Berry Cobbler– Gluten Free, Grain Free, Low Sugar

Berry cobbler combines all the summery flavor of berries with a simple topping for a favorite summer dessert that comes together easily. Gluten free, grain free, and naturally sweetened, this healthy dessert recipe is delicious and adaptable. GAPS diet instructions included.

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One of the delights of summer is all the fresh fruit! While fruits are delightful eaten fresh, sometimes it is fun to make a special dessert with them. Berry cobbler is ideal for a simple summer dessert.

Even better is when that luscious berry treat is also not only gluten free and grain free, but also free of refined sugar. You need a little bit of honey for this berry cobbler, but just a touch. The berries do most of the work!

If you are on the GAPS diet, you also need to avoid the starch that typically thickens juicy berries in this sort of treat. Don’t worry; this is possible and simple. I’ll show you how to make it with or without starch or flour.

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Starch in Fruit Desserts

Usually, fruit-filled desserts have a bit of flour or starch mixed into the fruit. When the fruit bubbles, the starch makes it thicken. It will thicken more as it cools.

In fact, I learned this from my grandmothers. Both of them, separately. We visited them the summer I turned 12. They had mastered the concocting of beautiful pies that tasted marvelous and also held together. When I made pies, they looked fine just out of the oven, and tasted good, but ran all over the place when I served them.

I asked one grandmother and then the other how to fix this problem so the slices would look nice. They told me the same thing: you’re making the pie fine, but you aren’t letting it cool. Make sure the filling bubbles (I did) and let it cool (I didn’t–we ate them hot).

Cooling allows the filling to set so the pie slices will hold together. Even if you warm the pie! (Is this why you see quaint pictures of pies cooling on windowsills and rustic tables?)

Kind of like this?

Neatsplash

I watched one grandma roll crust for cherry pie. She made the pie just the way I did at home, but in the early afternoon. After baking and cooling, and she reheated it while we ate dinner. The slices were perfect!

The other grandma said the same thing– make it early. She made her crust, packed it with fresh blueberries from the garden, and those slices came out looking magazine-worthy. Especially with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

Of course, I had to try it when I got home. It worked for me, too! However how much fruit I piled into the pie– the more, the better!– pretty, tidy slices came out. No berry compote all over the place. Not that it matters to the taste…

How to Thicken Berry Cobbler without Flour or Starch

This is all well and good if you use flour or cornstarch (or arrowroot or some such) in your pie, cobbler, crisp, etc. Even after I had to cut out gluten, it was easy. I just used a starch in place of flour and it thickened beautifully. Every time.

Then we embarked on the GAPS diet. We didn’t have fruit desserts for a good while. Then we did, but some fruits are really juicy. Juicy berries, peaches and cherries make fabulous desserts! But only if the juice thickens into a filling. Juice isn’t so ideal.

I couldn’t thicken mine with eggs because of an egg allergy in the family. (That might be a good alternative to the way I will show you.) What to do instead?

Gelatin can work, but I never got that to work. Instead, I did this:

Stove Top Fruit Filling

Now, some starch-thickened filling recipes call for first simmering the fruit on the stove. Kind of like canned pie filling, which comes thickened for you. This has the advantage of allowing you to adjust everything to your liking. You can also pack a little more fruit into a pie that way. It is an extra step, but a simple one.

If you simmer fruit on the stove, the juices will release. In the case of berries, you will get a lot of juice! (That’s the problem…) So, to skip the starch, simmer the berries along with whatever else you want– honey, lemon juice, etc.

Then, when you are confident the berries have cooked and released all their juice, scoop the berries into your baking dish, leaving the juice behind.

Or drain the juice and top and bake the cobbler right in the skillet.

Either way, save the juice to make smoothies, yogurt flavoring, salad dressing etc.

It is a little sad to lose the juice, which makes a glorious filling when thickened with the fruit. However, the dessert will still taste good and you will not have much fuss about pulling off your starch-free cobbler. Good if you are on the GAPS diet!

