Easy Blackberry Cobbler (from Scratch!)
Blackberry Cobbler is an easy, from-scratch, scrumptious, summer dessert recipe featuring plump, tart blackberries ribboned through a layer of sweet, tender cake. And don't forget the vanilla ice cream!
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If you enjoy summer desserts, you'll also love Summer Peach Cake, No-Bake Frozen Margarita Pie, and Mini S'mores Trifles!
One of my favorite summer desserts is cobbler. And while that often brings to mind peaches, I also love to change things up with Blackberry Cobbler! I don't know about you, but there aren't many baked desserts that bring summer to my mind more than a homemade cobbler...served warm, oozing with fruit, and topped with vanilla ice cream. And blackberries add such delicious flavor and gorgeous color to this popular seasonal treat!
I realize that different regions around the country make different versions of cobbler. And while they all involve fruit and some type of dough or batter, there are various expectations of what a cobbler should truly be. Well, I'm not here to argue technical or historical definitions, but I would venture to claim that this Blackberry Cobbler recipe is a pretty common manifestation of cobbler in the south.
Ingredients
So what do you need to make this homemade, easy Blackberry Cobbler? No artificial cake mix or Bisquick here! Just a few simple, real ingredients...
- Blackberries. If it's blackberry season, by all means use fresh! But any other time of year, frozen and thawed berries will work just dandy.
- Sugar + water. For the simple syrup that the blackberries simmer in.
- Butter. For the baking dish
- Flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, + milk. To make the homemade cobbler batter.
- Pure vanilla extract. Because everything's better with vanilla!
How to Make Blackberry Cobbler
(The below photos are intended to be helpful, but please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of this post for FULL DIRECTIONS.)
Your start with your fruit. As I previously mentioned, in Texas, that typically means peaches or blackberries, since those are abundant through the summer in these parts. Of course, when your favorite stone fruit or berry is out of season, frozen fruit makes a great substitute for fresh.
So here's how ya make this from-scratch Blackberry Cobbler recipe:
- In a medium pot, combine blackberries, sugar, and water.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until reduced and thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- While blackberries are cooking, whisk together flour, remaining sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
- Slowly blend in milk and vanilla and mix until batter is smooth.
- Put pats of butter in the bottom of a baking dish and place it in your preheated oven for a couple of minutes to melt. Remove the dish from the oven and tilt it so that the melted butter evenly coats the bottom.
- Slowly pour batter over melted butter.
- Gently spoon berries and syrup evenly over batter without stirring.
- Bake until Blackberry Cobbler is light golden brown and tests done with a toothpick inserted in the center. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream!
And that's it friends! But before you dig in, I feel obligated to mention something that I often get questions about...
An Important Note!
When you spoon the blackberries on top of the batter, the fruit will initially sink.
However, as your cobbler bakes, some of the berries will rise a bit. The result is a cake-like dessert with a gorgeous, fruity layer ribboned throughout.
So -- here's the important part -- that's why the photos in this post show blackberry deliciousness on the bottom of the baking dish...even though the instructions tell you to spoon the fruit on top of the batter.
How to Serve Blackberry Cobbler
Have I mentioned ice cream yet? In my humble opinion, cobbler is best served warm (either fresh out of the oven or reheated). And it must be topped with vanilla ice cream. If you're feeling particularly industrious, homemade ice cream is even better. 😉
I'm not ashamed to admit that I've been known to enjoy this Blackberry Cobbler recipe for breakfast. It's made with fruit, right? So it can't be that bad. Of course, it's easier to justify eating cobbler for breakfast than ice cream, but what's a girl to do?
Well, let me tell you what a girl does. A girl gets a carton of vanilla yogurt out of the fridge and spoons that on top of her cobbler for a perfectly acceptable breakfast variation. Brilliant, right? And, I can assure you, also delicious.
So the next time you have an occasion to make a summertime sweet treat -- like perhaps this weekend? -- go for this glorious, homemade, easy Blackberry Cobbler!
It's like the downhome comfort food of desserts.
And rumor has it it can even double as breakfast. 😉
More Berry Favorites
- Easy Blackberry Cake (Upside-Down Skillet Cake)
- Blueberry Crisp
- Strawberry Iced Tea
- Easy Strawberry Shortcake
- Strawberry Upside-Down Cake
Easy Blackberry Cobbler (From Scratch!)
Video
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh blackberries
- 1 ½ cups sugar, DIVIDED
- ½ cup water
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups milk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium pot, combine blackberries, 1 cup sugar, and water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes until reduced and thickened, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat.
