Simple Mixed Berry + Biscuit Cobbler

Warm flaky biscuits and sweet summer berries come together to make this easy, deconstructed cobbler dessert.

Mixed Berry Cobbler

It’s summer! And that means summer berry season :)

I love fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries… really any kind of berry. And I also love strawberry shortcake.

What I don’t like is baking, ha.

So I was very happy to finally figure out a simple summer dessert recipe that tastes great and is easy to make. Let’s call it foolproof for the non-bakers.

You can whip this together with any summer berry that you like, or even stone fruit like peaches, plums and cherries!

The biscuits are a free-form, straightforward dough recipe and don’t even need to be baked separately. Throw everything together in a baking tray and you’re done!

Because really, no one likes sweating in a hot oven kitchen in the summer heat.

Simple strawberry shortcake recipe below!

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Berry Cobbler Recipe Video

@shershegoes
The more the berrier 🫐🍓🥧#mixedberrypie #berrycobbler #summerpie #mixedberries

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What You’ll Need

Fresh summer berries

Baking dish

I love the combination of sweet berries and flaky pastries.

Top it off with vanilla ice cream and you have the perfect combination of sweet and salty and hot and cold.

This recipe is really simple – no mixer or heavy kneading required. All you need is whatever fruit is in season and a baking dish!

I used this small 4 qt baking dish. It’s a great size for 1 to 2 people and makes about 6 servings.

How to Make a Mixed Berry Cobbler

Summer Berries

You can use any fruit you like.

Personally I always think in season fruit tastes the best, so I like using fresh berries – strawberries, blueberries and blackberries! I wouldn’t recommend frozen berries because they tend to have a lot of extra water.

To clean strawberries and other summer fruit, make a vinegar rinse.

Washing berries in vinegar helps kill mold and any bacteria as well as draw out tiny little buggies that may be hiding inside the fruit.

You won’t taste the vinegar and it helps keep your fruit fresher.

How to Make a Vinegar Rinse

The ratio for a vinegar wash is 1:3 – 1 cup distilled white vinegar to 3 cups cold water.

Fill a bowl with the vinegar, cold water and berries. Swish around and let rest for ~5 minutes.

Then drain the fruit and rinse under cold water to remove any trace of vinegar.

Air dry, then transfer to a clean glass container (I like these) lined with paper towels. Store in the produce drawer of your fridge and the berries should last for a couple weeks!

Whenever I’m too lazy to do this, my fruit spoils much faster. It makes such a difference.

Why is My Berry Cobbler So Runny

summer-berry-and-biscuit-dessert-with-vanilla-ice-cream

Make sure the fruit is completely dry before you start.

As strawberries, blackberries and other fruits cook, they release a lot of water which adds moisture to the filling.

One of the reasons I like making this deconstructed berry and biscuit dessert instead of a pie is because it’s much easier to not have to account for all the extra liquid!

No soggy pie bottoms here.

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How to Thicken Fruit for Cobbler

I recommend using cornstarch instead of flour, to make the berry mixture.

Cornstarch absorbs more moisture than regular flour and will help to thicken the fruit filling.

Crisp, Crumble, Cobbler or Pie?

Variations on a theme…

Crisp: fruit topped with a crunchy streusel, usually a combination of butter, old fashioned rolled oats and brown sugar
Crumble: similar to a crisp, but with a richer topping. Fruit on the bottom, then a mixture of butter, flour and brown sugar on top
Cobbler: fruit without a bottom crust, but topped with pie dough or biscuits
Pie: pastry dough sandwiching fruit filling on both the bottom and top

While I love pie, it’s much harder to make!

And I don’t find that crisps or crumbles provide the same rich flaky pastry, so I like cobbler desserts the best.

Lactose Free Dessert

I used oat milk instead of heavy cream to make the biscuits. It’s a healthier substitution and great for anyone who is lactose intolerant.

The biscuits still turned out great because the batter uses flour to create the flaky textures.

But if you want richer, more traditional style biscuits you can use heavy cream.

berry-biscuits-with-oat-milk-lactose-free

easy-biscuit-recipe-for-summer-berry-dessert

Butter or Shortening

You can use either butter or shortening to make biscuits. Butter will add more flavor, while shortening will produce a flakier biscuit.

Personally, I like using Kerry Gold.

It’s a rich Irish butter with a distinctive yellow color and I can always taste a difference when I cook steak with Kerry Gold vs. Land O’Lakes. I used to save my expensive butter for things like steak only and use inexpensive butter for baking.

But for baking biscuits specifically, the butter plays a big part in the texture and flavor because the higher the fat content the flakier the texture.

Kerry Gold’s unsalted butter is 82% butterfat. It’s made from grass fed cows and has a distinctive yellow color, softer texture and richer flavor.

In general, European butters are required to be churned longer than American butters, which creates a higher content of fat.

mixed-berry-cobbler-vs-crumble-vs-crisp-vs-pie

Mixed Berry Cobbler A La Mode

I always have this dessert with vanilla ice cream!

I love the combination of a warm dessert and cold ice cream. So naturally, berries and biscuits a la mode! The only hard part is waiting for the fruit cobbler to cool, at least slightly.

Give it about 15 minutes to rest after coming out of the oven, then serve with two scoops of vanilla ice cream.

strawberry-blackberry-blueberry-biscuit-cobbler-recipe

Mixed Berry Cobbler Recipe

Mixed Berry Cobbler

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Additional Time: 15 minutes

Berries and biscuits - name a better combo! This easy summer dessert recipe is sweet, savory, gooey and comes together in just 15 minutes. The combination of warm summer fruit, flaky biscuits and cold ice cream always hits.

Ingredients

Filling

Fresh mixed berries
⅓ cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch

Biscuit Cobbler

1 ½ cups flour
3 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
6 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup + 2 tbsp oat milk
1 egg (for egg wash)

Instructions

Make the Berry Mixture

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Add berries, sugar and cornstarch to a bowl. Mix to coat and then spoon the mixture into a lightly greased baking pan.

Make the Biscuits

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, sugar and salt. Add the cold, cubed butter and rub the flour mixture with your hands so that pea sized pieces of butter incorporate into the batter.
Add oat milk and mix until a sticky dough forms.
Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough to form a rectangle, roughly the same size as the baking tray.
Cut the dough into 6 rectangle-shaped biscuits. Place the biscuit mounds in the pan, on top of the berries.
Make an egg wash and brush the tops of each dough mound. Bake in the oven for ~45 minutes, or until the berries are bubbling and the biscuits are golden brown.
Let rest ~15 minutes to cool slightly, then top with ice cream.

Simple Mixed Berry + Biscuit Cobbler

Mixed Berry Cobbler

Berry Cobbler Recipe Video

What You’ll Need

How to Make a Mixed Berry Cobbler