Simple Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler – Grandma’s Recipe

Pulled straight from my great grandma’s recipe box, you are going to love this summery and simple old fashioned blackberry cobbler recipe. Loaded with freshly picked blackberries and topped with a golden, buttery cobbler topping.

I’m so thrilled to be sharing with you today my great grandma’s recipe for simple old fashioned blackberry cobbler. My mom recently did me the greatest favor of pulling out some of my great grandma’s best recipes. One of them was this banana bread recipe that I converted to sourdough and another was this delicious cobbler recipe.

Wild blackberries grow like crazy here in South Carolina. I remember as a kid our family would take grocery bags and find random places in our town to stop and pick blackberries on the side of the road. We would end up with bags and bags full. And my mom’s favorite thing to do with them was to make a big blackberry cobbler using my great grandma’s recipe.

Maybe it’s the nostalgia of that childhood summer experience that makes me love blackberry cobbler so much.

Tips for Making Cobbler

Before diving into this recipe, I’d like to shar with you a few tips I have on making cobbler.

While this cobbler is simple to make, there are a few things you’d like to avoid so you don’t end up with a soggy or flavorless cobbler.

Coat the Fruit with Cornstarch

You want to coat the blackberries with a mixture of sugar and cornstarch to soak up a lot of the excess juices while baking. After letting the fruit sit, you also want to strain the juices off.

Melt The Butter in The Baking Dish First

Similar to a Dutch baby, you want to melt the butter in your hot dish before adding the fruit mixture. This method is different from most cobbler recipes where the butter is added into the topping batter.

Cinnamon Over Lemon

Cinnamon is a great spice to add into your baking to subtly enhance that ‘home baked good’ flavor. It really works with the taste of the fruit here. My grandma also uses this trick in her recipes for quick breads.

Self Rising Flour

While you don’t 100% have to use this, I think it helps the topping rise and turn out better. Similar to how you would use self rising flour in a biscuit recipe.

Use Fresh In Season Fruit

Just like with the self rising flour, you don’t HAVE to use fresh fruit, but truly a naturally ripened, in-season piece of fruit taste 10x better and is far more nutritious than a barely ripened or frozen piece of fruit. That’s a fact.

Simple Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler Ingredients

Here is your grocery / farmers market list:

Fruit Filling

• 6-7 Cups of Fresh Blackberries
• 2 Tbsp of Cornstartch
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 1 Stick Butter

Cobbler Topping

• 1 Cup Self Rising Flour
• 1/3 Cup Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Milk
• 1 Tsp Vanilla
• 1 Tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 Tsp Salt

Making & Baking Instructions

To make this simple old fashioned blackberry cobbler, start by preheating your oven to 375.

Next, go ahead and add your baking dish into the oven with the stick of butter in it. When the butter melts, take the dish out.

In a bowl, add together your blackberry filling ingredients; berries, cornstarch, and sugar. Stir the berried to coat evenly in the cornstarch and sugar.

Let berries sit for about 15 minutes to release juices.

In a mixing bowl, mix together the dry topping ingredients; flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Whisk to combine then add in the remaining wet ingredients; milk and vanilla extract.

Once the juices are released, strain the fruit mixture. More juices will continue to be released from the fruit through the baking process.

Last, add the fruit to the baking dish, then top the fruit with the dough topping spooning in event amounts and bake in the 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes until golden on top.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I did as a child (and still do as an adult). Don’t forget, cobbler is always served best with homemade ice cream or homemade whipped cream.