This blackberry cobbler recipe makes an old-fashioned Southern Blackberry Cobbler recipe with a lattice top and pastry dumplings. Always a favorite!

Southern Blackberry Cobbler Recipe - This blackberry cobbler makes a classic dessert. Including a lattice top and pastry dumplings, this blackberry cobbler is a favorite. // addapinch.com

I grew up having a definite love / hate relationship with blackberry cobbler.

You see, during the summer my sister and I would spend days with our grandparents while our parents worked. Our days were filled with all of the love and fun little girls could possibly pack into them – with the exception of the days when we knew we were going with Grandmother to pick blackberries.

Southern Blackberry Cobbler Recipe - This blackberry cobbler makes a classic dessert. Including a lattice top and pastry dumplings, this blackberry cobbler is a favorite. // addapinch.com

Southern Blackberry Cobbler Recipe

My Grandparents’ land adjoined ours with our pasture in between us on one side. The other side adjoined my aunt and uncle with acres of trees in between. Along the line of the trees and just inside their canopy were Grandmother’s blackberries.

It seemed as if it took forever to reach them with our baskets swinging and dolls tucked under our arms. Grandmother would lead the way, usually humming or telling us about each plant, bird, or bug as we past it by. Finally, we were there. Outfitted in our long sleeves and thick gloves we would go about picking basket after basket of big, juicy blackberries. We knew there would be a cobbler for dessert after supper and most likely, if we picked enough, we’d get to help her make blackberry jam.

With the sun beating down on us, sweating under those gloves that were beginning to feel like they weighed twice as much as they did, and with scratches along our arms where the long blackberry thorns had worked their way through our shirt sleeves, I was ready to be done with picking blackberries. At this point I would convince myself that blackberry cobbler wasn’t that great after all.

And yet, when I caught sight of her blackberry cobbler on the sideboard during supper, I was quiet certain blackberry picking was worth it after all.

How to Make Southern Blackberry Cobbler

Here are the step-by-step photos showing exactly how she made her Blackberry Cobbler. You’ll notice when I made the step-by-step photos of her recipe (many, many years ago!), I used her  cobbler pan. I made sure to snap a few photographs the other day when I made this blackberry cobbler again, this time making it in my medium skillet. This shows you that you can easily make it in either!

Start by making the dough for your cobbler crust.

Once your cobbler crust dough has been made, pop it into the freezer for a bit while you are making the filling portion of your blackberry cobbler.

I use my Mother’s cobbler pan that she gave me and that is just like the one that my Grandmother would use. It’s a simple, round stainless steel pan without handles that went with their Towncraft cookware. You can just use any medium-sized, heavy bottomed pan.

Clean your blackberries and put them in your pan over medium heat.

Pour in your sugar.

Add butter.

And a bit of water. Give it all a good stir and let it just do it’s magic.

Like this.

It should start to get thick and syrupy and absolutely scrumptious before the next step. The berries will be soft when you press them against the side with a spoon.

While your blackberry cobbler filling is cooking away, go ahead and roll out the dough for your crust.

I like to just roll mine out on the parchment paper that I wrapped it in for the freezer – there’s less mess that way.

Take one half of your dough and cut into 1/2″ wide strips. Then, cut again into about 1/2″ long pieces.

Now this is the twist in the recipe for Grandmother’s blackberry cobbler that I told you about.

Now just drop those little pieces of dough you cut up one at a time into the boiling blackberry dish.

This makes a delicious dumpling right in your blackberry cobbler that is out of this world.

Continue to cook, and stir gently until all your dough pieces have cooked in your blackberries.

Remove your blackberry cobbler pan from the heat and begin to place the second half of your dough in long strips along the top in a lattice pattern.

Place pats of butter on the strips of dough and lightly sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes until the dough has lightly browned.

Southern Blackberry Cobbler Recipe - This blackberry cobbler makes a classic dessert. Including a lattice top and pastry dumplings, this blackberry cobbler is a favorite. // addapinch.com

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving. I highly recommend grabbing your ice cream at this point and get ready with big ole scoops! 🙂

Southern Blackberry Cobbler Recipe - This blackberry cobbler makes a classic dessert. Including a lattice top and pastry dumplings, this blackberry cobbler is a favorite. // addapinch.com

Here’s my Grandmother’s Blackberry Cobbler recipe. I hope you love it as much as my family always does.

