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Old Fashioned Blackberry Cobbler!


 
Out of all of the fruit cobblers, I think blackberry might be my favorite.  In our family, I am in the minority on this though so I don't get it very often.  Also, it's getting harder and harder to find good blackberries.  Those great big blackberries they sell in stores, that cost a fortune, are just not as good as the smaller wild blackberries that grow wild in Kentucky, but are becoming harder and harder to find.   This cobbler was made with the good, wild blackberries.  My sweet uncle went out on his farm and picked two gallon buckets full.  I hope he didn't get eaten up by chiggers.  If any of you have ever been blackberry picking, you know what I am talking about.   Actually, he probably knew to wear long sleeves and long pants in the over 100 degree Kentucky weather to do his blackberry picking.  The few times I went to pick blackberries I wasn't that smart and paid the price.   We used to put clear fingernail polish on chigger bites?  I guess it smothered them.  Now they say tea tree oil works to get rid of them.  I haven't tried that one, because I avoid chiggers like the plague. 
 
I have had several requests for an old fashioned blackberry cobbler recipe, like mama or grandma used to make.  I don't know how different folks made their cobblers, but this is how my mama makes hers and it has always been delicious.   I think some think it's a hard thing to make, but it really isn't, especially with the ready made crusts sold in the refrigerator section of you grocery or you can make whatever pie crust you prefer to use.   Here is what you will need:
 
 
1 prepared pastry dough for a double crust pie
3 cups blackberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
3 Tbs. cornstarch
1/2 cup half and half
3 Tbs. butter, melted
2 Tbs. sugar
 
 
Place the blackberries, sugar, and water in a pan on the stove and bring to a boil.  Mix the cornstarch and the half and half until smooth and pour into the blackberries,  bring back to a boil and then turn off heat.   The mixture should be just starting to tighten, but don't let it sit and boil or it will tighten too much.   It should be sort of soupy when place it in the cobbler. 
 
COOKING TIP:  Cobblers should have a lot of liquid to them before you start baking, because the two crusts will absorb and thicken that liquid.  If they do not have sufficient liquid, they will be too dry once you are finished baking them.  A dry cobbler is not a good cobbler. 


Roll 1/2 of the crust to place in the bottom of your baking dish.  A 2 quart baking dish works well.  Pour the filling into the crust.  Roll the other 1/2 of the crust to a size a little bigger than the baking dish.  You can cut the crust in 1 inch strips and make a lattice top crust as shown here or place the entire crust over the top.  If you use the crust in one big piece, be sure to seal and trim the edges and cut some vents around the top so the steam can escape as the cobbler cooks.  Brush the top of both crusts with melted butter and sprinkle with the 2 Tbs. of sugar.  Place in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45-50 minutes or until browned and bubbly.  Be sure to place the baking dish on a cookie sheet in case of a spill over and it makes it easier to move in and out of the oven.   This picture doesn't do the cobbler justice, it actually looked much better than this, but you are just going to scoop it up and put ice cream on it  anyway...lol.
 





 



27 comments:

  1. I am so happy to see a real cobbler recipe! I see all these cake mix ones and those were not my grandmother's recipe! I used to pick the blackberries in her backyard (and got lots of chigger bites!) Then, if we were really lucky, my grandaddy would make homemade vanilla ice cream (with extract not vanilla beans)in the churn maker - they would both come out at the same time and I would be in heaven! Oh, how I miss that right now. I hope I can find some blackberries at the farmer's market this week!

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    1. I love homemade ice cream. I bet it was wonderful on that blackberry cobbler. What a treat!

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    2. I have been searching for a blackberry cobbler recipe. I am so glad to see this one.. Now, bring on the hot cobbler and vanilla ice cream....lol

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  2. Here in East Texas when we pick wild blackberries we not only have to fight the chiggers but we also have to watch out for snakes. Ugh. The snakes keeps me from picking as much as I would like to.

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    1. We grew up in southern WV and my mom would always pick wild blackberries. Would never let me go with her because of rattlesnakes.....

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    2. I was about to comment that I don't pick many blackberries now because of the snakes here in my section of southeastern WV.

