Home » Desserts » Easy Blackberry Cobbler

Easy Blackberry Cobbler

Easy blackberry cobbler isn’t rocket science–just a blend of berries, butter, and a soft, cake-like buttermilk batter for a southern dessert we all know how to eat, and eat well. Serve yours with ice cream and enjoy the flavors of any fruit you like. It’s easy to customize!

Jump to Recipe     Print Recipe

blackberry cobbler in a skillet

If you spend much time with a southern woman who knows how to cook, you’ve probably had what we call a “one cup cobbler”. The name is a little deceiving though–it doesn’t mean it makes a cup of cobbler but that it takes a cup of each ingredient.

It’s so simple it’s almost embarrassing and it tastes better than you can probably imagine just looking at it on screen.

What is cobbler?

A cobbler is a fruit dish that’s topped with a batter, biscuit or dumpling before being baked. In this case, we use a batter that makes a golden, buttery, tender cake-like topping that floats above the cooked fruit. I have heard some sort of ugly rumors about people calling fruit covered with pie crust a cobbler–let’s skip that idea because this is my blog and I get to have the last say.

If you want to use a pie crust, call it pie like it is and move on (though I do recognize that LOTS of southern cobbler recipes have a top and bottom pie crust).

The secret to the most tender, golden, flavorful crust

After years of making this, I’ve discovered a little secret I’m going to let you in on: buttermilk.

blackberry cobbler in a skillet

Magic happens with buttermilk. It makes the most tender, tangy dough and I really prefer it over a plain milk version. If you don’t have any buttermilk it’s fine to use all 2% or whole or make a fill-in buttermilk with a recipe like this. It’s not the same flavor but it works in a pinch.

This recipe also calls for self rising flour. That’s a blend of flour, baking powder and salt together in a bag. If you don’t have self rising flour you can make your own.

Can frozen blackberries work here?

100% yes. I use frozen ones I grow, but any frozen ones work because they get cooked down anyway.

Can I use another fruit besides blackberries?

This is also a great base for any other fruit cobbler. If you are using a sweet fruit–like peaches–feel free to reduce the amount of sugar by 1/4 cup or more depending on sweetness. I love this recipe with pitted sour cherries too. So good!

Tips for making the “sauce” of your cobbler

This recipe is what we call “self saucing” because you pour in butter, then batter, then berries and the water they cooked in then the whole thing bakes, the cake comes to the top, the berries sink beneath and the flour in the batter thickens the berry water into a sauce. It’s magic.

If you want your sauce thinner: add more or all of the water you used from simmering your berries.

If you want your sauce thicker and the whole cobbler more cake-like: add less water from simmering your berries (leave behind 1/3 of it or so).

Should blackberry cobbler be refrigerated?

Serve your cobbler warm or room temperature, but when you’re done yes, go ahead and refrigerate it. I cover mine in plastic wrap. Blackberry cobbler will last 3 or 4 days in the fridge.

blackberry cobbler in a skillet

One-Cup Blackberry Cobbler

This traditional southern blackberry cobbler uses (about) a cup of each ingredient and makes the easiest, best tasting cobbler you'll have this summer.
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 10 people
Author Rachel Ballard

Ingredients
  

  • 1 stick butter melted
  • 1 cup self rising flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup 2% or whole milk or 3/4 cup if you are omitting the buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 quart fresh or frozen blackberries 4 cups (2 14-ounce bags frozen berries)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • Enough water to cover berries about 2-3 cups

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 350.
  • Place your berries in a medium sauce pan and add just enough water to almost cover them. About 2 cups or so. 
  • Place the pot over medium high heat and bring to a boil.
  • Add 3/4 cup sugar and stir to dissolve. Turn off the heat and set aside.
  • In a 10" cast iron skillet, or 9x9 baking dish, pour in the melted butter. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl mix the self rising flour and sugar. Add the milks and stir well. Batter should be slightly thicker than pancake batter.
  • Pour the batter evenly over the melted butter. DO NOT stir.
  • Next use a slotted spoons to sprinkle the hot berries over the batter. Pour over about 2 cups of the remaining water from the berries. Use less water for a more cake-like cobbler and all of the water for a more saucy cobbler.
  • Bake 20-25 minutes until the dough is golden and the cobbler bubbles.

Notes

Remember: The more water you add to the batter and fruit, the more juice your cobbler will have when it bakes. I recommend 2 cups of water here for a moderately juicy cobbler. If you want it thinner, add the full 3 cups of water. If you want it more like a cake, do 1 1/2 or even 1 3/4 cups water. 

