.

👩‍🍳 FAQs

📚 More old fashioned fruit desserts

• You can't miss with this cream cheese cherry bubble up! So easy.
• I love to make this peach cobbler dump cake when I'm in a hurry.
• No one can turn down one of these fried pies and when they're this easy you'll make them a lot!

🍽️ Serve with

This is one of our favorite summertime meals...

• BBQ chicken breast is wrapped in bacon and grilled for a tasty, quick summer meal.
• Cornbread salad is easy to make and absolutely delish! Make it ahead of time for the most convenience and flavor.
• Serve this old fashioned blackberry cobbler warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, whipped topping, or whipped cream.

Pretty much everyone around here has their own southern blackberry cobbler recipe and they'll swear on a stack of bluebonnets that it's the only way to make it.

Cobbler recipes are one of those things that families in the south will go to war over. I am almost positive the whole Hatfield and McCoy feud was ignited by a vicious cobbler disagreement.

• One crust or two?
• Pie crust dough or biscuit crust...or crumble crust?
• Dumplings IN the filling or no?
• Shortening or butter?

Oh honey, it gets intense! Give this one a try and see if it isn't the best blackberry cobbler you've ever put in your mouth.

✍🏻 A note from Marye

We used to go blackberry picking pretty much every summer. Generally, it would start with me finding a patch of wild blackberries or dewberries while doing some summertime exploring.

We'd perfume ourselves with mosquito repellant and wrap double sided tape around the bottoms of our legs to handle the ticks.

When a bowl was filled we'd head back home, covered in mosquito bites despite the best efforts of OFF. At some point in the evening, Mom would hand us bowls of warm cobbler with some sweetened cream poured over it.

Such warm, cozy, and sweet memories!