An Easy Fruit Cobbler made with only 6 ingredients and is on the table in less than an hour! It's a simple dessert of fruit oven baked into a buttery cake-like crust and it's sure to become your family's favorite.
A dump and bake fruit cobbler recipe
This fruit cobbler recipe is one of the easiest homemade desserts I've ever made in my life!
The only mixing involved is making the batter, so it's like a dump and bake method, where you throw everything in the pan and bake it off.
See how to make an easy fruit cobbler
What is a cobbler?
A cobbler is made with a sweet or savory filling, layered on the bottom of a baking dish, topped with a biscuit crust and baked.
It's kind of like a super easy pie, without having to roll out a crust.
If we are getting technical, my recipe isn't a true cobbler by definition. It's more like a buckle.
What the heck is a buckle, you ask?
The difference between a fruit cobbler and a buckle
- In a cobbler, the fruit is mixed with sugar and stews in it's own juices under a layer of sweet biscuit dough that has been spooned over the top.
- In a buckle, a thin cake-like batter is poured into a pan and topped with fruit that bakes into the mixture.
So, why call this recipe a fruit cobbler?
This is a very old recipe of mine, found in my recipe tin, hand written on a large index card, and titled as "Fruit Cobbler". #truestory
Fruit cobbler is what I've always called it, so that was the name I decided it would be when posting it to the blog.
I guess it doesn't really matter what it's called, because in the end, it's just a damn delicious dessert.
What type of fruit to use in a cobbler?
The answer: any type you want. Cobblers work with all types (and kinds) of fruit and can be:
- fresh
- frozen
- canned
I think this cobbler recipe works best with frozen fruit, but canned fruit (drained of juices first) and fresh fruit can be used too.
Even though I am a firm supporter of fresh ingredients on this blog, I always use organic, all-natural frozen mixed berries in this cobbler.
The reason I use frozen berries? It's straight out of convenience because frozen mixed berries are in my freezer at all times.
Whenever I want a comforting berry cobbler, I can make it!
If using fresh or canned fruit in this easy cobbler recipe, it may cook quicker, so be sure to start checking it around the 30 minute mark.
One of those easy dessert recipes with few ingredients
This is not only one of those super quick desserts, but it's also made with very few ingredients.
Basically, all you do is make a quick batter of only 4 ingredients, pour it into a pan with melted butter, and top it with fruit.
Over the years, I've changed a couple things about the original recipe.
- Canned fruit was originally used and I changed it to frozen. However, canned or fresh fruit can still be used in this recipe.
- Replaced the use of margarine with butter and decreased the amount by 2 tablespoons. A whole stick was used in this recipe, but it was waaaay too much. For example, the cake part would be saturated with butter and was just too greasy. Cutting back the amount made for an ideal cobbler.
- Added baking powder and salt to the batter mixture. Crazy that the original recipe didn't have a leavening agent in it and I wanted a lighter cake. For this reason, I added baking powder to make it a little spongier.
- Extended the baking time from 25 to 50 minutes. Clearly, the addition of the frozen fruit slows down the cooking time, so I had to make adjustments to cook it longer.
What to serve on top of warm cobbler
My favorite topping is ice cream. Any kind of ice cream.
The cobbler you see in this recipe was topped with a local creamery's homemade coffee and Oreo cookie ice cream.
OMG, I can't even begin to explain how great the flavors were together.
Instead of drinking coffee with dessert, I was eating coffee with it!
Usually, most people will serve this with a vanilla bean ice cream. Especially, if serving to a large group or bringing to a potluck.
Without a doubt, everyone loves fruit cobbler with a scoop of vanilla frozen dairy.
Try topping it with a homemade whipped cream, caramel sauce, drizzle of heavy cream, or even a chocolate sauce (because chocolate is great on everything).
Most importantly, anything goes so just top it with whatever you like!
More simple dessert recipes:
- Mini Red Velvet Cupcakes
- White Chocolate Matcha Tapioca Pudding
- Chocolate Hazelnut Rice Dream
- Triple Chocolate Pudding
- Penuche Fudge
- Easy Butterscotch Pudding
- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a comment and a rating below to let me know! I LOVE to hear from you!
RECIPE
Easy Fruit Cobbler
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 cup milk full or low fat
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12-15 ounces frozen fruit (Use your favorite mix of fruit. I use a mixed berry one)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/176C degrees.
- Melt 6 tablespoons butter in 8x8 or 9x9 pan in microwave or can melt it directly in the pan while it’s preheating in the oven.
- In a large bowl, sift together 1 cup flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, and ½ teaspoon salt. Add ¾ sugar, 1 cup milk, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to the flour mixture and mix well.