Nutrition

Calories: 244kcal
Tried this recipe?Tag us on Instagram @feastandfarm and hashtag it #feastandfarm
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
  

Similar Posts

37 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    This is recipe is perfect! I have been looking for a new Blackberry Cobbler recipe for awhile now & this one did not disappoint. With so many of the cobblers, the juice gets lost in the dough or crust. This is now my #1 cobbler recipe & I will be passing this one on to my son who loves blackberries also.
    Thank you so much for this, it made my day!

  2. 5 stars
    Absolutely perfect!! This will be my go to receipe from now on. My family and I love it. Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

  3. This is my go to recipe for a cobbler! I use less liquid as my family likes the breading more than the fruit. ?

  4. 1 star
    I am a relatively good cook. It is extremely rare for something not to turn out. This was the worst thing I have ever made. It was nasty. It was so bad, I don’t even know how to make it better. Look for a different recipe.

    1. Tell me what you expected this cobbler to do? I have seen a lot of people struggling and I think maybe it is because people think this is a cake or pie. I stand by the recipe and would love to hear details of “not turning out” looked like for you. –Rachel

  5. 5 stars
    It was great for me. I’m from the south and LOVED THE RECIPE!! I tweaked it to my own but if other people can’t that’s their fault.

  6. 4 stars
    I made the cobbler today. I followed the recipe exactly and at 25 minutes it was nowhere near done. I kept an eye on it and it ended up baking a total of about 50 minutes. I took it out of the oven when it was golden brown on top. I let it sit for several hours while we were out and had a piece when we got home. It was delicious! Not runny, just the right consistency.

    1. Hey Jennifer, I think it depends on how big your pan is, how much liquid you used, and the fact that almost no oven anywhere is actually cooking at the temperature it says it is. They can vary by as much as 50 to 75 degrees hotter or colder so always watch your food (which you did) over following a recipe to the letter, but when you pull it out of the oven it won’t look done. Just the crust should be brown but the liquid underneath should still be very thin. That’s normal and how we like it here in this part of the South, but it does thicken as it sits so I’m glad it suited you when you had time to dig in. 🙂

  7. 1 star
    Anyone that makes this will see that there is too much liquid for the recipe. When comparing to similiar recipes the liquid is at least half of this recipe. I too wasted my time, berries and energy. Thanks….. I would have you remake your recipe exactly as written and post a picture to prove alllllll of us wrong.

    1. Well that one star hurts there a bit “V” but I still stand by this recipe. And I’d be happy to make it again with the steps and you can see. I keep wondering…if maybe some people are expecting more of a cake here or something? A cobbler, where I am from, is pretty wet. It’s not a cake. It does have batter, but not a ton of it. And if you want it to have more of a cake-like texture, use less liquid when you pour it in over the fruit, batter and butter. In the meantime, there’s a video of me making this same cobbler in a cherry version on my Facebook page. I’ll see if I can get it to share on this post. And I’ll get those step by step images up ASAP.

    2. Just an update–I’ve added a video to the post that shows how I make the very same recipe with cherries. It will show you the consistency and texture.

  8. Well, I have to say the recipe didn’t sound right but I went with it because the picture looked so great. It was a watery soup that ended up with a gelatinous layer on the bottom. I ended up having to take it out, add another recipe of batter and try baking. I ended up with just gooey globs. I salvaged my 2 boxes of blackberries by scooping them out of the dish and tossing what was to have been cake. We will use on ice cream instead but I am disappointed. It might have had something to do with the self rising flour. I did not catch that until I had a mess on my hands. I think you need to revise the recipe to make a special note of that. Most of us use regular flour. I used exactly the amount of water, etc. The batter needs a bit of sugar and leavening for it to rise around the berries. Please warn of this in the recipe. Blackberries are not cheap!

    1. Hi Carol, I am so sorry it didn’t turn out for you but I have to say, this recipe is one that’s been used for years and years by generations of my family. Any cobbler starts with batter on the bottom then you pour over the liquid and berries and as it bakes the dough rises to the top. And yes, you do need self rising flour or else you would end up with dry flat hockey puck dough. And yes, you’re right–the batter needs both sugar and leavening which were included in the dry mix before you added the milk. I’ve made it 100 times and I’m sorry you feel you wasted your berries. Maybe you’ll find a recipe out there you like better. –Rachel

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




About the Author

Rachel Ballard, RN, BSN brings more than 20 years of professional nursing expertise to Feast and Farm. With a love for nutrient dense foods that support wellness, she works to distill complex health information and current trends into recipes that fuel the best version of yourself. Read more about Rachel here.