Southern Blackberry Cobbler

5 from 28 votes
This blackberry cobbler recipe makes an old-fashioned Southern Blackberry Cobbler recipe with a lattice top and pastry dumplings. Always a favorite!
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 55 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Servings: 10 servings

Ingredients 

For the crust:

  • 2 cups (240 g) all-purpose flour
  • 12 tablespoons (170 g) butter
  • 1/2 cup (114 g) ice water

For the cobbler:

  • 3 cups (432 g) blackberries, cleaned (about 24-ounces)
  • 1 1/2 cups (297 g) sugar
  • 6 tablespoons (85 g) butter
  • 1 1/2 cups (340 g) water

Instructions 

For the cobbler crust:

  • Chill mixing bowl and pastry cutter in freezer for about 15 minutes prior to making crust.
  • Cut the butter called for in the crust into the flour with a pastry cutter. Slowly incorporate ice water just until the dough begins to form.
  • Pour dough onto parchment paper, divide and quickly work into two flat discs. Wrap tightly and place in the freezer to chill prior to using.

For the Cobbler:

  • Combine berries, sugar, butter, and water in a heavy-bottomed pan.
  • Bring to boil over medium heat and cook for 20 minutes. Berries will be soft when pressed against the side of the pan with a spoon. The blackberry mixture will also begin to thicken and become syrupy.
  • Preheat oven to 425º F. 
  • Remove pastry for cobbler crust from the freezer and roll. Cut 1/2" strips in both portions of the dough.
  • In one half of the dough, cut strips again to form individual pieces for dumplings.
  • Drop the dough pieces into boiling blackberries and occasionally stir gently to make sure all dumplings are cooked, about 7 minutes.
  • Remove cobbler pan from heat and place the second half of the dough in a lattice pattern on top of the blackberries. Place pieces of butter on top of the lattice crust and sprinkle with sugar.
  • Place into oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.

Nutrition

Calories: 406kcal | Carbohydrates: 53g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 183mg | Potassium: 100mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 32g | Vitamin A: 720IU | Vitamin C: 9.1mg | Calcium: 23mg | Iron: 1.4mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Enjoy!
Robyn xo

From the Add a Pinch recipe archives. Originally published 2011.

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About Robyn

Robyn Stone is a cookbook author, wife, mom, and passionate home cook. Her tested and trusted recipes give readers the confidence to cook recipes the whole family will love. Robyn has been featured on Food Network, People, Southern Living, and more.

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Recipe Review




132 Comments

  1. This recipe is the best. It will always be my go to cobbler recipe. I doubled it and made it for our supper club and everyone kept going back to this. Thanks for sharing this recipe. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

    1. You really need the dumplings for this recipe, Jennifer. The cobbler would be too soupy without them.

    1. Thanks, Cindy. I’m so happy you love this cobbler. It is a family favorite of ours.

    1. Yes, Sharon, you can use frozen berries. Do not thaw. Just use them the same as listed in recipe.

  2. 5 stars
    THIS. IS. THE. BEST.
    I simply will not make a blackberry pie any other way! When you cook the blackberries on the stove stop first, instead of just mixing all the Dry ingredients together and piling them in the pan to cook, it turns out 110% BETTER!!

    1. Thanks, Kayla. This is the way my grandmother always made this pie so it has been a favorite since I as a little girl.

  3. This tastes just like my Mom’s. She passed a few years ago, and I’ve been missing her and all of the wonderful southern food she made. Thanks for the recipe. You don’t happen to have a recipe for fried pies do you? 🙂

    1. Janie, every time I make one of my grandmother’s recipes, it brings back such sweet memories. You might want to try my Southern Fried Pies recipe. Hope you enjoy!

  4. OMG! This is exactly how my grandma made her peach cobbler. Of course, nothing was written down. When I tried to write it down, she got nervous. I have been looking for years for this recipe. Thank you so much..

    1. Donna, I was lucky that my grandmother wrote her recipes down for us and taught us how to make them. I’m glad you found this so now you can make your cobblers like your grandmother’s. xo

  5. 5 stars
    This is a very easy, delicious cobbler. I did run into a couple of issues. My blackberries I had picked from our pasture were the biggest, juiciest ever. My first cobbler turned into blackberry soup, but was delicious served over biscuits. My crust sank and any attempt to put butter or sugar on it failed. The next day I tried again, reducing the water to 1 cup. I also put butter and sugar on the crust BEFORE I cut it. Perfect! . If you think you might have really juicy berries you might want to start out with less water or have corn starch ready to thicken the filling. Thank you for sharing your family recipe!

    1. Nanette, I’m glad your second try was a success. I always put the butter and sugar on the lattice crust and bake it for about 20 minutes.

  6. 5 stars
    Since butter burns at 400 degrees, I used bits of margarine on the top lattice. This is so mindful of my Granny’s recipe that I must give it five delicious stars!

    1. Thanks, Marie. I’m glad this cobbler reminds you of your Granny’s recipe. I remember my Grandmother Verdie every time I make this recipe. This is exactly the way she always made it. I haven’t had a problem with the small pieces of butter on top of the crust for this pie burning.