- While blackberries are cooking, whisk together flour, remaining ½ cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Slowly blend in milk and vanilla and mix until batter is smooth.
- Put butter (sliced into 6 equal pieces) in a 9- by 13-inch baking dish and place in preheated oven for a couple of minutes to melt. Remove dish from oven and tilt so that butter evenly coats the bottom. Slowly pour batter over melted butter. Gently spoon berries and syrup evenly over batter without stirring.
- Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cobbler is light golden brown and tests done with a toothpick inserted in the center. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- About 20 ounces of frozen blackberries (thawed) may be substituted for fresh.
- The blackberries will start to break down when they are simmered. If you prefer some whole blackberries in your cobbler, you may simmer only 3 cups of berries with the sugar and water and then stir in the remaining 1 cup of berries after removing from the heat.
- The longer you cook the berries, the thicker the syrup will get.
- Blackberries are typically pretty tart, but if you use particularly sweet blackberries, you may reduce the sugar used in the simple syrup.
- The blackberries and syrup are to be spooned on top of the batter. However, the berries will sink through the batter and then partially rise as the cobbler bakes. This is why you see the blackberry layer at the bottom of the cobbler in the photos.
Nutrition
Post originally published on May 26, 2014, and updated on June 19, 2019, September 2, 2020, and June 21, 2023.
Added a little cornstarch and water to help the syrup thicken. Came out fantastic!
Mine was very soupy. I took a tiny bit of water, added a Tbs. or so of cornstarch and mixed it in, then cooked a bit longer. That did the trick. Looks beautiful. Haven't tasted it yet. Smells fantastic.
Made this today and it was super easy and delicious.
Can I substitute water for the milk. I want to make this, but I have a milk allergy. Will it make a difference.
Hi Angelaj. I'd probably try using a milk alternative -- like almond milk -- instead of water. 🙂
I liked it because it was easy, but I couldn’t seem to get the berries syrupy. Any tips?
Cooking the berry mixture longer will evaporate excess liquid and should make your berries more syrupy. 🙂
Perfect! Just like my mom used to make when I was a kid. Thanks!
Could you use self rising flour?
Hi Gayle! I haven't tried it myself, but looking at the composition of self-rising flour, it's pretty close to the ratios of flour to baking powder to salt used in this recipe. So I think substituting 1 1/2 cups of self-rising flour in place of those three ingredients should be fine. Again, I can't make any guarantees -- because I haven't actually tried it -- but I don't see why it wouldn't work, so I'll leave it to your discretion. 🙂 Hope that helps!
can I use buttermilk
You should be able to use buttermilk instead of milk, Mariah, but my understanding is that you'll need to omit the baking powder and add 3/4 teaspoon baking soda instead. I haven't tried it myself, but here's my source: https://www.drgourmet.com/ingredients/buttermilk-baking.shtml . Good luck! 🙂
Can you substitute almond milk for the milk?
Yes. 🙂
This cobbler is very good, perfectly sweet and easy to make.
Made this for Easter gathering, everyone loved it! I need to add that this was my first attempt to make any kind of cobbler, so I was a little nervous about what everyone would think, but it turned out perfect! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I used raspberries because that’s what I had looks delicious.cant wait for it to cool down for dinner.
I made this, my first time to make homemade BlackBerry cobbler & my family loved it! This is definitely my go-to recipe!
My favorite cobbler recipe hands down. The only change i made was i made it with buttermilk instead of regular milk. I highly recommend. Something about the dichotomy of the tart berries with the buttermilk crust made it irresistible.
I made this for my family and it was sooo good! Thanks for the awesome recipe 😊
This was awesome!!!
So...my batter was a disaster. It is thin and never got done. Waisted all my good blackberries. I’m thinking it was the water. Looked at other recipes and they did not call for water. what was the purpose of the water ?
Hi Linda. I'm sorry to hear that this recipe didn't work out for you. The purpose of boiling the blackberries with sugar and water is to make a syrup. After bringing the mixture to a boil and then reducing it to a simmer for 5 minutes, excess water should have evaporated. So perhaps your berries didn't reduce long enough? Or if your starting batter was thinner than what is depicted in the video, I'm guessing there could have been an inaccurate measurement along the way? Unfortunately, I'm not able to say for sure why your particular cobbler didn't turn out. :/
Did you use the water in the batter or berries?
Just as my grandmother would make it although I remember sometimes there would be a crust on the bottom and top. A pie crust and the cobbler would be more juicier to me, which I loved for sure. Is there a difference in the way they would be put together or done the same way.