Juicy, ripe blackberries lend their sweet and tart flavor to this ultra-comforting dessert, perfect for the peak of summer. With a golden, buttery, crunchy, crisp topping, serve this blackberry crisp fresh from the oven with a scoop of ice cream, or as a chilled leftover!

Summer Blackberries

Blackberries have long been my favorite summertime treat. Their sweet, juicy flavor makes the summer heat worth it, and getting outside at dusk to pick them is something I’ve done since I was a kid.

Picking wild blackberries was my earliest foraging adventure! My mom would send my sister and me off after dinner with colanders to fill with the blackberries that grew down the road from our house. We would do our best to fill them up so our mom could make a cobbler or two!

There’s nothing quite like the smell of blackberries bubbling in the oven, tree sap in the sun, and the fresh air breezing in through the screen door. Let’s wash the dirt off our hands and make a blackberry crisp!

Blackberry Crisp Energy

Blackberries themselves have a most comforting flavor, especially once they’ve had some good hot summer days to sweeten up and get plump and juicy. They offer a full range of sweet, tart, and warm cinnamon flavors with a sunshine sweet taste! In my opinion, it just can’t be beat.

This slow, sticky sweetness of a summer blackberry day gives a relaxing and comforting energy to this blackberry crisp. With whole ingredients and the ability to be eaten warm with ice cream or chilled on a lazy morning, it’s the perfect slow-energy summer dessert.

If you want a late-night dessert after picking juicy berries, a quick cold bite right out of the dish in the afternoon, or a sweet, comforting breakfast topped with yogurt, this crisp has a lazy summer vibe.

The difference between a crisp and a cobbler is that a cobbler is made with a dough topping that is like a biscuit, which is delicious and comforting, as always, like this strawberry cobbler. It’s good, but it has a more cake-like texture in the mouth.

A crisp has a crunchy topping, typically made with oats, similar to a streusel. I absolutely love the different textures of the crispy, buttery, sweet topping and the gooey, juicy berries! It just gives it cozy summer day vibes that are perfect any time of day.

It has oatmeal, so it’s totally giving breakfast, even though it’s a dessert. It’s summer, the days are hot, the nights are warm, there are crickets and fireflies and wildflowers. No food rules or times of day exist, and blackberry crisp can be eaten at any hour!

Put your pajama shorts and old t-shirt on, grab a fork for snacking, and let’s crisp it up!

Blackberry Crisp Recipe

This recipe uses simple, wholesome ingredients, of course starring blackberries. Sweet and tart, juicy and crispy, served warm with cold ice cream, or chilled on a hot day. It’s the perfect duality to slow down and savor.

Ingredients

Blackberries: You can use either fresh or frozen blackberries in this recipe. If using frozen blackberries, you do not need to thaw them before using.

Tip: If you pick enough blackberries to freeze some, this makes a lovely comforting dessert in the fall or winter, too! Frozen blackberries release a ton of juice, so they are perfect for a warming winter dessert.

Cornstarch: I use organic cornstarch. It’s also okay to use arrowroot powder if preferred.

Sugar: I prefer to use organic cane sugar, but feel free to use whatever you have on hand.

All-purpose flour

Brown sugar: I used dark brown sugar in the crisp topping, but this can be substituted 1:1 with light brown sugar if you prefer.

Ground cinnamon

Butter: Be sure to use cold butter and cut it into cubes before adding it to the flour and sugar. Cold butter will give the crisp the best texture.

Old-fashioned rolled oats: Use old-fashioned oats as they hold up really well when baked, and their texture when crisp is much better than any alternative. For example, quick oats will soften and lose structure.

Vanilla ice cream: Optional for serving, but recommended for summer fun and deliciousness!

Note: You can substitute the blackberries in this recipe with any other berry or a mixture of several, provided the total weight remains 24 ounces, as listed in the recipe.

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Add the blackberries to a 9×13-inch baking pan or a similar-sized ovenproof dish. Sprinkle the cornstarch and sugar over the berries and toss or stir them to combine. Set aside.

Next, add the flour and brown sugar to a large mixing bowl, then mix to combine.

Add the cold, cubed butter to the mixing bowl.

Use your fingertips to gently rub the butter into the flour and sugar mixture until it resembles large crumbs.

Tip the oats into the mixing bowl and stir to combine with the remaining ingredients.

Use a spoon to scatter the crisp topping on top of the prepared fruit.

Do your best to cover all the fruit as evenly as possible. (You do not need to press the topping down.)

Bake on the middle rack of the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until the top of the crisp looks golden brown.

Remove the pan from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Enjoy while still warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Scatter a few fresh blackberries for for garnish if you have extra!

Storing Blackberry Crisp

Store blackberry crisp in an airtight container and refrigerate, where it will stay fresh for at least four to five days.

This crisp checks all of the boxes: sweet, tart, crisp, soft, juicy, crumbly, comforting, and delicious. Eat it right out of the oven with or without ice cream, and bask in the bubbly, juicy blackberry down-home comfort.

As I mentioned before, however, zero food rules or time exist during summer. Feel free to eat this crisp for breakfast with yogurt, as a mid-afternoon snack, or lunch dessert (if lunch dessert isn’t a thing for you, I recommend changing that).

If you take a bite in the middle of a warm night right out of the fridge with a fork, I wouldn’t blame you! It’s that good, that summery, and that comforting. Embrace the slowness of summer!

More Blackberry Recipes

• Homemade Blackberry Jam
• Blackberry Kombucha
• Peach & Blackberry Cobbler
• Blackberry Mead