Sweet Cherry Cobbler

Make the most of cherry season with these 11 recipes

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As a kid I ate a lot of cobblers in the summer when I was visiting my grandparents. We spent days picking ripe fruit from the bushes that grew wild in the hills around their house and bringing them home for Grandma to make into cobblers. I think it was my grandmother’s favorite dessert because it’s just easier and quicker to make than cake on a warm day – no chilling the pastry!

The best cherries for cobblers

This cobbler uses sweet cherries in the filling, like Bing or Rainier. It can be made with fresh summer cherries in season or with frozen fruit all year round. A little lemon juice jazzes up the filling, while a little cornstarch thickens the fruit juices and keeps them from getting too soupy and soaking into the cookie topping. (Note, however, that cobblers are meant to be fairly juicy; more so than cakes.)

If you can find any, you can also use tart cherries like tart cherries or Montmorency, or a mix of tart and sweet cherries. Increase the sugar by about 1/4 cup as these cherries are quite acidic.

How to make cherry cobblers

While some cobblers have more of a cake-like batter on top, I love my cobbler with a less-sweet cookie topping.

My topping lands somewhere between a dough sheet and a pancake batter. It’s a scoopable batter, and I like to use a spring-loaded ice cream scoop or large spoon to drop large mounds of batter onto it. The topping will spread and puff up on top of the fruit filling as it bakes, so don’t worry about gaps when spreading. I also like to lighten up the topping with lemon zest and add some crunch with a sprinkling of sugar before the cobbler goes in the oven.

The doughy biscuit topping develops a crispy exterior and a fluffy center that contrasts beautifully with the warm, juicy fruit. This cobbler is best served with a scoop of ice cream.

More Best Summer Cobblers

peach cobbler
apple cobbler
Blackberry Fruit Pie
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Berry gravel with coconut and walnut crumble

preparation time
15 minutes

cooking time
40 minutes

total time
55 minutes

portions
12 servings

For the filling:

2 1/2 lb pitted fresh or frozen sweet cherries
1/2 cup (70 G) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon cornstarch (use 1 1/2 tablespoons if using frozen cherries)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For covering:

2 cups (250 G) all purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup (35 G) granulated sugarplus in addition to sprinkling on top
1 tablespoon Lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons (85 G) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 Cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375°F
make filling:

In a large mixing bowl, combine the whole pitted cherries, sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch, and salt and stir to coat. Spread the cherries in a 9×13 inch casserole dish and set aside.

If you’re using frozen cherries, you can place the dish in the preheating oven to thaw them a bit while you make the cobbler topping.
Make the topping:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, lemon zest, and salt and whisk with a fork. Using your hands or a dough mixer, work the butter into the dry mixture until coarse, gritty and well incorporated.

Whisk together the milk and vanilla in a measuring cup and use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the dry mixture until you get a thick batter – it should resemble something between cookie dough and pancake batter.
Top the shoemaker:

Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, scoop large balls of the batter onto the cherries. Make about 9 mounds of dough over the cherries; You won’t completely cover the cherries, but that’s okay. As it bakes, the dough puffs up and spreads out. Sprinkle about 2 tablespoons of sugar over the top of the dough.
Bake the Cobbler:

Bake the cobbler in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the cherry juice is bubbling. (If using frozen fruit, you will need to bake an additional 15 minutes).
Surcharge:

Serve the cobbler warm with vanilla ice cream. This cobbler tastes best the day it’s made, but leftover portions can be reheated in the microwave for about 1 minute. Store leftover cobbler in the plastic-covered pan or in an airtight container in the refrigerator.