Blackberry Cobbler Bars are a portable, snack-able version of everybody’s favorite summer berry dessert. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t fall hard for these vibrant shortbread bars!
Blackberry cobbler bars are a user friendly version of one of the most iconic summer desserts. In fact cobblers have deep roots in American pioneer history. Settlers often made cobblers because they were a simple way to use seasonal fruits and could be cooked over an open fire.
The name “cobbler” comes from the dessert’s appearance, the nubbly biscuit or batter topping resembles the rough surface of a cobblestone street. My blackberry bars have all the same characteristics of a classic cobbler, in a convenient hand held form!
blackberry cobbler bar ingredients
- blackberries ( about a pint)
- butter
- flour
- sugar
- vanilla and salt
what’s the difference between these classic fruit desserts?
CRISP: According to the Farmer’s Almanac, a crisp is made with a topping made of a combination of oats, flour, butter, sugar, and sometimes nuts.
CRUMBLE: Crumbles are British in origin, and are similar to crisps except they do not contain oats, and the topping is more of a streusel in texture.
BETTY: Similar to a crumble, but with the crumble topping layered throughout the fruit.
BUCKLE: a buckle is fruit and cake batter that are baked together. The fruit makes the cake ‘buckle’ as it bakes.
COBBLER: Cobblers have biscuit style dough that is dropped over the fruit creating a rough surface.
Fair warning ~ don’t use your white linens when serving these purple-icious bars, they’ll stain everything in sight! But it’s all worth it, the flavor is so tart and delicious, and the color is eye-popping.
If you’re observant you probably already noticed that my blackberries are wild.
They’re a lot tinier than regular commercial berries, and more intensely flavored. Picking berries is one of the things I look forward to most every summer, if I’m lucky enough to be in a place where that’s possible, that is. Check out my ultimate guide to berry picking for details.
If your berries are the larger supermarket variety
No worries, just give them a rough chop first. You can even cook them down to a simple jam if you like, or use actual blackberry jam, for that matter. These bars are versatile 🙂
Fresh fruit blooms in the oven!
You might have heard me talk before about what a wonderful transformation fruit goes through when you bake it. Blackberries are a great example of this phenomenon (so are apricots.) If you pop a few berries into your mouth in the produce aisle it’s one thing, and an entirely different thing when you bake them between two layers of buttery dough. The color intensifies, the flavor blooms, and that texture…!
Love blackberries?
- Almond Layer Cake with Blackberry Buttercream
- Blackberry Slab Bars
- Blackberry Moscato Slushies
- Perfect Black Raspberry Muffins
- Blackberry Pecan Crumble Squares
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Blackberry Cobbler Bars
Equipment
- 9×9 square baking pan
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (almond extract works great too)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
filling
- 2 cups blackberries (or enough to cover the bottom crust)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F Line a 9×9 square baking pan with foil or parchment paper with long ends so you can lift the bars out after they've cooled for easy cutting.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. I do this in my stand mixer, but you can use electric beaters, or do it by hand. Scrape down your bowl a few times to get it evenly incorporated. Beat in the salt and vanilla, then slowly add the flour, mixing just until there is no dry flour left. Don't over mix. The dough will be crumbly.
- Take 2/3 of the dough and crumble it into the bottom of your prepared pan. Flatten gently with floured hands until you get an even layer. Add a bit more dough if needed to completley cover the bottom.
- Arrange the berries evenly over the surface.
- Top with the remaining dough, crumbling it with your fingers as you add it. Some of the berries will show through, that's fine.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top is just barely starting to turn golden in spots. Let cool on a rack before lifting the cobbler bars out of the pan for slicing.
delicious
Such a simple and delicious recipe! I followed the recipe with vanilla extract and only strayed by adding lemon zest to the batter. Gave this dessert a nice little zing. Will be making it again and maybe incorporating some other fruits for fun. Thanks!
I love all your recipes! They are so easy to prepare and very good!
I appreciate your support, thanks Evelena, I’ll keep them coming 🙂
We loved this- it was easy and delicious! I did use almond extract instead of vanilla, added some sugar to the blackberries because they weren’t sweet, and topped it with chopped almonds! Yummy! It’s a keeper!
This is a fantastic recipe to play with. Made as written it is delicious, but you can get so creative with the fruit and spices and it so fun to experiment with. I made it this morning lavender sugar and apple smoked salt in the dough and raspberry, white chocolate chips and 1 finely diced peach in the filling and between the husband and the neighbors its already gone! Such a fantastic recipe and so easy to put together. Thanks!
You got so creative with it Maria!!
Can I switch out blueberries for this recipe?
Yes, you can pretty much switch out any berry.
Hi Sue,
Wondering if I could use almond flour instead of regular flour? Joan
Thank you for another great recipe! We grow black currants, so I substituted frozen ones for the blackberries. Also used whole wheat pastry flour for extra flavor. The resulting bars were devoured in short order. This recipe is so easy and not too sweet. I will be making this again & again!!
Black currant cobbler bars sound amazing!
Hi Sue, how can i adpt this for a 9×13 pan?
I would double it Linda. They might be a little thicker, so they might take a little longer to bake.
I decided to make this recipe this morning for my little family after trying your White Peach Bars recipe that turned out amazing. I didn’t have enough blackberries so I used all the berries in my fridge before they went bad. I put strawberries, raspberries and blackberries in and these bars turned out divine. They needed a little extra time cooking; about 5 minutes. Thank you for the recipe ideas. My babies and I loved them. ?
Oh that sounds so good, I love mixed berries.