- Pour the batter over the melted butter in the pan. Add the 12-15 ounces of frozen fruit on top of the batter and DO NOT STIR.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the cobbler is thoroughly cooked in middle and it’s golden brown.
- Serve with homemade whipped cream.
Recipe Notes & Tips:
- Top with ice cream, homemade whipped cream, caramel sauce, or chocolate sauce
- Can be made with fresh or canned fruit (drained). It may cook in a shorter amount of time, so check the cobbler after 30 minutes and then check every 5 minutes until done
- Store leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator for up to 5 days
- Reheat leftovers in a microwave for 30 seconds at a time, until heated through
Heidi Andrews
I'm about to make this recipe. can I substitute heavy cream for the milk? if not, I'll go buy some milk
Karrie
Hi Heidi, Heavy cream is too rich on it's own, but it can be substituted for milk if you mix together half cream and half water (1/2 cup each for this recipe).
Claire Vandenberg
My neighbors love this! Im baking three right now in our community kitchen for coffee hour tomorrow that we serve to our resident Veterans. Since it’s the 4thb coming up, I have blue berry, strawberry rhubarb, and coconut banana. I used coconut milk and 1/2 almond flour with 2 scoops of protein powder and 4 TBSP butter for the banana version. The texture is a little different, but diabetics are better off with the bright yellow banana and the protein in the almond flour.
Gale Gravois
very nice chewy cobble....a keeper
Leslie
I made this directly by your recipe and it was delicious! I am wondering about using whole wheat flour and almond milk next time? What are your thoughts?
Karrie
I think the wheat flour will be fine, but I'd use 3/4 cup of the wheat flour and 1/4 cup all-purpose flour. The almond milk doesn't have the butterfat of milk (so the cooked cobbler dough may be a little denser) and has more water (so you may have to cook it a little longer). Please let me know how to turns out if you try it!
GKF from Kansas
This is an AMAZING Recipe. I used gluten free flour. Followed the directions exactly - well as close as I am capable of following directions :). I've made it once with canned cherry pie filling which was a low sugar one, and with frozen fruit - a mix of cherries and blueberries. It is an easy recipe to follow, no unusual ingredients that I didn't have on hand. Soooo good!
Greg
I loved the simplicity of the recipe. It’s something that I believe I can duplicate in the future without having to refer to the recipe every time I make it. I doubled the quantity for a potluck that I’m going to tonight. It’s in the oven as I write.
Susan Williams
I’m going to make this to take to a dinner party tonight, using a bag of frozen berry mix. I’ll thaw the fruit first, of course, but does it matter how much it’s drained of juice?
Karrie
Hi Susan, Don't thaw the frozen fruit because it works better if it's frozen. If you've already thawed it, just drain all the juices before using.
Susan Williams
Ooooh, glad I asked! Thanks!
Debbie
This is a great recipe, so easy to. I did it with Rhubarb and Strawberry cooked down first with cinnamon and tiny bit sugar. The flavour and the crispy crust was amazing.
Catheribe
it currently cooking, so simple, thank you
Karen landers
I have a question. Can the juice from the canned peaches be used in place of the milk?
Karrie
Hi Karen, the milk adds fat, flavor, and provides texture/tenderness, so using all juice will probably make a denser/drier cobbler. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out 🙂
Kayla
I just made this with fresh blueberries and cherries! So easy and came out better than expected. Thanks a bunch! 😊
Steve F
I pick blackcaps annually and make cobbler with them. I've tried a number of different recipes for the batter and have been searching for a match to what I remember my Scoutmaster making on an expedition nearly 50 years ago. This is what I remember!!!! Just the right texture between cake and biscuit and super moist. I doubled the ingredients for a full size cake pan. I didn't have unsalted butter so I left the salt out, it worked fine. I put about 2/3 of my berries on the bottom, dumped in the batter and sprinkled the remaining berries on top of the batter. Came out just to my liking!!! Thanks so much for the great recipe!!
Julia Howard
When I made the batter I thought it was too thin but it was amazing ! Will keep this recipe handy. Specially through summer
Dorothy Davenport
I would prefer to have the recipe in ounces. What is a cup?
Karrie
Hi Dorothy, a cup of a liquid ingredient will be 8 ounces, but dry ingredients should be weighed if converting to ounces. You can also change the ingredient measurements to metric on my recipe cards or use this site to convert cups to ounces https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/cooking/cups-ounces.php. Just be sure to select "convert to dry ounces" and choose what the ingredient is when converting flour or sugar. Different types of dry ingredients will weigh differently, but that calculator site has all the weighs preloaded.
Shannon
This was the easiest and best tasting cobbler I've ever made!
Vicki
Do you have the increased amounts for 9x13 pan?