How to Make Berry Cobbler

I like to use my cast iron Dutch oven and lots of fruit! You could use a little less fruit, a large skillet, or transfer the fruit to a baking pan. For less cleanup, I start by melting the butter for the topping in the Dutch oven before making the fruit filling. Transfer the butter to a mixing bowl.

Then add the berries to the skillet. Keep the flame low at first and cover so nothing burns. The berries will begin releasing juice; then uncover and let some of the liquid steam off while the berries cook. (If you use berries thawed from frozen, there will be loads of juice from the start and you can bring them to a boil quickly.)

Add any sweetener you want– sometimes I don’t add any, and other times I add a tablespoon or two of honey. The berries won’t need much! You can squeeze in a little lemon juice for extra depth of flavor if you like.

Then drain the juice, saving it for another purpose. (If baking in another dish, transfer the berries to that now.)

Alternatively, stir starch into the berries; simmer until they bubble and thicken.

Want to make this more frugally? Berries can be expensive! Replace some of the berries (half works well) with chopped apple or pear. They are often less expensive, and the berry flavor will still dominate.

Make the topping

You may stir the topping together while the berries simmer. That is helpful if you want little biscuits all over the top, as the batter will thicken considerably over a few minutes.

If you want a smooth slab of topping, wait to stir it up when the berries are ready for the topping and smooth it on right away while it is thinner in consistency.

Combine the melted butter, coconut flour, eggs, honey, baking soda, vanilla, and salt in a bowl. Whisk or stir until smooth. It will look alarmingly runny, like this:

That’s OK; it will be thicker in a few minutes. The reason is that coconut flour absorbs lots of liquid, which is why the amount called for is so low. Much more than half a cup and you will get a dry, inedible topping! Here is my batter after a few minutes:

2 Ways to Top Cobbler:

Drop little blobs over the berry mixture when it is ready. I like to gently form them in my hands so they are somewhat uniform, but you don’t have to.

You can also spread the batter over the top in a smooth sheet; this is best done as soon as you mix, while the batter is still thin.

I like the separation and the berries bubbling in between, so I do it that way. It looks like cobblestones, sort of; that seems appropriate to a dish called “cobbler”. Though maybe the name comes from the “cobbling together” of basic ingredients for a favorite dessert. Learn more of cobbler history here.

Whichever way you choose to top the berry cobbler, bake it for 20-30 minutes, until the topping is baked through and golden.

Cool just bit before serving, if you can.

If using starch, you don’t strictly have to cook the berries first. You can stir the starch into the berries, along with honey and lemon if you want, and top that and bake it without cooking on the stove first.

You have a little less certainty of a just-right thickness to the filling that way, but it should turn out tolerably well. If not, you can adjust the amount of starch next time… It is quicker to do it that way!

Berry Cobbler Questions

You can adapt this recipe in different ways!

What kind of berries should I use?

The kind you like! Or the ones that are on sale or you have in the garden. Blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc., will all be wonderful. My favorite way is to combine 2-4 berry varieties.

If you use strawberries, I recommend cutting them into 2-4 pieces each to be similar in size to other berries in the mix. (In the above pictures, I forgot and had to do that after cooking!)

Can I use frozen berries?

Yes! They can be more economical than fresh, and their texture will work fine after baking. The additional juices after thawing make them easier to use; thaw first if you have time. Frozen berries make berry cobbler possible in winter.

How can I make dairy free berry cobbler?

Replace the butter with coconut oil or another fat that works for you. For topping, try a coconut whipped cream or nondairy vanilla ice cream.

Does it work to leave out the eggs?

No, you need them for this recipe. I don’t recommend a chia egg for egg replacement here. If you need to avoid eggs, make the topping from my peach cobbler recipe and put it on the this one.

Is this berry cobbler GAPS compliant?

For the GAPS diet, you need to use the starch-free option, or maybe thicken with egg. Be sure your vanilla is GAPS compliant. Technically, you should grind your coconut flour freshly, as opposed to buying a bag of coconut flour.

Skip the whipped cream. Make coconut whipped cream, whip some GAPS cultured cream with a little honey, or make my GAPS vanilla ice cream and scoop some of that on top.

What are your favorite berries?