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    3. You will need a "snake" dog, a cat, a stout stick, a bucket, an old long sleeved shirt, a straw hat, old blue jeans - I say "old" because dewberry/blackberry juice can really stain your clothes! I have even had an old pair of gloves w/the finger tips cut off to make the picking easier and keep from getting "stuck" too much. Repellent spray is good also - oh, and don't forget to take a berry pickin' friend! from a 79 yr. old "picker"!!

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  3. My mom used to make the best Blackberry cobblers! She made them in a cast iron dutch oven! she would put a layer of blackberries mixed with sugar and a little flour, top that with a lattice crust then repeat! She made the crusts the old fashion way, and the smell was divine

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  4. I make blackberry dumplings. Everybody really likes them.

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  5. My husband will be glad that I saw this recipe. Will be making it very soon!

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  6. My husband will be so glad I saw this recipe. Will be making it very soon!

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  7. I would love to know how to make blackberry dumplings.

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  8. I'm making blackberry dumplings tonight for my grangkids. They love it. And don't forget the homemade buscuits!!! YUM YUM

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  9. anyone willing to share their Blackberry dumpling recipe with us?? It would be greatly appreciated. My daughter never liked birthday cake even when she was as young as 3. She wanted my Mom's homemade blackberry cobbler! Yes, she forged ahead in spite of chiggers and plenty of snakes. She didn't let something like that stop her from gathering those delicious berries for the ones she loved. So many areas that we could pick have been plowed up and things built so it is harder to find them.

    My Mom has been gone for over 10 years and my daughter is 32 now. She only told me about two years ago how much she loved and misses those cobblers! It's bittersweet for me. I never knew they meant so much to her.

    Thanks for listening
    .....or I guess I should say reading!

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  10. This facebook page has STOLEN your recipe and picture with NO credit given to you:( https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=277003145765593&set=a.187968631335712.45028.187938204672088&type=1&theater

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  11. Thank you for making me aware of that Karen! :)

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  12. That is just the recipe I have been looking for, but will make the pie shell myself. Its just the way my Grand Mother made them when I was a youngen. I am now 75 years old, Many thanks. Bill Bradshaw

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  13. Love homemade cobbler, takes me back to my childhood days.

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  14. Here in South Mississippi, we have dew berries, they taste a little different from black berries. They are dark purple/black. They have about a thousand seeds so my mom always strained the berries thru cheese cloth. Made dew berry cobbler, made with the juice, sugar, butter and dumplings, she always put a crust on top dotted with butter, browned to a golden brown, serve with ice cream. I have dew berries in the fridge now, need to pick one more time to have enough. We had a late frost that got dew berries, blue berries, mayhaws, & huckleberries.

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  15. I'm so happy to see the recipe for the blackberry cobbler. Have been wanting to make one for a very long time now. I was one of those out there picking blackberrys in Tennessee... afraid of the snakes and getting eaten by the chiggers...using the clean nail polish afterwards to smoother the chiggers. LOL Thanks again for the recepe.

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  16. CAN WE GET A BLUEBERRY COBBLER RECIPE ?

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  17. Thank you for a cobbler recipe with a top AND a bottom crust. This is the way my mom made cobblers. Most recipes today have a top crust only and it's usually cake-like or biscuit-like. Your cobbler is the cobbler of my childhood.

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    1. Here in Pacific NW, that would be pie. Cobbler is more like deep dish: fruit prepared with sugar, corn starch or flour, spices; crumble topping, or thin biscuit (dumpling) or lattice crust on top. Often made in a square or rectangle pan...NOT always, but it's different from pies with top and bottom crusts. I'm making your recipe soon ! Thanks!

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  18. Other than California, does anyone know where to find Boysenberries?

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  19. I'm from SW Georgia, and my grandmother showed me how to make blackberry cobbler when I was 12 or 13. Her recipe was very similar to this, and I'm very excited to see it here! We used to go pick blackberries and dew berries along the fences in the cow pasture. We were warned multiple times to watch out for rattlesnakes!!! Grandmother always told us to pick a few unripened berries, too, saying that they added something to the flavor. She also cooked the berries a bit to soften them and ran them through an old hand-cranked sifter to remove the seeds before proceeding with boiling the liquid.

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  20. My sister and I were the berry pickers, covered with thorn scratches but Mama never used half and half. Just berries and sugar. She made crust with flour and lard, full bottom and full top with slips to allow steam. I'll never again have the pleasure of this very special blackberry cobbler first eaten over 70 years ago.

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