Grandma’s Sweet Cherry Cobbler
Grandma’s sweet cherry cobbler is a classic, homestyle fruit dessert begging you to dive into it. Tender biscuits top juicy cherries for a delightful treat you’ll adore all summer long.
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My friends, if you have not made a classic cobbler recipe you are missing out on a goody of epic proportions.
So many people think cobbler is just for peaches or maybe berries.
But let’s not limit this dessert experience to just peaches and berries.
Let’s make a down home sweet cherry cobbler just like Grandma’s, brimming with buttery, sweet cherries and topped with tender drop biscuits.
It’s a real treat for cherry lovers, especially when you serve it warm with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top.
What is a cobbler anyway?
Cobblers are down home fruit desserts that have tender biscuits or dumplings on top of saucy, jammy sweetened fruit. In this case cherries.
They are similar to a buckle, a crisp and a crumble.
In fact, you may hear these terms used interchangeably sometimes, though incorrectly.
A buckle is a fruit filled coffee cake style cake, topped with streusel.
Meanwhile a crisp, which is sometimes called a crumble, has a fruit base topped with crumb topping that is crispy and crumbly.
A cobbler, like a crisp, has a fruit base, but instead is topped with a sweet biscuit style topping.
In any case, I’m a big fan of playing with cobbler recipes and will switch out fruits and even make the occasional s’mores cobbler.
Ingredients
To make this you’ll need a set of ingredients for the cherry filling and another for the topping.
For the filling you’ll need:
- Sugar– Granulated
- Cornstarch– For thickening
- Cinnamon– Ground
- Water– To dissolve the sugar in
- Cherries– Fresh, pitted, sweet cherries. About 14 ounces of them.
- Butter– Salted. If you aren’t using salted butter, add a pinch of salt to the filling.
And for the topping you’ll need:
- Flour– All purpose
- Sugar– Granulated
- Baking powder– For leavening
- Salt
- Shortening– Like Crisco. This gives you a more tender topping than butter.
- Milk– Whole or buttermilk preferred.
How to Make
Let’s break this down into 3 parts:
- making the filling
- making the topping
- putting it all together
Making the Filling
To make this cobbler recipe, start by making the cherry filling.
Just whisk the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon together in a large skillet to combine.
Then whisk in the water until the sugar dissolves.
Finally stir in the cherries and the butter and turn the heat on to medium low.
Cook the filling, stirring often as it starts to thicken and bubble after a few minutes.
Once the mixture has bubbled and thickened, pour the filling into an 8″ buttered pie dish.
Making the Topping
To make the topping, whisk together the flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 2 teaspoons of baking powder and the half teaspoon of salt in a mixing bowl.
Then, a little at a time, cut in the shortening using a pastry cutter or a fork.
The shortening and the dry ingredients will form coarse crumbs.
Next, stir the milk into the batter until it is just combined.
Putting It All Together
At this point, you can use a tablespoon to drop dollops of batter evenly over the top of the cherry filling.
Keep doing this until you’ve used all the batter up and the filling is covered.
Then sprinkle the last 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly over top of the cobbler.
Bake at 400 for 30 to 35 minutes.
You’ll know it’s done when the filling is bubbling at the sides and the top forms a beautiful golden brown biscuit crust.
Take it out of the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving as is or topping with a big scoop of ice cream before serving.
Enjoy!
Storing Leftovers
Store leftover cherry cobbler tightly wrapped in the baking dish or transfer it to an airtight container.
Either way, refrigerate it for up to 4 days.
Reheat it in the microwave or oven to serve warm.
Is cobbler dough the same as pie crust?
Nope!
Pie crust is a dense rolled out pastry dough and generally covers the top and bottom of a pie (with the exception of custard pies).
Cobbler dough is closer to biscuit dough and is dropped right on top, no rolling needing.
Tips and Tricks
- Though it may be tempting, don’t turn the heat up to cook the cherry filling faster or you may burn the mixture.
- The topping doesn’t have to look pretty. Some cherries might show through and that’s ok.
- Don’t want to pit fresh cherries? A bag of frozen (already pitted) sweet cherries will work in this recipe, but make sure they’re thawed and well drained before using.
- A cherry pitter will make pitting the cherries much easier.
Other Fruit Cobbler Recipes
This cherry cobbler is the best of down home desserts and just like Grandma used to make.
Make it this cherry season and see for yourself how delicious it is.
Looking for another fruity dessert?
Try these:
If you’ve tried GRANDMA’S SWEET CHERRY COBBLER, or any other recipe on my site, let me know in the comment section how it turned out, we love hearing from our readers! You can also follow along with me on PINTEREST, FACEBOOK, and INSTAGRAM to see more amazing recipes and whatever else we’ve got going on!
Grandma's Sweet Cherry Cobbler
Ingredients
For The Cherry Filling
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup water
- 3 1/2 cups fresh, pitted sweet dark cherries roughly 14 ounces
- 1 tbsp salted butter
For The Topping
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar divided
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp crisco
- 1/2 cup milk
Instructions
To Make The Filling
- In a large skillet add 1/2 cup of the sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon. Whisk together.1/2 cup granulated sugar, 2 tbsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Whisk in the water until the mixture is smooth and the sugar's dissolved.1/4 cup water
- Stir in the cherries and butter, and heat over medium low heat.3 1/2 cups fresh, pitted sweet dark cherries, 1 tbsp salted butter
- Cook, stirring often, until the filling begins to thicken and then bubble. It will thicken before it bubbles. Don't raise the heat to speed the process up. This will result in the mixture scorching.
- Butter an 8" pie dish and then pour the filling into it. Use a spatula to scrape the skillet so that you don't miss a drop.
To Make The Cobbler Topping
- In a mixing bowl whisk together flour, two tablespoons of sugar, baking powder, and salt until combined.1 cup all purpose flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt
- Add the shortening in little dabs. Use a pastry blender to blend the crisco into the dry mix until they've combined to form course crumbs.3 tbsp crisco
- Pour the milk into the mixture, and stir just until combined to moisten the mixture into a dry batter.1/2 cup milk
- Using a tablespoon, drop chunks of the batter over top of the cherry filling. Continue until all the batter's been used and the filling is covered.
- Spread the last two tablespoons of sugar evenly out over top of the cobbler topping.
- Bake the cherry cobbler at 400 degrees for 30-35 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling at the sides and the topping is golden brown and crusty.
- Remove it from the oven and let the cobbler rest for 5 minutes.
- Serve as is, or with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream on top.
Notes
- Though it may be tempting, don’t turn the heat up to cook the cherry filling faster or you may burn the mixture.
- The topping doesn’t have to look pretty. Some cherries might show through and that’s ok.
- Don’t want to pit fresh cherries? A bag of frozen (already pitted) sweet cherries will work in this recipe, but make sure they're thawed and well drained before using.
- A cherry pitter will make pitting the cherries much easier.
Nutrition
recipe adapted from Bunnys Warm Oven
This post may contain affiliate links. As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. See my full Disclosure Policy for details. As always, all opinions are my own.
