The ultimate Southern summertime dessert, Grandma’s Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler, has a buttery crust over warm, bubbly, tart blackberries. This dessert recipe is best served warm with vanilla ice cream.
Grandma’s Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler
One of my fondest summer memories, when I was young, was picking blackberries for Grandma’s Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler.
Hot summer day, getting pricked by the stickers, watching for snakes…. ah, what fun!!
The worst and the best were picking wild blackberries in random places in the pasture. Wild blackberries have half inch long stickers and a bigger chance of snakes. However, wild blackberries are much better, in my opinion, than blackberries that horticulturists have ‘improved’. They have smaller seeds and more intense flavor.
Making Grandma’s Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler is a two-step process. First, you need to make the crust which is an easy dough to make. This top crust is similar to sugar cookie dough and easier than pie crust dough to make. Next, you’ll boil the berries with sugar to sweeten and thicken them. Finally, you put the two components together for the most amazing dessert.
Tips
- You can use fresh or frozen blackberries for Grandma’s Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler. I had to use frozen since our farmers’ market isn’t open yet and the fresh ones in the grocery didn’t look very good. Grab a 16-ounce bag of frozen blackberries and you’ll be good to go with this recipe.
- You can also use half blackberries and half sliced fresh or frozen peaches in this recipe. As mentioned, I used 16-ounces of frozen berries or approximately 4 cups. Use 2 cups blackberries and 2 cups peaches or any other fruit that you wish.
Other Cobblers I’ve made
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- McCarty’s Gallery Restaurant Chocolate Cobbler
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- Snickerdoodle Cobbler
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- Best Caramel Apple Cobbler
If you’re unsure how to cut in butter, watch this short video.
You may like Cherry Berry Cobbler, Fresh Fruit Cobbler, Pumpkin Cobbler.
Grandma's Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoon cold butter
- 1/4 cup boiling water
For the berries
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 4 cups blackberries 16 oz fresh or frozen blackberries, rinsed and drained (frozen berries do not have to be thawed)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
- Grease a 12-inch skillet with non-stick spray or vegetable oil.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. To this mixture, cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. *video above for this procedure.
- Next, to this mixture, stir in 1/4 cup boiling water just until the mixture is evenly moist.
- In a separate bowl, dissolve the 2 tablespoons cornstarch in 1/4 cup cold water.
- To the cornstarch mixture, mix in remaining 1 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries.
- Transfer berry mixture to a cast-iron skillet and bring to a boil. Stir frequently.
- When berries begin to thicken slightly, drop the dough into the skillet by spoonfuls.
- Place skillet on the foil lined baking sheet.
- Bake 25 to 30 minutes at 400 degrees until top is golden brown.
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream
Nutrition
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Majinja says
My Mom made her Blackberry Cobbler almost the same. She called it Blackberry Dumplings and just continued cooking it in the deep pot on top of the stove. The only differencence was she put an egg in the batter/dough and the batter/dough was very much thicker. She dropped it by big scoop fulls into the boiling juice and when all the batter/dough was in the pot she put the lid on it and let it come back to a boil turned it down to a simmer and let it cook until there were big fluffy balls of cake like balls amidst all that glorious Blackberry juice and blackberry fragments. Sooo delicious with vanilla ice cream! What wonderful memories of berry picking and helping Mom “cook” and the anticipation of eating the wonderful Blackberry Dumplings!
I was raised in Southwestern Louisiana, not far from the Gulf of Mexico. We picked Blackberries in all kinds of places. Swamps, fences, ditches, fields, cow pastures, just everywhere! We never had any problems with snakes. The only thing I can think of is that we made so much noise, we probably scared the snakes away! ☺️
Paula says
Blackberry is my favorite, but I made dumplings using blueberries here: https://www.callmepmc.com/southern-blueberry-dessert-dumplings/
RuthAnn says
Made this the other night and it was a huge hit!!!!! It was easy and delicious. Next time I’ll add more berries….
Hadia says
This is such a beautiful Cobbler, I’ve never made homemade cobbler, though I made crisps! I can’t wait to try your recipe!
robin daumit says
With all the beautiful fruit in season now, I love that this recipe really showcases the fruit!
Dorothy Reinhold says
This looks like the perfect cobbler. Grandma sure knew what she was doing!
Rick says
How do I make it without tha seeds
Rita says
After you cook the berries, scoop some out and put them in a strainer (looks like a window screen) over a bowl. Stir the berries in the strainer until all the juice is in the bowl. All you have left in the strainer is the seeds. Scoop them out and do it again until all the berries are strained. Hope this helps 👍
Care says
What size casserole dish could be used instead of the skillet, 2qt or 3qt?
Thank you!
Paula says
3 quart
Andrea says
Can’t wait till my dish comes out of the oven! As a novice baker, I did have trouble in a few spots in the recipe. If you clarified those spots, it might help morons like me. 😊 Include a quick note about what cutting in butter is, it wasn’t immediately clear if #8 went in the corn starch mix or the dough, hoe long are you supposed to let the berry blend boil before dropping in the dough, should you take the skillet off the burner before dropping in the dough? So many questions. Thanks for sharing the recipe for this sweet treat!
Paula says
Ok, I have updated the post and recipe card. I hope this clarifies the recipe. Thanks for your constructive critism.
2pots2cook says
So beautiful…. brings back the memories of my days spent at my grandmothers’. Thank you !
Linda says
Just wondering if the topping is more like a cake type or that of a pie type crust? I really love the cakey type and it’s kinda hard to tell from the picture.
Paula says
More cakey. It reminds me a lot of sugar cookies actually
Sue Erskine says
This looks so good. I do love the old fashioned recipes.. This looks so good and so easy.. Thank you
mokyfellow says
Paula…Paula…Paula: What’s with your ranting about snakes in the blackberry patches?? I started going blackberry picking with my Mom at about the age of 5 and I never have seen a snake in a blackberry patch. Of course, I was looking for the big blackberries….not the big snakes or the little ones either…..cheers !!!
Janice says
Don’t know where you picked blackberries but in Georgia the snakes were all over the areas where the berries grew.