Karrie
I've never made this in a 9x13 pan, so unsure if the recipe will work. You may want to 1.5 times the recipe by increasing the serving size to 9 servings on the recipe card. Please let me know if you try it and how it works in the larger pan!
Steve F
I just doubled the ingredients and was happy with the results
Leigh Ellis
The best and I even used canned pie filling and self rising flour. Couldn’t be easier or more delicious!
Lynnette (Lyn) Nelson-Erickson
Love it. I've used this recipe for 50 years or more. it's simple and always a hit.
Glad you brought it back for nre generations to appreciate.
Michelle
I have never commented on a recipe before. But two days later I had to go back and find this just to comment because it is seriously the best recipe I’ve ever found! It is so so so easy to make and absolutely delicious. And it even works with gluten-free flour, it just looks a little spongier than regular flour.
Soooooo good. Thank you for sharing!
P.S. I used raspberries and it rocked.
Kathleen Urquhart
So, I had left over two large, juicy peaches, fresh blueberries, fresh (and SWEET - not tart) strawberries from a local farmstand, and two apples. I cut them all up small and made your recipe. Only I had so much fruit I made THREE batches of cake batter and poured it into a lasagna Straub ceramic baking dish/pan. I altered your recipe and where it called for milk, I added some milk and large dollop of Sour Cream. I pour 2/3 on the bottom of the lasagna pan, added a thick layer of fresh fruits, and drizzled the remaining batter in rows over the top. It came out DELICIOUS!!!
I ended up sharing some with our friends and still have plenty left over. We topped our with fresh whipped cream. But vanilla bean ice cream sounds delightful, too!
Cobbler or "Buckle" no matter. It's DELICIOUS!!!
Thank you for sharing your recipe with us!
Karrie
So happy you all enjoyed it Kathleen! Love that you made a big lasagna pan of it too. Fruit cobbler for breakfast! lol 😉
MU
Do you have to cook fresh fruit first before making the cobbler? Or use fresh without cooking?
Karrie
Fresh fruit doesn't need to be pre-cooked, but certain fruits (peaches, apples) may need to be cut into smaller slices to make sure it cooks though.
Kathleen Urquhart
That is EXACTLY what I did - cut into small pieces and it worked PERFECTLY.
Lalani Hyatt
This is a go to recipe for me, especially when I have fresh fruit from my garden and preserved fruit in my pantry. Delicious with mulberries or blackberries, even better with an apple, rhubarb and mulberry mix! I pour the melted butter in with the milk and whisk it all up then pour over my fruit. It rises beautifully and is so soft and cake like YUM! Great with a scoop of homemade vanilla bean icecream 🙂 Thanks for a great quick and easy recipe Karrie
Ava
This is the very best cobbler recipe I have ever made. And so easy to make! It was delicious with 3 cups of fresh dewberries. This recipe will now be in my family favorites recipe box.
Montana Lil
May be the best cobbler recipe I found so far! Very moist and easy to make! I used 3 times as much berries and liked it better. Had self-rising flour too. Next time will use strictly blackberries.
Lea Griffith
delicious
Nora Byars
Great recipe!!! Ingredients I always have and so easy to make! We absolutely love it! Thank you!!!
Mischa
I made this recipe tonight.Made apartment smell yummy.Can't wait to dig in!!!😋😋
JustJane
Amazing!!
My freezer was overflowing with blueberries and raspberries and I needed recipes other than smoothies. This cobbler recipe was super easy, so delicious, and just like the kind my Southern mom used to make. Very happy 🙂
Derek Smalls
Enjoyed this recipe. I used apples. I peeled, cored and sliced four medium apples then marinated them in 2 tablespoons cinnamon and 3 tablespoons granulated sugar. Mmmmmm. A great recipe that everyone loved. My cobbler was eaten completely within a day.
V. B.
Super easy to make. I wanted something quick and using ingredients I already had on hand. Found this recipe. Used frozen mixed fruits which I never did before! Only ever eaten peach or apple cobbler or pie. But since I wanted to avoid having to go to the grocery store, I figured why not? YUMMY is the best description of the finished product!!!
Hiswife
Omg the recipe was so easy to follow and it is so delicious..I keep waking up in the middle of the night to eat a few piece 🤦🏾♀️.. Next time, I will try with other fruits and a little bit less sugar. Thank you!
Heather W
Was looking for a quick and easy dessert to make and came across your recipe. Used frozen blueberries and served with vanilla ice cream and it was delicious! We all loved it and had no leftovers. Thanks for the recipe!
Julie
This came out exactly the same as the peach cobbler KFC used to sell! You have no idea how I've missed it!
I wrote this one down for sure!